A disorderly construction of hydroelectric plants in the Amazon basin has generated a loss of ecosystem services, great environmental damage and an impact on the quality of life of the people who live in this area. This is determined by the study “Reduction of the adverse impacts of the expansion of hydroelectric power”, published in the journal Scienceon February 17.
The research began two years ago with the participation of 40 leading scientists from various countries who study rivers from various perspectives. Scientists studied 350 hydroelectric dams (built or in projects) in Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.
“The location, size and number of dams within each river basin network have enormous consequences not only for the ability to produce electricity, but also for how they affect the people whose livelihoods depend on river systems. local”, indicates the study.
The research offers a transferable model for the evaluation of hydroelectric expansion in transboundary basins and the science-based future planning of areas where hydroelectric constructions can be optimized with the lowest possible environmental cost, says Andrea Encalada, vice-chancellor of the San Francisco University of Quito (USFQ) and who participated in the study.
“Each country builds dams measuring the local impact, but the impact goes much further, since in the Amazon basin the rivers are related, united. If a country builds a hydroelectric plant, it is going to affect other nations, especially those downstream,” he says. The reduction of fish populations, sediment and the emission of CO2 and methane are aspects that directly affect human populations in the basin.
However, the demand for energy continues to grow. In Ecuador, in the last fifteen years, we were told that hydroelectric power was the cleanest, but scientific studies have questioned these types of claimssince it will depend on the area where the dam was built and it also depends on an increasingly scarce resource: water.
“Many of the projects that we have seen in our country are not green at all. Furthermore, the cost they may have is much greater than the benefits we can receive. The negative is that we see it late, when the projects are built and the damage is already done”, expresses Encalada.
One of these projects is the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant, located between Napo and Sucumbíos. Problems with the quality of construction materials have been publicly denounced. Technicians have to constantly repair cracks. Currently this dam is in danger of regressive erosion.
According to an article from the International University of Ecuador, the ecological flows were not foreseen during the construction of the dam. In addition, the article indicates, it was necessary and imperative to develop comprehensive management activities for the basin, in order to control intense erosive processes.
The area of the Andes is considered “new” in geological matters and it is normal that it has many erosion processes. In addition, there is a very strong seismic activity in the area. “Because of the area, because of the erosion, because of the risks, it was not a good place to build a project of these dimensions. Now the rate of erosion is much higher because a place where there was bedrock was broken and the San Rafael waterfall was washed away. If you are going to build in the Andes, you must have very good geological studies”, says Encalada.
In countries such as the United States, Canada or continents such as Europe, hydroelectric plants are no longer being built. One of the reasons is that they found that the damage to the ecosystem was greater than the benefit of the dam. “The question must be: are hydroelectric plants a solution for Ecuador or can we opt for another type of energy? Being at zero latitude, with many hours of sunshine per day, we must think of other types of projects that are more sustainable and have less ecological impact“, adds Encalada.
The paper published in Science will be presented to the Scientific Panel for the Amazon, which brings together researchers from around the world. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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