BIOPHYSICAL |
IMPACT NAME |
POSITIVE SCOPE OF IMPACT |
NEGATIVE SCOPE OF IMPACT |
INDICATOR |
BP1: water quality |
Reservoir stores heavy metals, pesticides, PCBs |
changes cycling of nutrients, carbon, DO, TSS, temperature, periphyton |
reservoir retention time |
BP2: biodiversity |
Habitat created for rare/endemic species |
rare or endemic species affected; quality of affected habitats or sensitive ecosystems; potential creation of new habitat |
index of habitat quality- habitat classification, species occurrence |
BP3: sediment |
Reservoir stores anthropogenic sources of sediment eroded from upstream |
DS channel changes: degradation/aggradation; modification to grain size distribution, depositional features, and channel morphology |
trap efficiency of dam, percentage of basin that contributes to the dam |
BP4: natural flow regime |
Food protection, storage for irrigation, domestic, or industrial use |
changes to historic hydrograph- magnitude, duration, timing, and frequency of high and low flows; channel morphology, DS degradation/aggradation, migration or spawning cues, substrate conditions, condition of riparian vegetation |
Carryover storage – (0) run of river (1) seasonal storage (2) annual storage and (3) multiple year storage |
BP5: climate and air quality |
Reduced equivalent emission of GHG from coal |
Reservoir methane emissions |
amount of GHG emitted from equivalent MW of coal power generation- energy density (MW/unit area of reservoir) |
BP6: landscape stability |
|
Reservoir-induced seismicity, Landslide potential |
weight of reservoir, distance to faults, landslide hazard, grade of slopes, erosivity of soils |
BP7: impact area |
Lentic habitat created |
Loss of riverine, riparian, and terrestrial habitat |
surface area of the reservoir, length of river impounded, length of power transmission lines, habitat classification data |