Exposed: Coal mining at the source of China's Yellow River (by Christine Ottery)

An investigation by Greenpeace China has revealed opencast coal mining is taking place on a remote alpine plateau in the foothills of China’s Qilian mountains. As Beijing moves to ban the use or sale of coal to limit air pollution this week, and the whole industry is shifting to the northwest of the country, these mines represent the frontier of China's coal domain.

Here, private firms operate in violation of conservation laws, risking a deterioration of the water levels available in three of China's major rivers. This is no ordinary plateau - the water-logged ground trickles with meltwater and rainwater streams (see below), feeding the Datong River, one of the sources of China's 'mother river', the Yellow River.

But it is here, at its source over 4,000 metres above sea level, that coal mining is threatening the water supply to the Datong River, with possible knock on effects for the over 50 cities and 420 towns that rely on the Yellow River - China's second longest - for their drinking water and thousands who use it to irrigate their fields.

On the massive 'Muli' coalfield (pictured above) private companies excavate the land for coal and dump the overturned earth and rocks near the Datong River, according to undercover investigations by Greenpeace China.The investigation also found topsoil being heaped into the watercourse of the Datong River near roads and railways built to service the mine.

These obstructions (see above) could prevent glacial meltwater from the mountains from feeding into the Datong River, increasing the risk of water scarcity at times of low rainfall.

The Muli coalfield consists of four opencast mines on the plateau - two are operational and two are on the verge of opening. By 2013 the expansion of the Jiancang and Juhugeng mines resulted in the loss of 42.6 kilometres squared of pristine meadows - and their capacity for holding water - according to calculations based on satellite data.The two mines (Jiangcang and Juhugeng, satellite images below) have been extracting on a large scale since 2003.

Jiangcang coal mine, part of the Muli coalfield, in 2003 (left) and 2013 (right) 

The problem - from an environmental viewpoint - is that around 3.54 billion tons of coal lie under the plateau - almost 90% of Qinghai province's coal reserves. There are plans to expand the Muli mines to an area of around 112.6 kilometres squared with the Duosuogongma and the Hushan opencast coal mines ready to go, but not yet operational (see locations below).

But expansion appears to be taking place in violation of environmental rules. The Jiancang and Juhugeng mines exist in the Quilian Mountains National Ecological Functional Zone for Glacier and Water conservation, and the two new ones have their facilities set up in the Qinghai Quilian Mountains Nature Reserve for the Sources of Three Rivers (Datong, Shule and Buha rivers), which is meant to be an even stricter conservation area. 

That means the sites have been operating in violation of national laws and provincial regulations protecting nature reserves, water source conservation, and wetland and grassland protection - according to a legal analysis based on evidence gathered on seven separate field trips to the remote region during 2012 to 2014, together with satellite images. 

However, despite a 2010 environmental impact assessment highlighting the issue of mining in this protected area, and 2011 guidance from China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection suggesting that local authorities ban activities preparing for mining at sites on the nature reserve, coal mining activities and development continue to go ahead.The mining is being undertaken by a handful of private firms led by the China Kingho Energy Group, which is mining at the largest scale on the plateau. They are joined by Qinghai Yihai Energy Co, Quinghai Coking Coal Group, Aokai Group, and China Railway Group. 

Kingho Group transports the coal it mines (one of its mines pictured above) at the Juhugeng coal mine to its coking facility called “Kingho Coalification Industrial Park for Circular Economy”, 145km away.

At 3,700m, it’s the highest coking plant in the world. The firm appears to have constructed a building in the style of the Forbidden City palace on site at the plant. The investigation reveals the shift in China's water intensive coal industry from the relatively industrialised east to less developed, and often environmentally more sensitive regions. 

As coal control measures as a result of choking smog in eastern provinces take hold, China’s coal industry - from mining to coking and power generation - has simply been moving to the north and west. Large swathes of China that are affected by the change suffer from water shortages or rely on the Yellow River.

Note: Christine Ottery is the Energydesk deputy editor at Greenpeace UK.
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/Exposed-Coal-mining-at-the-source-of-Chinas-Yellow-River/

Got My First Environmental Permit in the State of New Jersey!

While working for WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, I worked on Saw Mill Brook Project in Helmetta, New Jersey. The purpose of the project is to replace the existing culvert (5-C-103) under Main Street that conveys Sawmill Brook No.2 in the Borough of Helmetta, Middlesex County, New Jersey. The existing Main Street (C.R.615) over Sawmill Brook No.2 is a concrete slab span type structure with twin 3’ culverts and concrete parapet. The culvert is supported by concrete abutments and doesn’t have block walls beyond culvert concrete channel. The existing culvert has a natural bottom.

The existing culvert will be replaced with a 6’ by 2.4’ three-sided culvert. The proposed culvert will be buried to have a natural bottom to match the existing invert of the channel. The proposed culvert will also be slightly longer than the existing, so the proposed culvert will be extended approximately 10 foot to the east and 5 foot to the west.  The additional culvert length is required to allow for staging of the roadway improvements so that traffic can be maintained while construction takes place and for the proper attachment of the guiderail to the proposed headwalls.

The  hydraulic study report has been prepared in support of the Flood Hazard Area (FHA) Control Act Permit application for the replacement of the culvert that conveys Sawmill Brook under Main Street in the Borough of Helmetta and Township of Monroe, Middlesex County.  Refer to the USGS Project Location Map for the project location.  The FHA Permit application has been prepared in accordance with the Flood Hazard Area Control Act Rules (N.J.A.C. 7:13). New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has approved this study on September 3, 2015.

 

Changing Course | NewsChina Magazine - Part III

 

Ongoing Debate

However, beyond a few token mentions in academic circles, Qi Pu’s concept of “regulating both banks” and “narrow channel” management of the Yellow River remains marginalized within mainstream Chinese academia.

Hu Yisan, vice chairman of the YRCC Technical Committee and a proponent of the traditional “wide channel” strategy, told China Science Daily in 2014 that a wider river channel can decrease the average flow of water during an inundation. Meanwhile, a large proportion of silt deposited in the wide channel section can offset silting in narrower channels. “In addition, with a wide floodplain area to contain silt, the speed of the elevation of the riverbed due to sedimentation may slow down, prolonging the river channel’s functional lifespan,” he said.

Liu Guowei, senior engineer with the Nanjing Hydrology Research Institute, also told China Science Daily that the bulk of silt reduction in the Yellow River is the result of human activity the widespread construction of dams to store silt. Within two or three decades, Liu suggested, the storage capacity of many reservoirs may hit their upper limits, and thus the lower reaches of the Yellow River will need more space to change course.

The YRCC has historically leaned towards conservatism when it comes to management strategies for the Yellow River, shunning the implementation of radical measures that could potentially have disastrous consequences. Therefore, consensus is championed, and “rogue” researchers discredited. During a recent telephone interview with NewsChina, Zhao Yong, deputy director of the YRCC, vehemently disagreed with Qi’s opinions, claiming that over 95 percent of YRCC experts share his view.

Xue Songgui, chief engineer and YRCC technical committee chairman, also remarked that it was quite natural for academics to debate solutions to the complex situation of the Yellow River. According to Xue, despite the recent trend towards silt reduction, the long-term situation is hard to predict, yet future approaches to management hinge upon knowing whether there will be more or less sedimentation along the Yellow River in the decades to come.

“With existing domestic technology, even decades of research is not enough for us to obtain a complete understanding of the changing conditions of water and silt [along the Yellow River],” said Xue. “We share a common grounding in some basic facts and the general trend, however opinions on specific management measures vary widely, with some experts even contradicting one another.”

“As far as I know, Qi’s opinion is so far not accepted by the majority of YRCC experts,” Xue added.

Uncertainty

Qi Pu has devoted most of his life to researching the Yellow River, and his strong views have turned him into something of an activist. He has brought his concerns and proposals to national leaders, colleagues and major figures across a range of industries. Even those who don’t agree with Qi have expressed admiration for his somewhat quixotic commitment to a single cause.

A Xingmiao village official surnamed Hao told our reporter that, in the past two decades, the Yellow River has not threatened the village. Instead, he argued, a lack of land has caused severe poverty, making locals eager to use the resettlement plan as an escape hatch. “With moderate compensation from the government, people can at least live in better conditions,” he said.

“Whatever the situation is now, we cannot predict that there won’t be any devastating floods in the future, so, in my view, the resettlement project is crucial so long as the country can afford it,” said Xue Songgui. “When addressing public safety, the worst-case scenario should be considered.”

In late 2014, Qi Pu joined a few other academics, including Qian Zhengying, one of China’s most esteemed hydrologists and former vice chairwoman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and You Lianyuan of the Institute of Geographic Sciences and National Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in presenting a letter to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang stating their opinion on the current situation of the Yellow River and calling off the “unnecessary” resettlement project that would “waste huge amounts of money.” Different sources informed our reporter that the letter was indeed passed on to the National Development and Reform Committee for “further study and reexamination.”

Yet, whether resettlement will continue unabated remains open to question. While Qi Pu claimed to our reporter that, since his letter was submitted to Li Keqiang, the resettlement project has been halted, we were unable to get official confirmation of this information. At press time, no official response had been forthcoming from the Henan Provincial Development and Reform Commission.

A spokesman surnamed Wang told NewsChina: “The project remains in its trial phase, and it is not certain that it will be promoted in other areas. Nor is there a timeline for the completion of this project.” 

Changing Course | NewsChina Magazine - Part II

Minority View

Throughout history, the cause of flooding on the Yellow River has been the large volume of fine-grained loess, a loamy sediment carried by the wind, from the Loess Plateau on China’s central plain, and continuously deposited into the river, where it collects on the bed. This sedimentation causes natural dams to slowly form over time, obstructions that eventually divert the river, inundating surrounding settlements and agricultural land. These major changes could ultimately cause the river mouth to shift as much as a few hundred kilometers.

The Xiaolangdi Reservoir has regulated sedimentation since 2002 in order to prevent the Yellow River’s bed from rising. 

Therefore, for thousands of years, the Yellow River’s frequent changes of course in its lower reaches have resulted in the formation of what is known as a “wide-shift channel.” Historical records indicate over 1,500 instances of devastating flooding before the year 1946, and the river has discernibly shifted course on at least 26 occasions.

In terms of managing the Yellow River, there’s no international historical model that China can refer to. Extremely high sedimentation load and unpredictable morphology make the Yellow River unique, so managing it is among the world’s most complex environmental challenges.

The traditional approach to harnessing the Yellow River is to build high levees parallel to, but a long distance away from, its natural banks, in order to provide a degree of space for the waterway to change its course. However, the construction of a large number of reservoirs along the river, the application of new soil and water conservation practices in the past two decades, and the massive development of new irrigation projects have transformed the riverbed.

In recent decades, based on his personal research into the mechanisms and capacity of the sediment regulation in the Yellow River, Qi Pu and a handful of researchers have put forward an alternative management system to put an end to what Qi views as wasteful and unnecessary practices.

Qi believes that it is unnecessary to widen the lower reaches of the Yellow River to accommodate greater floodplain inundation as a measure to reduce wider flooding. “After the Xiaolangdi Reservoir went into operation in the late 1990s, great changes have taken place in the lower channel, with maximum longitudinal water surface elevation reduced by 10-22 meters, and a dramatic increase in bank discharge. But the wandering reaches are still wide, shallow, scattered and in poor condition, and they need to be regulated on both banks to form a stable, deep and narrow channel,” he said.

Qi told NewsChina that there are successful international examples of “two-bank training strategy” practices, such as projects on the Mississippi River and some other major US waterways.

According to Qi’s son, Qi Honghai, a senior water resources engineer with the global consulting company WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff, the two-bank training strategy can form a narrow and deep channel more suitable for flow discharge and sediment transport. In a recent email exchange with NewsChina, Qi Honghai quoted Dr Dave Rosgen, US expert in river restoration and management, who acknowledged that China should use narrow river channels to facilitate sediment transportation, and to develop stable channels that would prevent riverbeds from rising.

Proper adjustment of the sediment levels of the Xiaolangdi Reservoir could ultimately restore the natural cycle of silt build-up and discharge that occurs during flood periods on the Yellow River, and prevent the main riverbed from rising too high. Meanwhile, if the speed of the main channel’s current can be increased, the flood plain will decrease in size, and debate over constructing new levees can cease. According to Qi and his team, this is the rational method of managing the Yellow River. In 2010, Jiao Yong, vice minister of the Ministry of Water Resources, expressed support for conducting some trial projects on “regulating both banks” along the lower reaches of the Yellow River.

Changing Course | NewsChina Magazine - Part I

Changing Course | NewsChina Magazine

The pilot phase of a grand resettlement project affecting more than 1.2 million people living along the Yellow River has begun in Henan Province, but the scheme’s necessity is being called into question by a few outlying researchers.

by Wang Yan

“Our village is one of the poorest in Henan due to its proximity to the Yellow River, with each farmer allocated a mere 100 square meters of land,” Chen told our reporter. “Almost all the villagers have agreed to the government-initiated relocation project.”Chen Cunli, a farmer in his fifties in Xingmiao Village, Henan Province, spoke animatedly withNewsChina when asked about an ongoing pilot resettlement project which will relocate his village. Xingmiao, with some 1,000 inhabitants, is located on the banks of the lower section of the Yellow River, historically notorious for its frequent floods, unpredictable course changes and rising bed due to silt sedimentation.

According to the official schedule, the project, once completed in early 2016, will provide Xingmiao’s displaced villagers with new apartments located in buildings in the county’s town center, some 10 kilometers away.

Bridges were torn down in the lower reaches of the Yellow River to allow discharged water and silt runoff from the Xiaolangdi Reservoir to drain downstream, July 4, 2015

Resettled residents look out over the site of their former homes, flooded during the construction of the Xiaolangdi Reservoir, June 9, 2007

In January 2014, the Henan provincial government formally announced its plan for the resettlement of over 1.25 million people living on the Yellow River floodplain, a displacement on a scale almost equal to that which occurred during the building of the Three Gorges Dam, which saw 1.3 million people relocated. Since early 2015, Henan Province launched the project’s initial pilot phase in 14 villages, affecting some 10,000 local residents living along various stretches of the Yellow River.

The main purpose of the project, according to officials, is to ensure public safety, reduce the impact of natural disasters during the flood season, promote healthy development of the shipping industry and help lift local residents out of poverty.

Unnecessary

“The resettlement project will cost an enormous amount, over 100 billion yuan (US$15.68bn),” said Qi Pu, a retired senior engineer with the Yellow River Conservancy Commission (YRCC) under the Ministry of Water Resources, in a recent interview withNewsChina. “[This is] a huge waste of national resources, since the current situation on the Yellow River, after decades of human interference, has changed dramatically.” 

The Yellow River is famous – indeed, named for – the vast quantities of silt created by the flow of a disproportionately “insufficient” volume of water. A commonly acknowledged figure for silt deposits washed down the Yellow River annually is 1.6 billion tons (a figure confirmed in the 1950s and 1960s). In sharp contrast, the Yangtze River, China’s other major waterway, only produces around 600 million tons of silt annually. At the same time, it enjoys an average annual delta runoff of 960 billion cubic meters, almost 17 times the volume of water that is disgorged into the Pacific by the Yellow River (50 billion cubic meters).

According to Qi Pu, official data released by the YRCC have indicated that both the average annual runoff volume and production of silt in the Yellow River have been falling dramatically from the mid-1980s onwards. NewsChina obtained a 2014 YRCC report on water and silt levels that measured silt deposits in the hydrological monitoring station at Tongguan, Shaanxi Province. Engineering data showed that the average annual volume of silt in the river fell from 1.59 billion tons over the period 1919 to 1959, to 1.2 billion tons between 1960 and 1986, then to 807 million tons from 1987 to 1999, with only an average of 276 million tons deposited from 2000 to 2012. The average annual volume of water discharged into the ocean also fell from 42.6 billion cubic meters to 40.3 billion, 26 billion and finally 23 billion over the same periods of time. Indeed, water levels in the Yellow River have hit record lows in recent years due to drought and the central government’s immense South-North water diversion scheme (See: “River of Constant Sorrow,” NewsChina, November, 2013, Vol. 063).

In the November 2013 edition of Hohai University’s bimonthly periodical Advances in Science and Technology of Water Resources, Qi Pu published a research paper entitled “Great changes on the Lower Yellow River channel since 2000 and future prospective [sic].” In this paper, Qi states: “With the construction of large hydropower projects on its upper and middle reaches and the development of soil-water conservation and irrigation projects, the probability that a big flood event will occur [has been greatly reduced alongside] flood peak discharges.”

“There are at least 600 dams and reservoirs on different scales along either the main course or branches of the Yellow River, with total storage capacity amounting to over 70 billion cubic meters, surpassing the river’s yearly runoff,” Qi told our reporter. “With these reservoirs’ high adjustment capability, the possibility of flooding has been greatly lowered. Meanwhile, because of sediment retained in the reservoirs, especially sediment regulation by Xiaolangdi Reservoir, and sediment release at the right time by floods, raising of the riverbed will not occur. Thus, the proposed grand relocation project in Henan is not necessary.”

Successful Presentation at 2015 Annual Association of State Floodplain Manager (ASFPM) Conference

The 39th Annual Association of State Floodplain Manager (ASFPM) Conference was successfully held in Atlanta, GA from May 31 to June 5, 2015. More than 900 people participated in the conference both domestically and abroad. My 25-minutes oral presentation, entitled “Optimal Sluice Gate Operations for Flood Mitigation Study of City of Rye, New York”, went very well at Concurrent Section F7 of this conference. My talk was well attended and received, and there were several questions/comments from the audience afterwards. 

The moderator of my section, Mr. Tim Trautman, ASFPM Mitigation Pod Facilitator, also said this was a great presentation and the work was well done. He mentioned that this year for the "Mitigation & Modeling" track of the conference, there are so many submissions of abstracts, and the final acceptance rate is only 40%, as compared with the overall conference acceptance rate of 60%. I am so proud to represent Parsons Brinckerhoff at this conference, and I also participated in 1D/2D flood modeling panel discussion.

The final abstract of my paper can be found at:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278713952_Optimal_Sluice_Gate_Operations_for_Flood_Mitigation_Study_of_City_of_Rye_New_York

My Presentation file can be viewed at:

Sediment Transport Potentials of the Lower Yellow River Channel & Development of an Efficient Flood Discharge and Sediment Transport Channel

[ABSTRACT] This book presents in-depth analysis on flood discharge and sediment transport characteristics of the narrow and deep channel in the lower Yellow River. It also analyzed the principles of variations for the wandering reaches, conditions of the river pattern transformation, and methods to regulate the wandering reaches. It demonstrates the feasibility of creating hyperconcentrated flow. In regard to the existing issue of the wandering reaches, this book proposes two-banks training strategy, application rules and control conditions of multi-year sediment regulations by reservoirs. By making full use of the sediment transport capacities of the narrow and deep channel, the sediment can be transported to ocean by hyperconcentrated flood. It can be a great learning reference for researchers in the water resources field, watershed managers, professors and students in universities. 

PDF Downloadable Available from ResearchGate Website:
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/262911352_Sediment_Transport_Potentials_of_the_Lower_Yellow_River_Channel_and_Development_of_the_High_Efficient_Flood_Discharge_and_Sediment_Transport_Channel.

My Project - Upper Little Patuxent River Stream Restoration Project Won the Environmental Excellence Award!

The Office of Environment, Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) Headquarters selected the Patuxent River Stream Restoration Project for its Environmental Excellence Award. I was the lead water resources engineer working on the hydrologic and hydraulic modeling using GISHydro and HEC-RAS analysis during my employment with NMP Engineering Consultants in Cockeysville, Maryland from March 2013 to September 2013.

Statement from JMT – “Thank you for selecting the Upper Little Patuxent River Stream Restoration Design Build Project as a Winner of the Environmental Excellence Award. This project is an excellent example of using the MSHA Partnering procedures during the Design Build process to increase environmental benefits, reduce costs and accelerate the completion of project. Johnson, Mirmiran and Thompson, Inc. was fortunate to have been given the opportunity to work for Ecotone, Inc. along with their subconsultant, NMP Engineering Consultant, Inc. on this design build project. The entire Design Build Team developed a great relationship with our SHA teaming partners and our Howard County teaming partners.”

JMT Link: http://www.jmt.com/media-resources/newsroom/upper-little-patuxent-stream-restoration-receives-mdot-environmental-award/

Project Information Page:  http://www.jmt.com/project-portfolio/upper-little-patuxent-river-stream-restoration/