Method for evaluating ecological environmental impact of channel project and countermeasures thereof based on mechanism analysis

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for evaluating an ecological environmental impact of a channel project and countermeasures thereof based on mechanism analysis, belonging to the field of ecological environmental impact evaluation technologies. In view of limitations of an existing evaluation method and the void of related technologies, the method includes: a project construction verification and change analysis method, a method for analyzing a fine classification impact mechanism and countermeasures thereof, a method for establishing a multi-level comprehensive index system of ecological environmental impacts, a method for establishing a compliance evaluation index system of an ecological channel, a method for tracking, monitoring and evaluation based on long-term time series satellite remote sensing and a method for analyzing and evaluating a superimposed and cumulative impact model.

Claims

1. A method for evaluating an ecological environmental impact of a channel project and countermeasures thereof based on mechanism analysis, comprising six analysis and evaluation methods, which are a project construction verification and change analysis method, a method for analyzing a fine classification impact mechanism and countermeasures thereof, a method for establishing a multi-level comprehensive index system of an ecological environmental impact, a method for establishing a compliance evaluation index system of an ecological channel, a method for tracking, monitoring and evaluation based on long-term time series satellite remote sensing and a method for analyzing and evaluating a superimposed and cumulative impact model, respectively, wherein a correlation between the six analysis and evaluation methods is as follows: 1.1 the project construction verification and change analysis method provides a detailed engineering basis for an implementation of the other five analysis and evaluation methods; 1.2 the method for analyzing a fine classification impact mechanism and countermeasures thereof provides a solid theoretical basis for an implementation of the other five analysis and evaluation methods; 1.3 the method for establishing a multi-level comprehensive index system of an ecological environmental impact is used to systematically display evaluation results of the other five analysis and evaluation methods; 1.4 the method for establishing a compliance evaluation index system of an ecological channel is used to provide an evaluation criterion system so as to evaluate an ecological channel compliance degree of actual channel projects according to implementation results of the other five analysis and evaluation methods; 1.5 the method for tracking, monitoring and evaluation based on long-term time series satellite remote sensing is connected with implementation results of the other five analysis and evaluation methods, so as to realize spatio-temporal change tracking of relevant impacts; and 1.6 the method for analyzing and evaluating a superimposed and cumulative impact model is connected with implementation results of the other five analysis and evaluation methods, so as to realize qualitative and quantitative combination of relevant impact evaluation; wherein specific characteristics of each of the six analysis and evaluation methods are as follows: 2.1 the project construction verification and change analysis method comprises the following steps: comparing construction details of a specific channel project after an environmental impact assessment (EIA) with construction and evaluation details in an EIA stage, checking construction bid sections, construction activities and implementation details according to EIA source items and mitigation countermeasures of the specific channel project, analyzing specific changes compared with the EIA stage, identifying corresponding changes in ecological environmental impacts, and putting forward supplementary countermeasures and suggestions; 2.2 the method for analyzing a fine classification impact mechanism and countermeasures thereof comprises respectively using six fine generalization models to guide mechanism analysis of impacts of revetment projects on an aquatic ecological environment, mechanism analysis of ecological environmental impacts of bottom protection, dredging and shoal cutting projects and derivation of a key role of countermeasures, mechanism analysis of ecological environmental impacts of spur dike and submerged dike projects and derivation of a key role of countermeasures, analysis of an action mechanism of ecological environmental impacts of a channel operation period and interference paths, identification of action factors of superimposed and cumulative impacts of channel projects on an ecological environment, and mechanism analysis of ecological environmental impacts of the channel projects based on ecological habits and spawning characteristics; 2.3 the method for establishing a multi-level comprehensive index system of ecological environmental impacts comprises using an index system based on mechanism analysis to systematically displays comprehensive evaluation results of ecological environmental impacts of channel projects and mitigation countermeasures thereof and to guide identification, design, monitoring, investigation, analysis and evaluation of key indexes in ecological channel construction, wherein the index system comprises horizontal and vertical main architectures and branch architectures of the horizontal and vertical main architectures each comprise four levels with an inclusion relation and comprise 4 impact process index subsystems, 15 impact type index modules, 39 groups of impact factor indexes and a plurality of single-factor classification item index indexes; 2.4 the method for establishing a compliance evaluation index system of an ecological channel comprises constructing a compliance classification item index system for an ecological channel comprising three levels, eight classification indexes and 32 item indexes contained therein to reflect connotations of safety guarantee type, ecological construction type, environmental coordination type and human-water harmony type of an ecological channel, constructing an item grading index status qualitative or quantitative evaluation criterion system and a scoring rule system in a matching way to provide a quantifiable technical criterion system and a method for conveniently evaluating a channel ecological compliance index (URECI), and constructing an ecological compliance evaluation criterion system in a matching way to evaluate the ecological compliance represented by the URECI for specific channel projects; 2.5 the method for tracking, monitoring and evaluation based on long-term time series satellite remote sensing comprises providing a long-term time series satellite remote sensing analysis process and method to analyze and evaluate ecological environmental impacts such as erosion and deposition changes, shoreline changes and water area morphologic changes of channel projects, and performing tracking and monitoring of easily identifiable target project construction details, comparison of project impact scope consistency and project implementation effect evaluation, thereby realizing tracking of spatial-temporal changes of impacts, specifically comprising analysis steps of determining analysis areas, selecting remote sensing data sources, preprocessing remote sensing data, extracting water body information, evaluating impacts of different research scales, identifying channel projects, and tracking project construction and impacts; and 2.6 the method for analyzing and evaluating a superimposed and cumulative impact model comprises developing, based on mechanism analysis of ecological environmental impacts of channel projects, a quantitative model of superimposed and cumulative impacts to analyze and evaluate a superimposed cumulative area and impact of suspended solids (SS) concentration exceeding a standard in water caused by construction operations, as well as the superimposed cumulative mortality and impact on benthic organisms caused by the construction operations, thus realizing the combination of qualitative and quantitative impact analysis.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the superimposed and cumulative impact quantitative model of the method for analyzing and evaluating a superimposed and cumulative impact model is shown in equations 1 and 2:
WFF=ΣWFFi=Σ(ADi×TF(QFAi×YDi×FDFi+BIDAi×QIFAi×YIDi×FIDFi))  equation 1;
ASS=ΣASSi=Σ(DSSi×WSSi×Ni+AWi)  equation 2; in equation 1, WFF is a superimposed and cumulative benthic organism mortality caused by channel project operations; WFFi is a benthic organism mortality caused by an i-th operation mode; ADi is a direct injury area caused by the i-th operation mode; QFAi is a density of benthic organisms in the direct injury area caused by the i-th operation mode; TF is an annual harvest season of benthic organisms; YDi is the recovery time for a direct injury impact of the i-th operation mode; FDFi is a death percentage of benthic organisms subjected to direct injury caused by the i-th operation mode; BIDAi is a ratio of an indirect disturbance affected area to a direct injury affected area by the i-th operation mode; QIFAi is a density of benthic organisms in the indirect disturbance affected area caused by the i-th operation mode; YIDi is the recovery time for an indirect injury impact of the i-th operation mode; FIDFi is a death percentage of benthic organisms affected by indirect disturbance caused by the i-th operation mode; in equation 2, ASS is an area with superimposed and cumulative SS exceeding the standard due to channel project operations; ASSi is an area with SS exceeding the standard due to the i-th operation mode; DSSi is a longitudinal transmission distance of the area with SS exceeding the standard due to the i-th operation mode; WSSi is a transverse diffusion range of the area with SS exceeding the standard due to the i-th operation mode; Ni is the number of section constructions for the i-th operation mode; and AWi is a water area occupied by the i-th operation mode.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of important characteristics of 6 analysis and evaluation methods and their correlation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(2) The present invention is described in further detail below with reference to specific examples completed according to the technical solution of the present invention.

(3) Implementation example: Ecological environmental impact and countermeasure evaluation of Phase II Project of Deep-water Channel of Yangtze River downstream Nanjing.

(4) (1) According to the project construction verification and change analysis method, technical data related to construction details, organization and management and construction solutions of reach revetment, slope protection, bottom protection, submerged dike, spur dike, dredging, and shoal cutting projects was acquired, and on-site research work was performed; construction details of an example project after an EIA were compared with construction and evaluation details in an EIA stage; construction bid sections, construction activities and implementation details were checked according to ecological environmental impact source items and mitigation countermeasures of the project; specific changes compared with the EIA stage were analyzed; corresponding changes in ecological environmental impacts were identified; and supplementary countermeasures and suggestions were put forward. The main verification and analysis results were as follows:

(5) 1) Item-by-item checking was performed according to the project; except for some construction bid sections, underwater damming projects (submerged dike, spur dike and bottom protection), revetment projects and dredging projects for the rest of the Yangtze River reaches were slightly reduced, and the environmental impact and ecological losses were reduced.

(6) 2) Damming and dredging projects were increased in some construction bid sections. As a construction area involves the national aquatic germplasm resource conservation zone experimental area of Chinese mitten crab and mandarin fish in the Jingjiang section of the Yangtze River, the construction impact of the projects in the corresponding sections may be correspondingly increased compared with the ecological loss and environmental impact in the area originally evaluated.

(7) 3) In some construction bid sections, the total length of energy dissipation dams was increased by 2200 m, the length of spur dikes was decreased by 675 m, and the total length of spur dikes was increased by 1525 m. The construction area involves the national aquatic germplasm resource conservation zone experimental area of Chinese mitten crab and mandarin fish in Jingjiang section of the Yangtze River. In order to reduce the ecological loss and environmental impact of the bottom protection project construction on the area, the construction period should be reasonably arranged. October to November is the migration peak period of Chinese mitten crab. The bottom protection project construction should avoid this period and be arranged as far as possible from December to January of the following year. According to the newly increased area occupied by the spur dam bottom protection project, the budget for the reconstruction and restoration of the ecological environment of fish in the protected area and its surrounding areas, as well as the budget for fish proliferation and release, are recalculated.

(8) 4) Revetment projects of 1240 m were added to some construction sections. The construction area involves Rugao national aquatic germplasm conservation zone experimental area for coilia ectenes. In order to reduce the ecological loss and environmental impact of the bottom protection project construction on the area, the construction period should be reasonably arranged. February to April is the migration peak period of coilia ectenes. Since the proliferation and release technology of the coilia ectenes is not yet fully mature, all kinds of construction should avoid the migration peak period of coilia ectenes. The bottom protection project construction should be arranged as far as possible from December to January of the following year. According to the newly increased area occupied by the spur dam bottom protection project, the budget for the reconstruction and restoration of the ecological environment of fish in the protected area and its surrounding areas, as well as the budget for fish proliferation and release, are recalculated.

(9) 5) Compared with the EIA stage, the actual construction solutions of some construction bid sections increased the total amount of dredging by 1.357 million m.sup.3. Therefore, it is suggested to recalculate the budget for the reconstruction and restoration of the ecological environment of the protected areas and the surrounding fish and the budget for the proliferation and release of fish according to the increase in the dredging project quantity.

(10) (2) According to the method for analyzing a fine classification impact mechanism and countermeasures thereof, 6 fine generalization models were adopted to respectively guide mechanism analysis of impacts of revetment projects on an aquatic ecological environment, mechanism analysis of ecological environmental impacts of bottom protection, dredging and shoal cutting projects and derivation of a key role of countermeasures, mechanism analysis of ecological environmental impacts of spur dike and submerged dike projects and derivation of a key role of countermeasures, analysis of an action mechanism of ecological environmental impacts of a channel operation period and interference paths, identification of action factors of superimposed and cumulative impacts of channel projects on an ecological environment, and mechanism analysis of ecological environmental impacts of channel projects based on ecological habits and spawning characteristics. The results were as follows:

(11) 1) The geotextile on the water of the phase II channel revetment project is usually made of permeable materials. Underwater steel wire net bag riprap also helps to reduce the barrier of the revetment to materials and energy exchange, and generally meets the material, structure and laying process requirements of the ecological revetment. The revetment has a total length of 47,435 m and an average width of 20 m, permanently occupying a water area of about 949,000 m.sup.2. The habitat function of benthic organisms in this water area is lost during the construction and restoration periods. When sediment slowly fills a stone pocket, a habitat function of aquatic organisms in the revetment can be partially slowly restored.

(12) 2) The on-site monitoring of the noise impact of the Phase II channel bottom protection project shows that the underwater noise spectrum level of a soft body mattress laid in a water area close to the construction site (within a range of 10 m) can reach 105-115 dB, which disturbs fish and finless porpoise in a certain range. The implementation of the impact control countermeasures of “minimizing high-frequency knocking as far as possible” should be required in civilized construction management. The implementation of “selecting a low-noise device conforming to the acoustic environment standard as a device type” shall be required in construction bidding contracts. In order to reduce the blocking effect of bottom protection materials on the material and energy exchange between water and soil, most of dike body mattresses are woven geotextile sand rib soft body mattresses, and most of the rest of the mattresses are needle-punched composite geotextile sand rib soft body mattresses and concrete interlocking block soft body mattresses. Concrete interlocking block soft body mattresses are adopted for a small amount of dike body bottom protection and bottom protection of the rest of the mattresses, and all mattress edges are treated with heavy ballast, thus having a certain effect of reducing the material and energy exchange barrier between water and soil in aspects of materials, structure and construction technology. In order to slow down the impact on plankton, the bottom protection construction operation is scheduled to be completed from November to March of the following year during the dry season. A turbidity preventing curtain is arranged at a construction section close to a water intake to reduce the concentration of SS in water during riprap operation. In order to slow down the impact on benthic organisms, a plan of releasing benthic organisms for three consecutive years is formulated and implemented, so that the species and quantity of organisms are recovered. In order to slow down the impact on fish, research experiments are performed on the technology of ultrasonic fish drive and artificial fish nest, and ecological restoration activities for building artificial fish nest and ecological compensation activities for fish proliferation and release are performed. In order to slow down the impact on rare aquatic wild protected animals, a rescue base of nature reserve for dolphins has been built.

(13) 3) The noise from the construction of spur dikes and submerged dikes in Phase II channel causes some disturbance to endangered protected animals such as fishes and Yangtze finless porpoise. The sudden increase in suspended sediment caused by the construction adversely affects the productivity and feeding rate of zooplankton and fishes. The habitat of benthic organisms in this area is destroyed due to the occupation of local water areas by the remediation structures, which leads to the disappearance of the benthic organisms. After the structures are formed, different flow regions are formed in the vicinity. The flow velocity in the mainstream area of the remediation river reach is significantly enhanced. At the head of the dam, a flow pattern is complicated and the flow is disordered, the riverbed is in an erosion state, and the bottom sediment is unstable, which affects the survival of zoobenthic organisms, and further affects the living environment of aquatic animals and plants. For non-navigable zones of the bifurcated reach and the recirculation zones before and after the spur dike, the flow velocity is reduced and tends to ease, the habitat conditions are relatively good, and the flow velocity and water depth are appropriate. There is stable bottom sediment for zoobenthic organisms and aquatic plants to take root, and other animals such as fishes also choose to live here. In addition, a diversified reach form with alternate rapids and slow flows is built in the remediated reach, which is beneficial to increasing biodiversity and improving river ecology. The ecological protection project shall be designed, constructed and put into operation at the same time as the main projects of regulating spur dikes and submerged dikes. The ecological environment restoration and improvement solution shall be planned in advance before construction, and ecological compensation shall be carried out: benthic organisms shall be released; artificial fish nests are built, and artificial propagation and release of aquatic organisms are performed; and appropriate water areas are selected to set up artificial spawning grounds, feeding grounds and wintering grounds to compensate for the “three fields” of fish lost due to the project invasion. When the migration routes of important fishes are affected, the transitional area between spur dikes and navigation channels can be considered to reserve space for fishes to migrate through, and regular monitoring of aquatic organisms and water environment factors can be performed in and around the river reach to evaluate the effect. Ecological protection spur dikes should be reasonably selected, and design parameters should be optimized according to actual conditions, including dam height, dam length, number, jet angle, material type, structural type, dam spacing, etc. The dam body structure shall adopt materials and structural types that are near-natural and have excellent water permeability. After the new flow and sediment conditions and constraints form a dynamic balance, adverse ecological impacts are gradually restored.

(14) 4) The preliminary design dredging volume during the initial opening period of the Phase II project is 6,117,000 m.sup.3, and the preliminary design dredging volume for the subsequent infrastructure construction is 7,456,000 m.sup.3. Assuming an average dredging depth is 2.17 m, the dredging areas during the initial opening period and the subsequent infrastructure construction period are 2,819,000 m.sup.2 and 3,436,000 m.sup.2 respectively, totaling 6,260,000 m.sup.2, and the preliminary design dredging volume during the subsequent dredging maintenance period is 626.1 m.sup.3. Assuming an average dredging depth is 1.0 m, a dredging area is about 6,260,000 m.sup.2. Due to continuous dredging during construction and operation periods, the benthic organism habitat function of 6,260,000 m.sup.2 is basically lost, and the species, density and biomass of habitat organisms are lower than those in non-dredged areas. In addition, during dredging construction, the concentration of SS in the water in some local areas also increases, resulting in adverse effects on the growth of phytoplankton and fish, which will disappear with the completion of the construction.

(15) 5) The ecological environmental impact during the operation period of the Phase II project is reflected in that the mattress sinking project changes the topography and bottom sediment of the local riverbed, resulting in the loss of bottom mud and varying degrees of changes in the flow field, water quality and feed foundation of the local reach. The project partially changed the flow pattern of water on the shore and in the river and the ecological environment in the nearshore zone, affecting the drifting route of some fish eggs. At the same time, the increase in shipping volume interferes with the spawning activities of fish and also leads to an increase in the mortality rate of fish eggs and juvenile fishes, affecting the early resource situation in the basin. Due to little change in hydrological situation, fish spawning and early resources gradually recover. A shoal (bottom) protection zone reduces the area of the shallow water area in the transition section of the river, and meiobenthic organisms that like flowing water and pebble and gravel bottom sediment lose some suitable habitats and spawning grounds accordingly, resulting in changes in the biological composition of local reaches and even in the structure of regional ecosystems. The Yangtze finless porpoise is extremely sensitive to sounds in the range of 45-139 kHz. When large cargo ships sail, even if the distance is 200 m, their impact on the finless porpoise is obvious. When speedboats sail at a distance of 200 m or large empty cargo ships sail at a distance of 40 m, they have an impact on finless porpoise. If the distance between the sailing ship and the finless porpoise is closer, the impact of ship noise on the finless porpoise is more obvious. After the completion of the Phase II project, the navigable seagoing vessel increases from 30,000 tons to 50,000 tons. As the noise source of an engine increases compared with that before the project, the adverse impact of shipping noise on the finless porpoise obviously increases, and it is imperative to strengthen the protection of the finless porpoise along the river channel. Sudden pollution accidents mainly include leakage of fuel oil and raw materials caused by ship accidents, causing pollution damage to aquatic organisms. Fuel oil leakage causes the finless porpoise distributed in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to have difficulty breathing, and oil stains adhere to the skin, resulting in difficulty in breathing. Leakage of raw materials leads to changes in water quality in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which may lead to life-threatening situations such as acute poisoning of fish and finless porpoise. With the improvement of navigation conditions, the flow of ships increases and the shipping density increases. The discharge of various pollutants and the probability of collision accidents during the operation of ships increase. If the prevention is missing or improper, it causes water, air, sound and solid waste pollution of ships, as well as oil spills from ships and leakage of raw materials, resulting in changes in water quality, poisoning of aquatic organisms and even life threatening, thus causing adverse effects on people's health and aquatic organisms and further affecting the aquatic food chain. In addition, the ecological environmental impact of maintenance dredging cannot be ignored.

(16) 6) According to the foregoing analysis of the interference ways and action mechanisms of impacts of revetment, bottom protection, spur dikes, shallow dikes, dredging and shoal cutting during the construction period and shipping operations during the operation period on aquatic ecology, the whole reach of the Phase II channel may have superimposed and cumulative impacts in aspects of habitat occupation and habitat fragmentation, emission of suspended particles and noise pollutants, interference of construction and operations on protected species, and the like. The spawning grounds are used as places for fish to complete the reproduction process. It is the most important and sensitive habitat for fish. Oviposition fishes are mainly divided into two types: fishes producing drifting eggs and fishes producing adhesive/demersal eggs. The fishes producing drifting eggs have high requirements on the water depth, water temperature, flow velocity and flow pattern of the river channel. They mainly appear in the sections where the riverbed changes rapidly (such as near rock projecting over water). Changes in hydrodynamic conditions to a certain extent (such as vesicle-vortex fluid) can stimulate ovulation of fish. The representative fishes in the water areas of the Phase II project are the four major fishes of the Yangtze River (black carp, grass carp, silver carp and bighead carp), myxocyprinus asiaticus, leiocassis longirostris and coilia ectenes. The fishes producing adhesive/demersal eggs mainly appear in river reaches where the flow pattern is relatively mild or even still and aquatic plants are abundant. As the specific gravity of fish eggs is greater than that of water, the fish eggs often need to be hatched by being attached to the surface of aquatic plants or boulders and silt. The representative fishes in the water areas of the Phase II project are carp, crucian, takifugu obscures, yellow catfish, erythroculter ilishaeformis, xenocypris microlepis, Chinese mitten crab and bream.

(17) In order to prevent and mitigate the superimposed and cumulative adverse impacts of channel projects on these fishes, according to the living environment and habits of representative fishes as shown in Table 1, countermeasures for preventing and mitigating adverse impacts should be planned and implemented in a targeted manner

(18) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Living environment and habits of representative fishes Species Living environment and habits of fishes Black carp It is inhabited in the middle and lower layers of water areas. It mainly feeds on zoobenthic organisms such as snails, mussels and small freshwater mussels. Grass carp It is inhabited in the middle and lower layers of water areas and shores with plenty of aquatic plants. It mainly feeds on aquatic plants, reeds, etc. Silver carp It is inhabited in the lower layer of a water area. It feeds on phytoplankton such as diatoms and green algae. Bighead carp It is inhabited in the upper and middle layers of water areas. It feeds on zooplankton such as water fleas. Carp Benthic omnivorous fish It feeds on both animals and plants. It has a wide feed range and developed rostral bone, and often feeds on mud. Crucian It is a bottom fish, swimming, foraging, perching underwater. It mainly feeds on plant feed. Takifugu It is migratory, is inhabited in the middle and lower layers of water areas, and obscurus migrates to the Yangtze River in groups to spawn and breed in March each year. Juvenile fish live in rivers or lakes through to the rivers to fatten, and return to the sea in spring of the following year. It is omnivorous, preferably carnivorous. Myxocyprinus It likes to move in the middle and bottom of the water body. Every year in mid- asiaticus February, parent fishes with nearly mature gonads go upstream and breed in rapids from March to May. It has frequent food intake, belonging to omnivorous animals. Leiocassis It is a bottom fish, swimming, foraging, perching underwater. longirostris It is carnivorous and likes to hunt at night. Yellow It lives in still water or shallows with slow flow and hides by day and comes out catfish by night, and the male fish have nesting habits during the reproductive period. Carnivorous-oriented omnivorous fish Erythroculter Large freshwater economic fish in the middle and upper layers of waters ilishaeformis Fierce carnivorous fish Xenocypris It is inhabited in the lower and middle layers of the water body. The fish adapt to microlepis flowing water life and are sexually active. In winter, they inhabit deep water with open water surface. After it is warm in spring, they disperse for activities and forages. In spawning season, they have a certain short-distance migration phenomenon and go back to the spawning grounds with suitable conditions to spawn in clusters. It belongs to omnivorous fish and mainly feeds on algae such as underwater humus, diatoms, filamentous algae and debris of higher plants. Chinese It lives in caves in mud banks of rivers, rivers and lakes. It hides in the daytime mitten crab and emerges at night. The Chinese mitten crab swims back offshore to breed. The eggs carried by the parent body hatch between March and May of the following year. The larvae undergo many metamorphoses and develop into young crabs. They then swim up rivers and continue to grow in fresh water. It feeds on animal carcasses or grain. Coilia ectenes It is a small migratory fish living upper and middle layers of warm water, and usually lives in the sea. The coilia ectenes enters the river from the sea in February to March every year, and migrates procreatively up the river. After spawning, parent fishes disperse in fresh water to feed, and slowly return to the estuary and offshore in succession to continue fattening. It feeds on copepods, cladocera, rotifers and small fish, etc. Bream It inhabits the middle and lower layers of the open water area with silt sediment and submerged plants, which is more suitable for quiet water life. It mainly feeds on plant feed.

(19) (3) According to the method for establishing a multi-level comprehensive index system of an ecological environmental impact, an index system based on mechanism analysis systematically displays comprehensive evaluation results of ecological environmental impacts of channel projects and mitigation countermeasures thereof and is used to guide identification, design, monitoring, investigation, analysis and evaluation of key indexes in ecological channel construction; horizontal and vertical main architectures and branch architectures of the architecture are each composed of four levels with an inclusion relation, and include 4 impact process index subsystems, 15 impact type index modules, 39 groups of impact factor indexes and a plurality of single-factor classification item index indexes. See Table 2 for details.

(20) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 List of multi-level comprehensive index system for an ecological environmental impact of a channel project Impact process Impact type Influencing subsystem (A) indicator module (B) factor index (C) Single-factor classification item index (D) Operation Construction Operation time Overall construction operation time sequence behavior operation module sequence (C1-1-1) schedule of different construction sections (D1-1-1-1) system (A1) (B1-1) Operation time sequence of dredging, shoal cutting, damming, bottom protection and revetment in different construction sections (D1-1-1-2) Operation form Material, structure and form of hydraulic structures (C1-1-2) for dredging, shoal cutting, bottom protection and revetment construction at different construction sections operation position and design parameters such as water flow and water depth (D1-1-2-1) Design parameters (D1-1-2-2) such as dam height, length, quantity, jet angle, material type, structural type, dam spacing, whether to include near-natural materials with excellent water permeability and structural type for spur dike and submerged dike construction in different construction sections Operation mode Method for laying different types of soft body (C1-1-3) mattresses for bottom protection construction in different construction sections (D1-1-3-1) Operation modes in each construction operation type of different construction sections that avoid a fish spawning period, a migration period and protect the protected animal Yangtze finless porpoise in a breeding period and a nursery period (D1-1-3-2) Construction organization modes in each construction operation type of different construction sections that avoid centralized operation in the same time period (D1-1-3-3) Indexes such as dredging and shoal cutting excavation, transportation, hydraulic reclamation and mud dumping technologies in different construction sections (D1-1-3-4) Operation Indexes such as operation length, width, volume, intensity (C1-1-4) occupation position of water and land areas, area and construction period of relevant construction operation types in different construction sections (D1-1-4-1) Project change Changes in Changes in construction operation time sequence, and construction scope, project quantity, materials, structure and environmental operations (C1-2-1) construction methods of dredging, shoal cutting, protection damming, revetment and bottom protection and measures other projects during the EIA period and the actual implementation construction period (D1-2-1-1) module (B1-2) Changes in Changes in environmental protection measures environmental during the EIA period and the actual construction protection period (D1-2-2-1) and implementation status of measures (C1-2-2) environmental protection measures (D1-2-2-2) Channel Navigation Changes in tonnage and quantity of navigable operation and operation (C1-3-1) ships, ship type and fuel, cargo type and volume maintenance (D1-3-1-1), coastal port throughput and cargo type module (B1-3) changes (D1-3-1-2), ship and port water, air, sound and solid waste emissions (D1-3-1-3), ship and port pollution prevention countermeasures (D1-3-1-4) Channel Scope, frequency, dredging volume of channel maintenance maintenance dredging (D1-3-2-1) and pollution (C1-3-2) prevention and control countermeasures (D1-3-2-2) Sudden pollution Leakage type Oil spill (crude oil, heavy oil, diesel oil) (D1-4-1-1), accident and (C1-4-1) hazardous chemicals (D1-4-1-2) emergency Leakage scale Easy overflow (D1-4-2-1) and leakage duration module (B1-4) (C1-4-2) (D1-4-2-2) Probability of Risk probability of oil spill and chemical leakage pollution risk accidents of ships and coast of the channel (D1-4- (C1-4-3) 3-1), Susceptible location (D1-4-3-2), statistical probability of classified wind direction and wind speed (D1-4-3-3) Emergency Emergency countermeasures and staffing (D1-4-4-1), preparedness distribution of environmentally sensitive (C1-4-4) resources (D1-4-4-2), emergency plan (D1-4-4-3), pollution early warning model (D1-4-4-4), damage compensation and repair countermeasures (D1-4-4-5) Habitat Hydrological Topographical Changes in shoreline and water depth distribution change environment change (C2-1-1) in different construction sections (D2-1-1-1) system (A2) module (B2-1) Water flow Changes in monthly or seasonal water flow, flow change (C2-1-2) direction and velocity distribution in different construction sections (D2-1-2-1) Illumination Changes in monthly or seasonal illumination change (C2-1-3) condition distribution in different construction sections (D2-1-3-1) Water ecological Water quality Temporal-spatial distribution of pH environment (B2-2) (C2-2-1) (dimensionless) (D2-2-1-1), water temperature (° C.)(D2-2-1-2), suspended solids (SS)(D2-2-1-3), dissolved oxygen (D2-2-1-4), permanganate index (COD.sub.Mn)(D2-2-1-5), five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD.sub.5)(D2-2-1-6), total phosphorus (D2- 2-1-7), ammonia nitrogen (D2-2-1-8), total nitrogen (D2-2-1-9), volatile phenol (D2-2-1-10), petroleum (D2-2-1-11), eutrophication index (D2- 2-1-12), arsenic (D2-2-1-13) and sulfide (D2-2-1-14) Shoal and Particle size distribution of different construction sediment types sections (D2-2-2-1) and habitat types (D2-2-2-2) (C2-2-2) Shoal and Temporal-spatial distribution of petroleum (D2-2- sediment weight 3-1), organic carbon (D2-2-3-2), pH value (D2-2-3- (C2-2-3) 3), cadmium (D2-2-3-4), mercury (D2-2-3-5), arsenic (D2-2-3-6), copper (D2-2-3-7), lead (D2-2- 3-8), chromium (D2-2-3-9), zinc (D2-2-3-10) and nickel (D2-2-3-11) Changes in social Fisheries (C2-3-1) Temporal-spatial distribution of fishery resources and economic (D2-3-1-1) and catch (D2-3-1-2) environment (B2-3) Water Temporal-spatial distribution of annual runoff (D2- conservancy 3-2-1) and sediment flux (D2-3-2-2) (C2-3-2) Environment Temporal-spatial distribution of inflow pollutant (C2-3-3) flux (D2-3-3-1) Traffic (C2-3-4) Corresponding changes caused by navigation environment changes in different construction sections (D2-3-4-1) Species Various aquatic Coenology (C3-1-1) Temporal-spatial distribution of chlorophyll a activity plant and animal content (D3-1-1-1) system (A3) activity modules Phytoplankton (species composition, quantitative (B3-1) distribution, dominant species and species diversity, abundance) (D3-1-1-2) Zooplankton (species composition, quantitative distribution, dominant species and species diversity, abundance) (D3-1-1-3) benthic organisms (species composition, quantitative distribution, dominant species and species diversity, abundance) (D3-1-1-4) Intertidal benthic organisms (species composition, quantitative distribution, dominant species and species diversity, abundance) (D3-1-1-5) Aquatic plants and aquatic vascular plants (species composition, quantitative distribution, dominant species and species diversity, abundance) (D3-1-1-6) Species composition, dominant species, resource density and distribution of fish eggs and larva fishes (D3-1-1-7) Species composition, dominant species, resource density and distribution of necton (D3-1-1-8) Overview of “three fields” of important fishes in project water areas: changes in indexes such as habitat, migratory passage, wintering field, spawning field, feeding field and nursery field distribution (D3-1-1-9) Current situation of fishery production in water areas near the project (D3-1-1-10) Status of rare aquatic protected animals (D3-1-1-11) Productivity Temporal-spatial distribution of primary (C3-1-2) productivity (D3-1-2-1) Temporal-spatial distribution of secondary productivity (D3-1-2-2) Biomass weight Temporal-spatial distribution of petroleum (C3-1-3) Hydrocarbons (D3-1-3-1), copper (D3-1-3-2), zinc (D3-1-3-3), lead (D3-1-3-4), chromium (D3-1-3-5) and mercury (D3-1-3-6) Ecotoxicology Temporal-spatial distribution of biological residues (C3-1-4) (PCB)(D3-1-4-1) Ecosystem Ecological Supply of suitable habitats such as shallow water function (B3-2) service and slow-flowing shoals (D3-2-1-1) functions (C3-2-1) Supply of suitable habitats such as diverse flow patterns (D3-2-1-2) Supply of suitable habitats such as emerged plants (D3-2-1-3) Supply of suitable habitats having water permeability and the like (D3-2-1-4) Ecological Changes in water self-purification capacity (D3-2- landscape health 2-1) (C3-2-2) Diversity and area change of suitable habitats (D3- 2-2-2) Habitat fragmentation change (D3-2-2-3) Human Mitigation Implementation of water quality protection (D3-3- intervention (B3-3) measures (C3-3-1) 1-1) Protection of aquatic organisms (D3-3-1-2) Rescue of aquatic organisms (D3-3-1-3) Implementation effects of ecological restorations such as proliferation and release, artificial fish nest and plant community construction (D3-3-1-4) Key activities of Species activity Ecological habits such as perching, foraging, important (C3-4-1) feeding, reproduction, spawning and migration of organisms (B3-4) main protected species and economic fishes (D3-4- 1-1) Correlation of Activity change correlation indexes such as activity changes important biological community index, habitat (C3-4-2) area, habitat fragmentation, and changes in food sources and water sources (D3-4-2-1) Ecological Itemized impact Direct impact of Direct impact indexes of itemized construction impact (B4-1) itemized operations such as dredging, shoal cutting, system (A4) operation (C4-1-1) damming, bottom protection and revetment (D4-1- 1-1) and channel operation and maintenance (D4-1- 1-2) on an ecological environment Indirect impact Indirect impact indexes of itemized construction of itemized operations (D4-1-2-1) and channel operation and operation (C4-1-2) maintenance (D4-1-2-2) on an ecological environment Superimposed Superimposed Superimposed impact indexes (D4-2-1-1) brought and cumulative impact of by different types of construction operations and impacts (B4-2) multiple projects channel operation and maintenance on the same (C4-2-1) direct impact factors (such as noise in water, concentration of SS in water, flow direction and velocity, habitat change, and loss of shoal and benthic organisms) within the same or similar time and space range Cumulative Comprehensive cumulative impact index (D4-2-2- impact of 1) generated after superposition of various direct multiple projects and indirect impacts in projects and affected areas (C4-2-2) Impact of Measures In the EIA stage of the project, the implementation implementation proposed in the and effect of corresponding environmental effect of EIA stage (C4-3-1) protection measures proposed for dredging, shoal environmental cutting, damming, bottom protection, revetment protection and other construction operations as well as measures (B4-3) channel operation and maintenance (D4-3-1-1), and emergency measures corresponding to oil spill and chemical leakage (D4-3-1-2) Additional Status of additional measures corresponding to measures for impacts caused by project changes (D4-3-2-1) project changes (C4-3-2) Duration of Short-term Indexes of short-term adverse impacts caused by impacts (B4-4) impact (C4-4-1) project construction and maintenance (D4-4-1-1) and seasonal operation (D4-4-1-2), which can be eliminated or significantly slowed down in the short term with the completion of construction and maintenance or seasonal changes, such as the concentration of SS in water and the increase of noise in water caused by riprap and embankment construction, and the indexes of impacts of project construction on key activities such as migration, spawning and overwintering of aquatic organisms Medium and Indexes of adverse impacts of project construction long-term and maintenance, which are still difficult to be impact (C4-4-2) significantly slowed down in the short term even after the completion of construction and maintenance (D4-4-2-1), such as blocking effects of water flow changes caused by riprap and embankment construction on material and energy exchange, where the adverse effects of project operation are still difficult to be significantly slowed down even though seasonal changes (D4-4- 2-2), such as impacts of project operation on migration, spawning and overwintering of aquatic organisms

(21) (4) According to the method for establishing a compliance evaluation index system of an ecological channel, a compliance classification item index system for an ecological channel consisting of three levels, eight classification indexes and 32 item indexes contained therein is used to reflect connotations of safety guarantee type, ecological construction type, environmental coordination type and human-water harmony type of an ecological channel, an item grading index status qualitative or quantitative evaluation criterion system and a scoring rule system are constructed in a matching way to provide a quantifiable technical criterion system (see Table 3 for details) and a method for conveniently evaluating a channel ecological compliance index (URECI), and an ecological compliance evaluation criterion is also constructed in a matching way to evaluate the ecological compliance represented by the URECI for case projects. The evaluation result is that the ecological compliance is excellent.

(22) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 List of qualitative or quantitative scoring criterion system for 32 indexes and 5 grade states Score Index 4 3 2 1 0 Navigation It ensures that It ensures that A 10,000-ton span C11 two 100,000- two 10,000-ton ship cannot ton ships pass ships pass side pass. side by side. by side. Navigation It ensures that It ensures that A 10,000-ton guarantee rate two 100,000- two 10,000-ton ship cannot C12 ton ships pass ships pass side pass. side by side. by side. Improvement Navigation There is no rate of signs, signal sign or no navigation aids signs and obvious sign. facilities C13 special signs are complete. Visual The field of The field of satisfaction vision is vision is not C14 spacious, good. bright and unobstructed. Coastal zone > double the >0.5-1 time >0.25-0.5 time >0.1-0.25 time ≤0.1 time width C21 river width Coastal zone 0-10° 10°-30° 30°-60° 60°-90° 90° slope C22 Revetment type Natural Artificial near- Riprap, low Stone heaps, Concrete C23 prototype natural type earth slope wet masonry retaining wall, stones, dry concrete grid masonry stones vegetation Longitudinal The coastal A small number Interrupt 1-2 Interrupt 3-5 Interrupt more linkage C24 zone is of obstacles times Times than 5 times smooth. Transverse Permeable 60%-80% 40%-60% 20%-40% <20%   connectivity interface >80% C25 Species More than 40 30-40 20-30 10-20 Less than 10 richness C31 Ecological Tree-shrub and Tree-shrub or Tree-grass There is only No vegetation structure grass tree-grass tree-grass one. seeds C32 (cany bamboo) Vegetation Continuous Semicontinuous Block Scattered No vegetation continuity C33 uniform distribution distribution distribution distribution distribution Vegetation >75% 50%-75% 25%-50%  5%-25% ≤5% coverage C34 Species number Species 50%-75% 25%-50%  5%-25% ≤5% renewal rate number >75% C35 Substrate type Clean soil Soil interface, Soil interface, Black thick silt Concrete C41 interface, no silt with a small and more pouring and accompanied deposition and amount of silt permeable impermeable by sandstone artificial deposition and artificial artificial and gravel coverage permeable coverage coverage artificial coverage Topographic Concave- — Locally there — The terrain is complexity C42 convex is topographic flat and hard. undulate relief. porous structure Hydrodynamic Water flow is The flow rate is The flow rate The flow rate It is condition C43 naturally reasonable. is controlled is too fast or completely smooth. by a pump too slow. dead water. brake. Water >2 m 1-2 m 0.5-1 m 0.2-0.5 m <0.2 m transparency C44 Aquatic plant Emerged plant, Emerged plant Emerged There is only No aquatic type C51 submerged and submerged plants and one. plant plants and plants floating plants distribution floating plant or submerged appear. plants and floating plants Number of More than 20 10-20  5-10 1-5 No aquatic species of plant benthic animals C52 Status of The biomass The biomass Pollution- There are only There are no benthic animals and richness and richness are resistant a small amount benthonic C53 are high, and higher. species appear of pollution- animals. there are clean with medium resistant index species. biomass. species and the biomass is very low. Fish species Carnivorous Carnivorous Carnivorous Only filtering- No fish C54 fishes, fishes and fishes and feeding fishes herbivorous herbivorous filtering- fishes and fishes feeding fishes filtering- feeding fishes all appear. Easy Completely — Open at a — Completely hydrophilicity open along the specific closed C61 line location Water surface There are no A small number A small Garbage often The water is cleanliness C62 sundries on the of plants float. amount of floats. very dirty. water surface. garbage is occasionally seen. Coastal zone The seasonal The space The seasonal Spatial- There are no landscape C63 aspects are configuration is changes are temporal spatial- distinct and the beautiful, but distinct, but the changes of temporal layout is well- there is no space landscape are changes and arranged. seasonal allocation is relatively the landscape change. insufficient. monotonous. is monotonous and stiff. Infrastructure The The The improvement infrastructure infrastructure infrastructure rate C71 is sound and is slightly does not undamaged. damaged. match. Energy Promotion of Solar energy Hybrid energy Electric A lot of cleanliness C72 photosynthesis and wind is used. energy, with electric energy energy less power is used. consumption Management The No system C73 management management system has the system function of layer-upon- layer restriction and supervision and regular assessment and training. Maintenance Occasionally a A small amount More manual A large Unattended for difficulty C74 small amount of manual input input is amount of a long term, of manual is required on a required on a manual input is overgrown maintenance is regular basis. regular basis. required for a with weeds performed, and long time. the cost is very low. Comprehensive The The The The The pollution index comprehensive comprehensive comprehensive comprehensive comprehensive of fleet C75 pollution level pollution level pollution level pollution level pollution level of fleet noise, of fleet noise, of fleet noise, of fleet noise, of fleet noise, water and air is water and air is water and air is water and air is water and air is very low. low. relatively low. medium. high. Service area Spacing <10 Spacing 10-20 Spacing 20-30 Spacing 30-40 Spacing >40 distribution rate km km km km km C76 Service area There are The service No service perfectness rate various types area provides a area C77 of services single service. provided in the service area.

(23) (5) According to the method for tracking, monitoring and evaluation based on long-term time series satellite remote sensing, ecological environmental impacts such as erosion and deposition changes, shoreline changes and water area morphologic changes of channel projects are analyzed and evaluated, and tracking and monitoring of easily identifiable target project construction details, comparison of project impact scope consistency and project implementation effect evaluation are performed. The details are as follows:

(24) 1) Remote sensing image data sources were selected: Four kinds of optical satellite remote sensing data were mainly used, namely MSS, TM, ETM and OLI_TRIS data of Landsat series of the United States. This case study acquired and processed remote sensing image data of a reach of a phase II project for more than 40 years from the mid-1970s to the recent period (2015-2017). The data was collected in six stages, namely, the mid-1970s, early 1980s, early 1990s, 2000, around 2010, and the construction period of the project from 2015 to 2017. The data of the same period of the year (dry season) was selected, as shown in Table 4.

(25) TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Remote sensing image data source of a reach of the case project Sequence Image shooting Optical Number of Spatial number time sensor type images resolution (m) 1 Mid-1970s MSS 3 78 2 Early 1980s MSS 6 80 3 Early 1990s TM 4 30 4 2000 ETM 6 30/15 5 2010 TM 4 30 6 2015 to 2017 OLI 6 30/15

(26) 2) The evaluation results show that during the 35 years from 1981 to 2015, the channel water area of the reach of the Phase II project of the Yangtze River decreased by 82.02 km.sup.2, where the water area decreased by 26.93 km.sup.2 from 1981 to 2000, with an average annual decrease of 1.42 km.sup.2, and the water area decreased by 55.09 km.sup.2 from 2000 to 2015, with an average annual decrease of 3.67 km.sup.2. The water area morphological changes of the Hechangzhou reach and the Fujiangsha reach were the most significant, mainly dominated by deposition, while the rest of reaches were not changed much in 35 years and remained basically stable.

(27) 3) According to remote sensing monitoring, as of Apr. 22, 2016, the 3150-meter submerged dike at the head of Shuangjiansha, the revetments on both sides, and the spur dikes on the north and south sides of Shuangjiansha were basically completed. Satellite remote sensing monitoring realizes the tracking and monitoring of the whole process of channel regulation project construction in the Fujiangsha reach. Monitoring results show that the project impact scope conforms to the prediction scope of environmental impact evaluation. The construction of the project has good practical effects on the shoreline stability, the balance between erosion and deposition and the stability of water body morphology.

(28) (6) According to the method for analyzing and evaluating a superimposed and cumulative impact model, a superimposed cumulative area and impact of SS concentration exceeding the standard in water caused by construction operations as well as the superimposed cumulative mortality and impacts on benthic organisms caused by the construction operations are analyzed and evaluated. The specific analysis results of the calculation of the superimposed cumulative area of SS concentration exceeding the standard in water and its impact are as follows:

(29) 1) According to simulation results of the water flow and sediment model, when the sediment source intensity of riprap operation reaches 6 kg/m.sup.3 and it is discharged continuously for 36 hours, the concentration increment of SS exceeds 10 mg/L within 800 m downstream during spring tide. If the transverse diffusion range is 125 m, the area of pollution exceeding the standard is about 100,000 m.sup.2. The impact range of dredging operations on the downstream exceeding the standard reaches about 2,000 m. If the transverse diffusion range is 200 m, the area of pollution exceeding the standard is about 400,000 m.sup.2.

(30) 2) In order to calculate the superimposed and cumulative impacts of the impact range of SS exceeding the standard in channel project construction, according to the method for analyzing and evaluating a superimposed and cumulative impact model, a relevant superposition and accumulation formula of the case project is studied and established, specifically as follows: ASS=ΣASSi=Σ(DSSi×WSSi×Ni+AWi), where ASS is an area with superimposed SS exceeding the standard due to channel project operations; ASS.sub.i is an area with SS exceeding the standard due to the i-th operation mode; DSS.sub.i is a longitudinal transmission distance of the area with SS exceeding the standard due to the i-th operation mode (the distance is 2000 m for dredging operation, and 800 m for other construction operations); WSS.sub.i is a transverse diffusion range of the area with SS exceeding the standard due to the i-th operation mode (the range is 200 m for dredging operation, and 125 m for other construction operations); N.sub.i is the number of section constructions for the i-th operation mode (the number of section constructions of the dredging, spur dike and bottom protection laying, and revetment projects of the Phase II project are 21, 14 and 16 respectively); and AW.sub.i is a water area occupied by the i-th operation mode (the water areas for the dredging, spur dike and bottom protection laying, and revetment projects of the Phase II project are 6,260,000 m.sup.2,117,000 m.sup.2 and 949,000 m.sup.2 respectively).

(31) 3) Assuming that the concentration of SS in various construction operation regions of the Phase II project exceeds the standard, and considering that the transmission and diffusion impact range corresponding to the area exceeding the standard in each operation area should be added to the area of pollution exceeding the standard that is simulated by the foregoing model, then according to the superposition and accumulation formula of the foregoing impact range of the SS concentration exceeding the standard for channel project construction, the areas with the SS concentration exceeding the standard for dredging and other construction operations of the Phase II project are calculated to be 14,660,000 m.sup.2 and 4,066,000 m.sup.2 respectively, and the area of the superimposed impact with the SS concentration exceeding the standard is 18,726,000 m.sup.2. The growth of phytoplankton and fish in these areas is adversely affected to a certain extent during the corresponding construction period.