critical look at social impact evaluation of dam construction by revised simpacts software - a case study of alborz dam in northern Iran

There is much discussion going on lately whether dam construction is economic or not in terms of social consequences. Accordingly, various techniques and software have been released to estimate the real social cost of dam construction among which, the Software SIMPACTS has been used extensively by researchers, worldwide. The present version of SIMPACTS software only focuses on adverse effects of hydropower dams regardless of their potential positive impacts. In order to fix the existing bugs, the software was modified by programming a new cost-benefit model in which the costs of power generation, irrigation and drainage, aquatics, and potable water as well as the benefits from electricity sales, elimination of pollutants, increased cultivated area, aquaculture practice and also prevention of flood in the area, were included. The obtained results revealed that the total costs of the Alborz Dam, including the costs added to the modified model, will raise from 164 US$/Mwh calculated by the original version of the software to US$ 1049 per MWh. Besides, total revenues resulting from the above mentioned variables added up to the model reaches US$ 1994 per MWh. Therefore, the cost over benefit ratio for construction of Alborz Dam is equal to 1.5. In other words, a sum of US$ 28 million would be expected as the annual net profit of the project which has totally been overlooked in the original model

Quantification of social impacts of large hydropower dams- a case study of alborz dam in mazandaran province, northern Iran

Despite the numerous advantages of large dams, there is still a deep suspicion about the real, long-term benefits and costs of their construction. Land use change on a vast scale, displacement of a large population of indigenous people, loss of biodiversity and production of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as environmental, socioeconomic and cultural consequences resulting therefrom, indicate clearly the need to reconsider the growing trend of dam construction in the world. The present study was conducted to calculate the real cost of generating electricity imposed on communities and environment in order to clarify the adverse socioeconomic impacts of large dams that are often ignored due to short-term, economic benefits. Accordingly, Alborz Dam, a large dam in northern Iran, was selected as a case study to run cost-benefit analysis by SIMPACTS Software. The obtained results revealed that the total external cost of electricity generation by the hydropower dam is about 0.16 US$/kWh. In other words, the annual cost of the electricity generation by Alborz Hydropower Plant is US$ 4.8 million/year. The highest share [163 US$/MWh] belongs to the loss of agricultural production while the lowest cost [0.10 US$/MWh] is associated with the loss of life. According to the estimated values, a total amount of 1074 tons of greenhouse gas emissions is expected to be released into the air by the hydropower dam operation. It should be stated that SIMPACTS Software only considers the adverse effects of hydropower dams and there is a need to improve the capability of the software by adding the positive impacts in to the overall computations, as well

[Locating landfill for solid waste municipal by fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and data envelopment analysis [case study: Alborz province]]

Solid waste municipal landfill can have injurious effect on society health, economic and environment. Therefore, spread evaluation in locating landfill is necessary to identifying the best places. The purpose of this paper is locating landfill for solid waste municipal for center of Alborz province. In this paper, suitable areas are identified for land filling solid waste municipal by weighted linear combination and cluster analysis in 20 years period. Thus, suitable areas were weighted by FAHP method. Those weights were used for ranking areas by DEA technique. Results showed among five landfill alternatives for solid waste municipal for center of Alborz province, alternative 1 is the best for land filling. This place is just 7 percent of total suitable places. The approach are used in this article [combination method of fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and Data envelopment analysis] can be suitable for locating in other areas because when an option add or delete; option ranking is not different with previous

Evaluation of aluminum-coated pumice as a potential arsenic [V] adsorbent form water resources

In this study, the removal of As [V] from water resources by using aluminum-coated pumice as a new adsorbent was assessed. The features of the adsorbent coating layer were observed by X-ray diffraction [XRD] and Scanning Electron Microscopy [SEM]. The effects of various parameters such as adsorbent doses, pH, contact time, arsenate initial concentration and interfering ions in arsenic adsorption and achieving high removal efficiency were studied. The results showed that the adsorption of As [V] was extremely influenced by the phosphate interfering ions. It was also defined that more than 98% of As [V] was removed by 10 g/L of the adsorbent with initial As [V] concentration of 250 micro g/L at pH =7 and in 160 minutes. The adsorption equilibrium were analyzed by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. Such equilibriums showed that the adsorption data was well fitted with Freundlich isotherm model [R[2] >0.99]. The data achieved from the kinetic studies were processed by kinetic models of pseudo-first-order. The results indicated that the pseudo-second-order model could describe the adsorption of As [V] by pumice coated with alum [R [2] >0.92]. According to achieved results, it was defined that aluminum-coated pumice not only was an inexpensive absorbent, but also a quite effective factor in removal of As [V] from water resources

Phytoremediation potential of Populus alba and Moms alba for cadmium, chromuim and nickel absorption from polluted soil

Metal pollution has become one of the most serious environmental problems resulting from human activity. Phytoremediation utilizes plants to uptake contaminants and can potentially be used to remediate metal-contaminated sites. The present study investigates heavy metal uptake [Cd, Cr, and Ni] from soil by different organs of Populus alba and Moms alba. For this purpose, Cd [40, 80, and 160 mg/kg], Cr [60, 120, and 240 mg/kg] and Ni [120, 240, and 480 mg/kg] were added to the soil in pot experiments over the course of a growing season in open air. The total concentration of these metals was measured in the roots, stems, green leaves, fallen leaves, and the corresponding soil. Our results show that the highest accumulation of all studied metals was found in the leaves. Furthermore, the fallen leaves had higher concentrations of Cd and Cr in P. alba and Cr and Ni in M. alba when compared to the green leaves. In the two species, Cd and Ni did not transport from the leaves to the roots and stems, or vice versa, in the fall season, but Cr was transported from the roots and stems to the leaves in the 240 and 480 mg/kg treatments.In addition, the determination of a bioconcentration factor and a translocation factor showed that P. alba and M. alba were suitable for phytoextraction of Cd and Ni in all treatments respectively; however, none of the plants was suitable for phytostabilization

Impacts of soil acidity on qualitative and quantitative conditions of broadleaf and coniferous trees

To recognize the impacts of soil acidity on quantitative and qualitative conditions of broadleaf and coniferous trees in Syyahkal watershed region of northern Iran, hand-cultivated adjacent stands of different species of Pinus taeda, Acer insinge, and Alnus subcordata were compared. To gather general information about the soil type in each site, one profile and in total five soil profiles were dug, identified, and classified. In each site 35 individual plots have been selected and thus from all 175 plots available vegetative characteristics of above said tree species including height, diameter and volume have been determined. In order to determine the soil characteristiscs in each plot and based on our previous knowledge, samples from two specific horizon depths [0-15 cm., and 15-30 cm.] were collected. Then, in total of 135 samples specific chemical analyses of concern [pH, N.K.P] were carried out. Next, based on appropriate statistical studies [Student t-test, Fisher F-test, or ANOVA, Tukey test or HSD and regression analysis] the relation between vegetative characteristics of forest trees and different soil parameters in each adjacent sites have been compared. This comparison clearly showed that the hand-cultivated stands do not share similar vegetative characteristics status and in fact due to past thinning nurturing operations Pinus taeda has gained the most volume in acre. Statistical tests reveal that an increase in the amount of soluble nitrogen as a nutrient substance with regard to the vegetative parameters for all three plant species involved translates into a direct dependent relation. This means that an increase in tree diameter, height, and volume is expected wherever more concentrations of soluble nitrogen exists. The soil profile descriptive tables clearly show that Pinus taeda has taken root deep in the soil due to the lack of nutrients at soil surface layers. Thus, it would not be logical to suggest the re-plantation of this species in ruined forested areas of interest