 Belarus electricity producers plan to build dams on the river Neman
Since 1999 Belarus electricity producers have been inspired by the idea to dam the river Neman. The project long passed the planning stage and was given “go ahead” by the Belarus Government in 2003 aiming for completion in 2005. But it seems that lack of funds is perhaps the main reason for current delays. It also seems that environmental impacts of the dam are not of great concern to anyone apart from local environmentalists.
At the end of January 2004 Grodno mass-media reporters were invited to attend a staged event to mark the formal start of construction works. Two days before the event it was announced that construction start date had been postponed. According to Mr. Vladimir Shaternik, Director of GRODNOENERGO, a state owned electricity producer, delays were temporarily and construction works would start soon.
Old, but not forgotten idea
The idea to build hydroelectric dams on big rivers was very popular in the middle of the last century. In today’s Belarus this idea is gaining a new momentum. This is perhaps because imports of oil and gas from Russia are gradually becoming more expensive and the nuclear power is not very popular in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. Against this background hydroelectricity seems like an economic and environmentally friendly option.
The information about plans to dam the river Neman first appeared in Belarus mass media in the beginning of the year 2000. At the time GRODNOENERGO planned to build two hydroelectric plants on the river Neman. The location for the first plant called “Grodno” was chosen about 8 km upstream the City of Grodno, and for the second plant called “Nemnovo” about 18 km downstream, near Lithuanian border. Currently, a detailed engineering design of the first plant is under way. A conceptual design was approved by the Belarus State Environmental Expertise in 2004 with minor comments.
The “Grodno” plant has the design output capacity of 17 Megawatt. It includes the 10 m high dam impounding the 50 km long reservoir. Although the plant would add less then 6% to the total power generation capacity of the whole Grodno oblast, it is being viewed by GRODNOENERGO as the priority additional source of electricity with the expected environmental benefits associated with the reservoir being new fisheries and water sports and recreation.
Environmental Impacts
Although proponents claim that environmental impacts of the dam have been considered in the Environmental Statement, there are serious concerns that some of the key impacts may have not been properly identified and assessed. The artificial reservoir may bring more long-term problems rather than benefits due to siltation, deterioration of river water quality, degradation of fisheries and aquatic biodiversity, river banks erosion. Archeologists and local historians are very concerned about important historical sites to be flooded. On top of that there likely to be significant long-term downstream impacts due to effects of the dam on the river hydrology and the river sediment loads, which I am afraid, may have been overlooked by the Environmental Statement. These impacts are likely to be felt downstream in Grodno and in the neighbouring Lithuania.
The river Neman bed is built predominantly of gravels underneath and sand on top. For thousands of years as well as today fine sand and other river sediments naturally carried by the river are being deposited on the river bed. This naturally occurring process of building the river bed is very sensitive to changes in the river hydrology and the river sediment loads. The dam intercepts most of the river sediments and the water throughput control dramatically changes the river hydrology natural pattern. These cause the river bed erosion and formation of trenches which deepen the river bed leading to a drop in the water level, changes in water flow pattern, river bank erosion and emerging of new banks and islands. All of these make strong impact on river ecology and may cause damage to the existing infrastructure, particularly to various pipelines running under the river Neman. Hydrological impacts of the dam are likely to be more significant in Lithuania where the river Neman widens and slows down after passing through the Grodno Heights.
The above paragraph summarizes the assessment by Dr Victor Katolikov, leading hydrologist of the State Hydrological Institute (St. Petersburg, Russia), who led the team of hydrologists investigating Belarus stretches of the river Neman several years ago. Apparently, neither GRODNOENERGO nor Ministry of Nature Resources has taken Dr Katolikov’s assessment into account.
There is only one river Neman
The Belarus Government approved plans to build the Grodno dam in 2003. The decision is final, any public consultation was, and still is, out of question. GRODNOENERGO couldn’t even respond to suggestions made by local environmentalists and mass media about round table discussion. Apparently, releasing brief information to a local newspaper is considered to be enough for a public consultation.
Fortunately to the river Neman, and contrary to the optimistic views constantly expressed by the proponents of the dam, the construction has not started yet and no one can actually tell when it is likely to start. Perhaps economic issues may be the main problem which causes delays. According to GRODNOENERGO the whole scheme would cost $ 27 million to build. Given the scale of the scheme, it may not look like large sum of money, but it is probably more than GRODNOENERGO may be able to finance on its own. Apparently, early plans to attract foreign investments are becoming less and less feasible.
Like in Belarus, there are proponents of hydroelectric schemes on the river Neman in Lithuania. But unlike in Belarus, plans to build hydropower plants in Lithuania are publicly discussed and views of the public are being considered. In March 2004 the international workshop “Environmental impacts of hydropower plants proposed to build in Lithuania and Belarus” was held by Lithuanian Green Movement and Coalition Clean Baltic. Participants from Lithuanian, Belarus, Russian (Kaliningrad) and Swedish NGOs and from Lithuanian environment protection and research institutions have issued an open appeal to Governments within the Baltic Sea Basin to adopt a more a responsible approach to the natural resources management including rivers and natural landscapes.
Shortly after that the Government of Lithuania passed a resolution which bans construction of dams on the river Neman. Apparently, it has gone unnoticed in Belarus.
Grodno,
19 March 2005.
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