[We have been mainly focusing on the Namokhvani/Tvishi or "Namakhvani" projects, however, there is more trouble afoot on the Rioni. Just upstream, more dangerous HPPs are planned at Oni. This piece has been translated from the Georgian language source: https://www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/30527523.html. Original text author: Eka Kevanishvili, April 3, 2020. The original article includes photo and video material.]
In Racha, Oni district, on the Rioni River, an environmental permit for the construction of the "Oni Cascade" hydroelectric power station has been issued.
Facts in brief: Oni Cascade (Oni 1 HPP - 122.46 MW and Oni 2 HPP 83.7 MW) will have a total capacity of 206.1 MW. Each stage of the cascade includes the following main structures:
● Headwater intake facility.
● Diversion-pressure system.
● Power unit (HPP building and substation).
The structure of the HPP will not be a dam, but a cascade of hydropower plants running on the natural flow of the river.
Racha is one of the most dangerous regions of Georgia seismically. In 1991, there was the strongest earthquake (magnitude 7) ever recorded in the Caucasus. Where the HPP is to be built, there are many "torrential" rivers which flood in the springtime, many of which, as hydrologists point out, are not fully described scientifically. Part of the Rioni River must be turned into a tunnel.
These are just a few details that opponents of building a hydropower plant in Oni cite as an example of why a solid "no" should be said to the Oni cascade.
In this article, Radio Liberty offers three arguments against building the Oni HPP.
* * *
"Reincarnation of the idea that emerged during the communist era" is what Dato Chipashvili, a representative of the Green Alternative, an environmental organization that has been working on the issue of hydropower plants for a long time, calls the Oni Cascade.
Dato tells us that in Oni, the idea of building a hydroelectric power plant did not appear today or yesterday. This idea originated in the Soviet period and is a story of that time. But during the process it turned out that the HPP had to be built elsewhere, higher up, a reservoir had to be arranged -- there was talk of flooding the village of Chiora, and so on.
Then the project stopped. Perhaps one of the reasons for this was the 1991 Racha earthquake.
Dato Chipashvili thinks that no one can escape the fact that Racha, from a seismic point of view, is still a dangerous area, regardless of how water in the region is managed today. Moreover, he says, the tunnel into which the Rioni River would have to run for several kilometers, would run through specific villages in landslide-prone areas, and have to pass along floodplain riverbeds.
"With this project, it is planned to build 2 tunnels. There is the Oni 1 HPP tunnel - 12.5 km long and the second, Oni 2, is approximately 9.5 m long, a little below, above the village of Sori. In these areas, including the village of Utsera, the Rioni River, as people see it today, will no longer exist. Just 2.5 cubic meters of water per second will remain, a small trickle." Considering the size of the Rioni riverbed, whether this water will appear there at all is still a question," said Dato Chipashvili.
What role does Rioni play for the local population right now? Here is one example.
At the place where water would vanish from, from the Rioni River catchment point to the discharge point, about 10 "torrential" rivers flow. The mass of sediments and debris brought by these rivers is currently washed away by the Rioni. The danger that over time might have been created for these villages by the accumulation of this rubble is being regulated by the Rioni.
Dato Chipashvili says that the environmental impact report says that if, for example, the flooded Mushuani River brings debris, they will be able to open the gates on the dam above and release the Rioni for two or three days, which will wash away the accumulated debris. But this statement, in the opinion of the environmentalist, is not based on any research.
According to him, a second issue is that no one knows exactly when a strong earthquake may happen again in Racha, as well as whether the tunnel in which Rioni is being planned to be built will be able to withstand such an earthquake. There is also no answer to the question of what will happen if landslides are caused as a result of the earthquake:
"I do not know of any country where a hydroelectric power plant was built in such a seismically zone. I also do not know of any example of a hydropower plant being built on "torrential" rivers, as happened in Mestiachala in Svaneti," said Chipashvili.
More detailed remarks and questions are given here [http://greenalt.org/publications/cagerisa_da_onshi_hesebi/] in the study of the Oni HPP cascade's environmental impact assessment and the scoping reports of the Namakhvani HPP cascade by representatives of Green Alternative and the Georgian Young Lawyers Association.
* * *
Tea Godoladze, director of the Institute of Earth Sciences and the National Center for Seismic Monitoring, was also approached by the Oni Cascade initiative group to study the issue, and made an official response stating that the EIA does not assess seismic risks in the construction area. Quote:
"Specific work is always to be carried out for seismic hazard assessment for such buildings and different levels of seismic hazard are determined (the so-called maximum possible earthquake, working-level earthquake, etc.) in current international practice and recommendations on seismic hazard assessment of hydraulic structures. It should be noted that for seismic hazard assessment it is important to determine the ground category of the area, which is done through seismic profiling. The report states that such works have been carried out, but no actual results have been provided."
Radio Liberty asked Tea Godoladze why she opposes "Oni Cascade".
She told us that the study of seismic loads attached to the EIA has quite a few shortcomings. She distinguishes two specific risks and told us that, most importantly, "the [seismic] catalog on which this research is based is not good and correct. And they also do not have an accurate map of the active faults, or the data, where earthquakes have taken place."
Tea Godoladze also explained that Racha is currently the most active segment of the well-known Gagra-Java disintegration fault. Which, in her words, means that earthquakes are happening there and will happen for a good long time.
"Let's not forget that we had here one of the biggest earthquakes recorded in the Caucasus - a magnitude seven. And companies that build hydropower plants, as a rule, design for low seismicity," stated Godoladze.
Addition, hydrology is a very poorly studied field in Georgia, according to Godoladze.
"We have not seen a single report that accurately calculates water usage counting times when rivers are in extreme situations. Do you know what is meant here? For example, the Vere River [in Tbilisi] is calm today, but we have seen what it can turn into [in the 2015 floods] and such can happen as often as every 30 years. We do not know what might happen with the floodwaters in Racha. Essentially, it turns out that we would be going in to do something blind."
* * *
In addition to some environmental organizations, the civil movement "No to Oni Cascade" is opposed to the construction of a hydropower plant in Racha today. This is a movement which unites people who are concerned about the fate of Racha and have been following the developments there from the very first day.
Rati Metreveli is one of them. And he opposes the Oni Cascade primarily because no thorough research has been conducted there.
"Our movement has contacted seismologists and hydrologists, and there are specific answers to our questions about why the river can't be taken away from the valley. We already have seen the example of the Shuakhevi HPP, how construction started without research and how that process ended [in disaster]. The builder of the Oni Cascade will probably, with ordinary carelessness, begin to argue that the research is valid and thorough, including the seismic studies; however, our movement believes that this seismic survey is erroneous and incorrect."
Rati Metreveli also questioned the validity of Gamma Consulting's environmental impact reports and says that there are many questions about how honestly this organization does such work (this organization has completed the Shuakhevi HPP project EIA [as well as the one for Namakhvani HPP!]).
Additionally, Metreveli stated that "Oni Cascade One is actually implemented in the area of the Utsera resort. The disappearance of the Rioni river in the resort area should be alarming not only for the Utsera community, but for the whole country. It is often said that the project is being implemented for 21 kilometers. Yes, that's the stated plan, but in reality the riverbed will go for 36-37 kilometers without a river. I do not need to emphasize that the project is implemented in a seismically unstable place, but will just point out that this fact is even written in the Racha-Lechkhumi-Kvemo Svaneti development strategy, adopted during the Prime Ministership of Bidzina Ivanishvili and bearing his own signature, where it is stated that large projects are not advisable due to seismic instability."
On the other hand, announcements about the benefits of building a hydropower plant, that it will create jobs on the ground, strengthen the population in rural areas, that electricity will become free, Rati Metreveli described as simply populist statements, saying that this is "just the shiny paper with which this harmful project is wrapped".
"In order to support a population living in the countryside, the people themselves are needed. As our villages are already nearly empty, I think rather that the community of Utsera would simply cease to exist with the Rioni," Rati Metreveli told RFE / RL.
The construction of a power plant in Oni, obviously, has supporters as well - first and foremost in the form of the government and the Ministry of Economy. The arguments of the proponents of the Oni Cascade, not only of the construction company, but also of their fellow energy professionals and other specialists who, as the Ministry of Environment tells us, were actively involved in the discussion process, will be discussed in following publications of Radio Liberty.
The Ministry of Environment Protection, which has already issued an environmental permit for Oni Cascade, stated that it was satisfied with the studies submitted by JSC Oni Cascade.
No comments:
Post a Comment