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Abstract:The impacts of climate change on water resources were analysed for the Hii River basin and downstream Lake Shinji. The variation between saline and fresh water within these systems means that they encompass diverse ecosystems. Changes in evapotranspiration (ET), snow water equivalent, discharge into the basin, and lake salinity were determined for different climate scenarios. The impact of climate change on a brackish water clam found in the lake was then examined using simulated monthly variations of lake salinity and information from prior studies of the clam.ET increased and snow water equivalent decreased for all scenarios incorporating temperature rise, particularly during the winter season. Furthermore, ET and snow water equivalent were not as sensitive to variations in precipitation and thus temperature rise was considered to be a major factor for these variables. Nevertheless, monthly discharge volume was more influenced by variation in precipitation than variations in temperature. Discharge increased during both the summer and winter season, since precipitation contributed to river discharge instead of being stored as snow pack during the winter season. The magnitudes of salinity dilutions and concentrations predicted under the climate change scenarios would not be lethal for adult clams. However, the egg-laying season of the clam would coincide with periods of strong salinity dilution in the lake. Since juveniles are less tolerant to changes in salinity, future generations of the clam may be affected and reproduction of the clam may be reduced by increasing precipitation in the future.

The Sekampung Hulu and Sangharus rivers were selected as target sites to study improved use and conservation of dam reservoir water because the region is an important source of fresh water, irrigation water for downstream agriculture and production of hydropower. The two rivers exhibited differences in average water quality. Most water quality parameters exhibited clear differences between the two rivers at each sampling event, with the relative differences not changing during the sampling period. Analysis of water quality based on land use percentage indicated that upland fields had a major impact on most water quality parameters. In addition, forest and plantation conditions had a major impact on the suspended solids concentrations. The results of the present study suggest that current management of these land use categories may not be adequate to prevent or even decrease erosion.

An investigation of the water quality in an under-populated watershed was conducted over a 15-year period in which data was collected at weekly intervals. The purposes of this study were to analyze the long-term trends in water quality and to evaluate the relationship between the water quality and precipitation. Concentrations of total phosphorus (T-P), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and suspended solids (SS) reached remarkably high values under heavy precipitation conditions, and these concentrations increased exponentially with the amount of precipitation. Over the course of this study, the population, number of factories, animals (cow and pig), and area of agricultural land exhibited clearly decreasing trends, while steady progress in domestic wastewater treatment was realized. However, no clear decrease in the parameters of water quality was observed, and some nitrogen, phosphorus, and COD concentrations increased even though no significant change in precipitation occurred. A possible hypothesis explaining this lack of a clear decrease in water quality is that specific pollutant outflows from forests and agricultural lands may have increased in recent years. This is because poorly managed forests and agricultural lands in the under-populated watershed have adversely affected the water quality of the rivers.

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