Recultivation of Agricultural Land Impaired by Construction of a Hydropower Plant on the Sava River, Slovenia

Abstract

Hydropower plants on the lower river Sava, Slovenia, were developed without sealing the underground upstream. As a consequence, without the countermeasures of elevating and recultivating, the agricultural land on the river banks would be inundated because of the water-table increase of the river. To remedy this, the fields were elevated and recultivated. The goal of this study was to assess soil quality and production potential after land raising and recultivation and to answer the question whether it is possible to recover soil quality and crop yield after large-scale mass manipulation, such as land raising. After recultivation and after the second year of land reuse for the two cultures grass-clover mixture and corn on two sites, Middle Pijavsko and Lower Pijavsko, soil physical and chemical characteristics and crop yields were evaluated. Mixing of topsoil with the second horizon during removal and during backfill with filling material resulted in uneven soil fertility, plant growth and decreased yield. Driving on the refilled second layer with heavy machinery caused soil compaction in the Middle Pijavsko in spite of favourable soil texture (loam, 38 . 7% sand). On the areas with very high sand content (over 55%) and low clay content (10%), soil compaction was not as severe or persistent. Recultivation measures restored the agricultural land almost to the production potential prior to powerplant construction. Immediate intensive land use (corn) showed less favourable effect on soil characteristics.

Pumped hydro storage plants: a review

“…The literature presents several direct impacts of hydropower dams over natural rivers/ecosystems, among them: fragmentation of the fluvial environment, impacting the biota, including migration processes [74]; effects on fish communities due to pulsed flows, including stranding, downstream displacement, reduced spawning and nest site dewatering [74]; changes in water quality [75], impacting both ecosystems and water uses; alteration of river´s sediment dynamics [76], affecting the watershed downstream the dam; land degradation [77], loss of vegetation (including riparian vegetation) [78] and agricultural lands; conflicts over the use of water (for example, for irrigation [79]), and reduced availability for other uses; watershed water losses due to reservoir evaporation [80]. Other direct/physical environmental impacts of hydropower plants are loss of historical remains and terrestrial fauna and flora, including rare, endemic, localized, threatened or endangered species [67], visual pollution [71].…”

Compensation for soil degradation after easement of agricultural land for a fixed period

“…V pogodbi o ustanovitvi služnosti je navedena le vrnitev v prvotno stanje zemljišča. V praksi največkrat uporabljeni izračun (Zupanc et al, 2016) pogosto ni v skladu z razmerami na zemljiščih, ki bi potrebovala daljše obdobje rehabilitacije oziroma rekultivacije, vključno z rabo posevkov, ki so posejani z izključnim namenom izboljševanja talnih lastnosti. Ti praviloma ostanejo na njivi, zato njihova pridelava ni namenjena neposrednemu zagotavljanju dohodka (Krümmelbein et al, 2010;Krümmelbein in Raab, 2012).…”

“…Pregledali smo različne primere začasne uporabe kmetijskih zemljišč v slovenskem prostoru, iz katerih je razviden vpliv na rodovitnost tal, izpad pridelka ter ocena trajanja sanacije. V pregled smo vključili naslednje primere začasne uporabe: (i) nadvišanje kmetijskih zemljišč ob reki Savi (Zupanc et al, 2012;Prus et al, 2015;Zupanc et al, 2016), (ii) rekultivacija površinskih kopov (Škornik Grdina, 2016;Donko, 2017), (iii) deponija gradbenega materiala (Pintar et al, 2011;Zupanc et al, 2017) Pri vsakem primeru smo ocenili obseg začasne zasedenosti, vpliv na kmetijsko zemljišče, predvsem z vidika kakovosti tal. Preverili smo, kako je bilo popisano stanje prej in potem; kateri talni parametri so bili merjeni in kakšen vpliv so imele posamezne vrste začasne zasedenosti kmetijskih zemljišč na morfološke (globina in zgradba profila, struktura), fizikalne (tekstura, zbitost, gostota, poroznost, hidravlična prevodnost) in kemijske (pH, organska snov, založenost s hranili) lastnosti tal.…”

Environmental risk resulting from historical land degradation in alluvial plains considered for dam planning

“…On the other hand, they can also have adverse environmental impacts, for example, increased evapotranspiration, barriers to aquatic organism migrations, thermal stratification, changes in sediment load and nutrient levels, and loss of terrestrial habitats to reservoir habitats (Abbasi & Abbasi, ; Kumar & Katoch, ; Scherer & Pfister, ). They can also have significant socio‐economic impacts, for example, on the quality and production potential of agricultural land next to rivers (Zupanc et al, ).…”