Chapter 434: Far Ahead
Artificial intervention in natural rivers may cause some damage to the ecological environment, as well as change the characteristics of rivers and cause unpredictable disasters.
There are real cases of this happening, but Ernst doesn’t think so. This is a question of trade-offs. If the benefits obtained through manual intervention outweigh the disadvantages, then the East African government must do it.
Under natural conditions, affected by the geostrophic deflection force, rivers are always curved, but the curvature of the river will not continue to increase. When the curvature reaches a certain level, the flow speed of the river will slow down. Silt is easy to deposit, so if the free meander is artificially cut and straightened, what will happen to the river?
Because the river is straightened and there is no buffer, floods are prone to occur. Cutting and straightening the river reduces the basin area and reduces the utilization rate of river water. Places that used to drink ground water and use ground water for irrigation had to use groundwater. The reduction of the river basin area also reduced the downward penetration of river water, which reduced soil water retention, causing water shortages in many places, which was harmful to animals, plants and humans. has a great impact on survival.
Secondly, this can easily lead to the development of eutrophication of water bodies. The channelization of river beds is often accompanied by a decrease in the water level, resulting in a general reduction of hygrophytes in the natural environment. Subsequently, some river-related natural environments along the river also gradually disappeared, such as forests on alluvial soil evolving into hardwood forests. Even if a natural river meander is artificially straightened, it will still gradually become a meander.
Ernst agrees with this 21st century argument, but this problem is not without solutions. Just like Taoism advocates "governing by doing nothing", ordinary people think it makes sense, but some people only focus on the word "inaction". If you really choose "inaction" and do nothing, then you are really stupid. And stupid.
Regarding these problems, Ernst’s solution is to follow nature and transform East Africa on an overall basis, making East Africa more livable.
Ernst, who was in Europe discussing business, took the time to formulate several general directions for the river reconstruction of the East African coastal plain, and conveyed it to Constantine via telegram:
"One, rivers The transformation must be based on the original river. For example, we need to cut the bend and straighten it, but the entire river cannot deviate from its original position to prevent excessive changes in the underground water source.”
"Second, widening the width of the river will inevitably erode the vegetation on both sides of the river. While widening the river, new vegetation must be transplanted on both sides of the river to prevent the river from eroding the water and soil along the coast and silting the new river."
"Three, change During the process of building rivers, we should try to avoid damage to the original river bed and minimize the killing of fish and other organisms in the river. "
"Fourth, urban sewers should avoid direct access to rivers and other inland natural water bodies. sewage, but to build new pipes The road leads directly to the sea. ”
“Fifth, for the wetlands that have been reduced after the rivers are cut and straightened, we should build more small and medium-sized reservoirs along the river to regulate the river flow and help ensure agricultural water use.”
“ Sixth, try not to damage the river network, because building canals and changing river courses will inevitably block the connection between some streams and large rivers. In a responsible attitude towards the future, we must re-open them to prevent rainwater from flowing into the rivers and flowing to the sea during the rainy season.”
There are six points in total, which can be regarded as a relatively general guideline. For this reason, Constantine opened the phone and asked: "Ernst, your six-point suggestion is a bit overly worrying!"
Constantin It is normal to be incomprehensible. Most people in this era think like this. There is no concept of ecology and pollution.
Ernst: "Father, as long as this kind of thing is done according to my wishes, it doesn't have to be perfect. If you can do it seven or eight times, it will be a good achievement. I am just giving suggestions and not making any strict rules. ”
Feeling that it was still a bit hollow, Ernst began to look for examples to convince Constantine.
“Industry in today’s era is developing roughly, and not many people pay attention to environmental issues. That is because people are not aware of the harm of environmental destruction. In Europe, the most typical example is London.” “London is the current It is one of the cities with the highest degree of industrial development in the world, but the damage to London's environment caused by the black smoke and sewage emitted by the factories is visible to the naked eye. The black smoke is easy to say, and the wind blows it all over the world, but even so, London is still "Smog City" shows that the power of nature cannot directly purify the air in London. The black smoke is absorbed by the human body and must be harmful. Although I can't provide any scientific evidence, workers living in the most polluted areas, they Lifespan and disease cannot be deceived.”
“The second is industrial wastewater, which is discharged directly into the Thames River. The entire Thames River is a large smelly ditch, and a large part of London’s domestic water is taken from the Thames River. This kind of water is good for drinking. In particular, the land near the sewage outlet in the industrial zone is barren. Even grass cannot survive, let alone people. Moreover, the sewage containing various impurities is not managed in any way and directly pollutes the land along the coast. Land restoration is It is very difficult, even difficult to recover.”
“Furthermore, urban development must be people-centered, and the environment of European cities is far inferior to that of rural areas. I believe you can see this from Hechingen and Hecheng. The comparison in Stuttgart will give you a very intuitive feeling.”
“East Africa certainly does not reject industrialization, but sustainable long-term development. We do things well from the beginning and pay the cost of governance and correction in the future. "
Now the Little Rhine's status to East Africa is the same as the Thames' status to Britain. There are capitals of both countries along its banks, so Ernst's management of the Little Rhine is also the same. Rather caring.
However, the plan to control the Little Rhine River is only suitable for coastal areas, which are not far from the sea. East Africa can build sewage drainage ditches directly connected to the sea through engineering.
Ernst had already experimented with this when Soga City was founded, building a separate sewage drainage pipe network system that extended to the sea.
The domestic sewage of the First Town (there is basically no industry in the First Town) is currently discharged directly into the Little Rhine. Ernst also plans to convert the underground sewer system and cables of the First Town. It connects to the city and finally enters the sea near the coast of Dar es Salaam.
Cities in the Central Province that are close to the sea can do this. In inland cities such as Nairobi and Mbeya, sewage is still discharged into rivers and lakes, and finally flows into the sea through rivers.
Protecting the ecological environment is indeed a bit ahead of its time, but Ernst believes that since he has the ability, he should take the initiative to implement it in East Africa.
Doing this is nothing more than paying more labor and material costs, and the cheapest thing in East Africa is manpower. Materials are consumed, and production must occur, which can further enhance the level of industrialization in East Africa.
The value of rivers such as the Little Rhine is mainly reflected in three aspects: navigation, irrigation and water supply. Although it is troublesome to directly discharge sewage into these rivers, it is not necessary.
That is to say, the first town is not an industrial city, otherwise the farmlands downstream that rely on the Small Rhine water for irrigation will have to suffer irreversible pollution.
Looking back at the compromises and concessions made by East Africa to protect the environment now in the 21st century, East Africans must thank Ernst for his long-term vision.
(End of this chapter)