1000 dams down and counting

O'Connor, J. E.; Duda, Jeffrey J.; Grant, Gordon E.

doi:10.1126/science.aaa9204

Cited by 272 publications

(186 citation statements)

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“…Some new initiatives are, however, being planned [42] and implemented [43], mainly in Western European countries; this allows us to suspect that the number of removed dams will increase across the continent. Similarly, observing advances in dam removal around the world, including the best documented dam removals in the US [44], we foresee that the 21st century will include more ecosystem-economy-based discussions; our results, which are oriented at the calculation of healthy rivers' services, may contribute to these discussions. The results of the research on dams' downstream effects provides sufficient evidence that dam-reservoir-induced flow-regime changes and the related negative responses of humans and of riverine and riparian ecosystems must be addressed through (costly) mitigation measures [13,[45][46][47].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Muller et al [49] hypothesized that humanity-for its own sake and benefit-is likely to continue degrading rivers by introducing newly built infrastructure than to restore the rivers' environmental features. However, along with increases in sustainable growth and outstanding recent advances in ecological engineering, with more than 1000 dams removed in the US [44] more than 1 billion USD spent on river restoration in the US [50] and more than 23,000 river stretches restored in Japan [51] the awareness of the need for a high-quality environment will also rise [52,53], so we believe this negative scenario will not come to pass.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Status of and Perspectives on River Restoration in Europe: 310,000 Euros per Hectare of Restored River

2018

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Abstract:The purpose of the present research was to analyze the available data on river restoration projects in Europe. As the framework of our study, we conducted a structured international survey. We asked selected entities and experts from among those responsible for river restoration in European countries about the details and costs of European Union river restoration projects. We examined 119 river restoration projects that were implemented in Europe between 1989 and 2016; during the collection of data, some of the projects were still ongoing. Based upon the collected data we observed that the number of river restoration projects has been increasing since 1989, which expresses society's growing interest in improving the quality of aquatic environments. We revealed that 56% of these European river restoration projects have been implemented by dedicated entities and stakeholders, not as part of any structured, larger-scale river restoration policy. This indicates that most European countries do not have integrated plans for river restoration. Our analysis showed that 52% of the projects analyzed have been designed and implemented without the participation of local stakeholders. It also showed that the budgets for river restoration projects did not differ significantly across various time horizons from 1989 to 2016. In our study, the average cost of restoring 1 ha of an European river was 310,000 euros (EUR). Considering these projects' permanent assets and including their amortization, we calculated the average unit price of a river restoration's value in terms of ecosystem meta-service to be 7757 EUR·ha −1 ·year −1 .

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Status of and Perspectives on River Restoration in Europe: 310,000 Euros per Hectare of Restored River

2018

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“…While dam construction continues at pace in many parts of the world, particularly China and India, in North America and Europe there has been a marked overall slowdown in large dam construction (Chao et al, 2008;Winemiller et al, 2016) and concurrent increases in dam removal (O'Connor et al, 2015). Dam removal now outpaces construction in the USA and is increasing at an exponential rate (American Rivers, 2014) (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking refuges: Implications of climate change for dam busting

Beatty

Allen

Lymbery

et al. 2017

Biological Conservation

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Climate change is projected to alter river discharge in every populated basin in the world. In some parts of the world, dam removal now outpaces their construction and the diminishing cost efficiency of dams in drying regions is likely to further increase the rate of removals. However, the potential influence of climate change on the impact of dam removals has received almost no consideration. Most dams have major biological and ecological impacts and their removal would greatly benefit riverine ecosystems. However, using model regions in the Southern Hemisphere, we highlight that artificial lentic habitats created by dams can act as refuges for increasingly imperiled freshwater fishes, and dams may also prevent the upstream spread of invasive alien species in rivers. We argue that, in these and other regions where the major impact of climate change will be to reduce streamflow and aquatic refuge availability, a shifting balance between the negative and positive environmental impacts of dams requires policy makers to include climate change predictions in prioritisation processes for dam removal.

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“…Revealing the full set of benefits and losses associated with the function of the dam is expected to support (economically) decisions on the maintenance of the dam or on its removal in the future. Observing quick and positive responses of river systems to dam removals [5] fosters hope that there is still a chance to preserve Europe's unique anastomosing system before its complete degradation, which appears to result partly from the operation of the SR, by managing the landscape of the Narew Valley.…”

Section: Implications For Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The influence of dams on river systems is reportedly several times greater than, for example, the influence of climate change [2]; therefore, the analysis of downstream effects of dams (reservoirs) remains an important issue in international scientific literature [3][4][5]. Based on the modification of river discharge on an hourly and daily basis, seasonal changes of flow regimes [6,7], and water temperature modification [8] in impounded rivers, dams can be considered a key element affecting the hydrology of downstream reaches of rivers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-Term Downstream Effects of a Dam on a Lowland River Flow Regime: Case Study of the Upper Narew

Marcinkowski

Grygoruk

2017

Water

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Most European riverine ecosystems suffer from the negative influence of impoundments on flow regime. Downstream effects of dams lead to a number of environmental and socioeconomic risks and, therefore, should be thoroughly examined in specific contexts. Our study aims to quantify the downstream effects of the Siemianówka Reservoir (Upper Narew, Poland), using statistical analysis of key elements of the river's flow regime, such as the flow duration and recurrence of floods and droughts. In a comparative study on control catchments not influenced by impoundments (the Supraśl and Narewka Rivers), we revealed the following downstream effects of the analyzed dam: significant shortening of spring floods, reduction of the duration and depth of summer droughts, decrease of the maximum discharge, and homogenization of the discharge hydrographs. Although we determined a significant decrease in the duration of summer floods in the "before" and "after" dam function periods, we showed that this issue is regional, climate-related, and replicated in control catchments, rather than an evident downstream effect of the dam. We conclude that significant hydrological downstream effects of the Siemianówka dam-reservoir system could have been the main driver inducing the deterioration of the anastomosing stretch of the Narew River downstream of the dam.

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1000 dams down and counting

Abstract: Dam removals are reconnecting rivers in the United States

Cited by 272 publications

References 12 publications

Status of and Perspectives on River Restoration in Europe: 310,000 Euros per Hectare of Restored River

Status of and Perspectives on River Restoration in Europe: 310,000 Euros per Hectare of Restored River

Rethinking refuges: Implications of climate change for dam busting

Long-Term Downstream Effects of a Dam on a Lowland River Flow Regime: Case Study of the Upper Narew

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