Dam and reservoir removal projects: a mix of social-ecological trends and cost-cutting attitudes

Habel, Michał; Mechkin, K.R.; Podgórska, Krescencja; Saunes, Marius; Babiński, Zygmunt; Chalov, Sergey; Absalon, Damian; Podgórski, Zbigniew; Obolewski, Krystian

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-76158-3

Cited by 64 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…The United States has more dams than any other nation (183), with detrimental consequences for diadromous fishes and many other aspects of river ecosystems. However, between 1968 and 2019, 1654 dams of all sizes were dismantled in the United States, with an increasing trend for dams less than 7.5 m high.…”

Section: Dam Namementioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, between 1968 and 2019, 1654 dams of all sizes were dismantled in the United States, with an increasing trend for dams less than 7.5 m high. If past trends continue, then there should be a slow amelioration of dam effects; forecasts are for between 4000 and 36,000 dam removals in the United States by 2050, and more dams are being removed in North America and Europe than are being built (183).…”

Section: Dam Namementioning

confidence: 99%

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North American diadromous fishes: Drivers of decline and potential for recovery in the Anthropocene

Waldman

Quinn

2022

Sci. Adv.

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Diadromous fishes migrate between freshwater and marine habitats to complete their life cycle, a complexity that makes them vulnerable to the adverse effects of current and past human activities on land and in the oceans. Many North American species are critically endangered, and entire populations have been lost. Major factors driving declines include overfishing, pollution, water withdrawals, aquaculture, non-native species, habitat degradation, over-zealous application of hatcheries designed to mitigate effects of other factors, and effects of climate change. Perhaps, the most broadly tractable and effective factors affecting diadromous fishes are removals of the dams that prevent or hinder their migrations, alter their environment, and often favor non-native biotic communities. Future survival of many diadromous fish populations may depend on this.

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Section: Dam Namementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Dam Namementioning

confidence: 99%

North American diadromous fishes: Drivers of decline and potential for recovery in the Anthropocene

Waldman

Quinn

2022

Sci. Adv.

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“…As a rule, they were built on large and medium-sized rivers and, unfortunately, a signifi cant number of them do not function today. Instead, the State Agency of Water Resources of Ukraine has introduced a project in the form of an interactive online map that provides open access to data on quality indicators and environmental assessment of water in the control section lines of observations [19,20]. Thus, with a total of more than 5,000 rivers and streams within the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to the interactive map, only ~50 observation posts are active.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of fragmentation impact of small riverbeds by artificial waters on the quality of water resources

Hapich¹,

Andrieiev²,

Kovalenko³

et al. 2022

Nauk. visn. nat. hirn. univ.

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Purpose. Study the spatial distribution of artificial reservoirs in the Dnipropetrovsk region and fragmentation impact of small riverbeds on changes in the quality of water resources. Methodology. Field studies on the current state of small river basins were carried out, rivers were selected on the principle of different geographical location and levels of anthropogenic impact. Analytical laboratory studies of water salt composition and methods of mathematical analysis were used to establish the dependence coefficients of water mineralization level and fragmentation of the river basin on the water flow regulation. Findings. The structure of the spatial distribution of artificial reservoirs in the administrative districts of the region and their hydrological characteristics are generalized. It is shown that small volumes of accumulated water in relation to the total area of reservoirs are the cause of intensive heating and evaporation of water. Due to this, the hydrochemical parameters of water are worsen, which affects the environmentally safe water use. It was found that the level of mineralization, the content of sulphates and chlorides exceed the maximum acceptable concentrations in all studied rivers. There is a tendency of deterioration of water quality in the salt block, especially in rivers with significant regulation of artificial reservoirs. In this case, water salinity exceeds the norm by 712 times. Indicators of water mineralization of rivers with fewer ponds and less fragmentation of the river basin exceed the standards by 25 times. Originality. It is determined that among the main factors of anthropogenic impact on the state of aquatic ecosystems is the fragmentation of riverbeds by artificial reservoirs, which turned rivers into cascades of water evaporating ponds. There is a close relationship between the factors of water flow regulation and the level of water mineralization (coefficient of determination R2 =0.62), as well as the coefficient of fragmentation of the river basin (R2 = 0.61). This proves the possibility, in the conditions of research of small rivers, to estimate the degree of change (increase) of water mineralization level by the coefficient of water flow regulation Kw and the coefficient of river fragmentation by the area Practical value. The main directions and ways to normalize the ecological status of watercourses are given. The necessity of systematic study of the current ecological condition of small rivers of Dnipropetrovsk region and their basins is determined.

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“…The impacts can reach such a level of severity that dams and reservoirs are removed (Habel et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of hydropower reservoirs on floods: Evidence from large river basins in Austria

Stecher¹,

Herrnegger²

2022

Preprint

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Dams and hydropower reservoirs constructed in the headwaters of river basins alter the hydrological characteristics as well as other physical and biological conditions of rivers downstream. In this study the impact of reservoirs on floods is systematically assessed for 8 heavily modified river basins in Austria. Since discharge data prior to the construction is not available the natural unaffected annual peak discharges downstream of the reservoirs were estimated by transposing the peak runoff of an unaffected reference catchment by considering the spatial proximity, the catchment area and the precipitation conditions in both catchments. The potential impact is then calculated by comparing the estimated and the observed discharge peaks. The results show significant flood peak reductions not only at gauges directly affected by the reservoir but also further downstream at receiving rivers. The propagation of the flood peak reduction downstream is also related to the ratios (i) between the reservoir catchment and the total catchment area and (ii) between the storage capacity and the catchment area. This indicates the decrease of possible flood control further downstream. Considering the return periods, results indicated that flood peak reductions are most significantly for events with higher return periods. Extremer events with return periods larger than 30 years show a considerable flood peak reduction of over 33 % on average. These findings show that reservoirs foremost constructed for hydropower generation also contribute significantly to flood control and flood risk mitigation.

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Dam and reservoir removal projects: a mix of social-ecological trends and cost-cutting attitudes

Cited by 64 publications

References 55 publications

North American diadromous fishes: Drivers of decline and potential for recovery in the Anthropocene

North American diadromous fishes: Drivers of decline and potential for recovery in the Anthropocene

Study of fragmentation impact of small riverbeds by artificial waters on the quality of water resources

Impact of hydropower reservoirs on floods: Evidence from large river basins in Austria

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