The largest US dam-removal effort to date has begun
The largest US dam-removal effort to date has begun
As US dams age, removal is always an option—and it can be done well.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Wending its way from the Olympic Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Washington’s Elwha River is now free.
Once the project is complete, the Klamath will run from Oregon to northwestern California largely unimpeded, allowing sediment, organic matter, and its restive waters to flow freely downriver while fish like salmon, trout, and other migratory species leap and wriggle their way upstream to spawn.
“They’re in rivers beyond their designated life span,” said Lucy Andrews, a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies water resource management.
“They have a high potential of failure, particularly when climate change is considered.” In other words, these dams weren’t designed for today’s capricious precipitation regimes.
In addition, dams “have displaced tribal nations from their lands and severed connections to culturally important waterways and species,” Andrews said, speaking specifically about California.
Today, US dams control floods, generate hydroelectric power, and store water for municipal or agricultural use, he explained.
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