Open AccessAssessing Sediment‐Related Effects of Dam Removals: Subcommittee on Sedimentation: Sediment Management and Dam Removal Workshop; Portland, Oregon, 14–16 October 2008
Author(s) -
Wallick J. Rose,
Randle Timothy
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/2009eo170004
Subject(s) - sediment , sedimentation , environmental science , dam removal , flood myth , hydrology (agriculture) , habitat , water quality , water resource management , geology , geography , ecology , geotechnical engineering , archaeology , paleontology , biology
For a host of reasons including dam safety, maintenance costs, and ecological concerns, more dams are currently being removed each year in the United States than are being constructed. Because many reservoirs have accumulated sediments within their pools, dam removal can potentially impose a variety of sediment‐related risks, including downstream effects on habitat, water quality, infrastructure, and flood storage. Sediment‐related risks are particularly heightened when the sediment stored behind a dam is contaminated.