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Dam Re-operation: Influences on Natural and Productive River Processes (Glen Canyon and Green River Dams)by Andrew Judd, B. S. and Daene C. Mckinney, PhD., PE ABSTRACT Each of the estimated 45,000 large dams (over 15 meters high) built on nearly one half of the world’s rivers was constructed for the purpose of achieving specific benefits such as power generation, water storage, and flood control. Many large dams are operated under a management perspective which solely focuses on maximizing the specific benefits for which the dams were designed, with minimal consideration given to the dam’s impact on the downstream natural river environment. This limited management perspective typically results in a regulated river system where the less tangible costs of water resource development such as species decline, water quality impacts and habitat degradation, are not included in planning future dam operation strategies. Dam re-operation, the process of revising established dam operation practices to include environmental and other neglected but impacted areas into the management perspective, provides significant potential for improving dam degraded natural river environments while continuing to sustain the benefits which the dam was built to provide. This project examined two case studies of dam re-operation; the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River in Arizona and the Green River Dam on the Green River in Kentucky, with the purpose of determining what factors are allowing or preventing re-operation to occur and what the potential is for improvement under modified dam operations. The highlighted links that follow are connected to Adobe pdf files of the corresponding material. To view them you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0. View the Report...(529 KB)
These materials may be used for study, research, and education, but please credit the authors and the Center for Research in Water Resources, The University of Texas at Austin. All commercial rights reserved. Copyright 2002 Center for Research in Water Resources. |
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