Stupid questin about hydropower

[Massacure]

Isn't it possible to build a fish run to help the fish migrate? Or are there other problems besides fish migration?

[One_Life_To_Give]

1. More to it

Not my area. But among other concerns are changes in water levels, sedimentation rates and the like.

[illflem]

2. Most modern dams have fish ladders

The bigger problem is when the young fish migrate down stream many go the though the power generation turbines. It's not as bad as it sounds, the turbines turn slowly, 60 rpm. It disorients the fish though and they become easy prey for predators. Biggest problem dams create for fish is loss of habitat when a river becomes a lake.

[Massacure]

4. Well, what if you artificially extend the river a bit?

You can't build a dam on sediment, it has to be on bedrock. Is it not possible to raise the land to something more suitable with that sediment?

[izzie]

5. Some of those lakes are also having trouble.

They used to write about it but have not seen much of late.

[TO Kid]

8. 60rpm?

If the turbine is only running at 60rpm you'd need 60:1 gearing to run the generator. A magnet has to spin at 3600rpm to produce a 60Hz wave.

[Ready4Change]

3. The bigger the installation, the more problems you'll have. (nt)

.

[Journeyman]

6. Best Dam book you'll ever read. . .

Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner.

An excellent history about the the age of dams and the coming water crisis in the West. Informative, with no punches pulled, Reisner lays out the frightening situation we face, both in the West and throughout the nation. It's a great read, too.

[phantom power]

7. This site has descriptions of the problems that dams face

http://www.glencanyon.org/

Sedimentation is the ultimate reservoir killer. Any reservoir will eventually silt in. How long that takes depends on the silt-load of the river and the size of the dam.

The ecosystem of a reservoir is different than that of a river. If you let fish up the dam, they may still not find the reservoir a viable place to live.

The shoreline ecology is also different.

[NNadir]

9. I love this site. It keeps using the word "restored," though, in the

photo section. I wish it were so.

They canyon is "restored," just so long as the drought continues. If heavy snows come back to the rockies, all of this "restoration" will be redestroyed. The Canyon will not truly be restored until the dam comes down.