Excerpt from Dam Removal: A Citizen's Guide to Restoring Rivers, written by the River Alliance of Wisconsin and Trout Unlimited, Published in 2000:

"Dams played a critical role in the settling of the United States. Today, there are an estimated 2.5 million dams of various sizes in our rivers and streams. While many dams still make valuable contributions to our society, many others have fallen by the wayside and are relics of earlier generations. Such structures pose public safety hazards and are an economic burden to dam owners. Dams can also be extremely damaging to fisheries and river ecosystems. This is because dams fragment and block rivers, preventing rivers from carrying out their natural functions. Dams not only negatively affect flowing waters, they contribute to the degradation of the impoundments (ponds) they create. Removing old, unsafe and uneconomic dams can be a win for public safety, a win for financially burdened dam owners, and a win for the rivers that enabled the dams to serve a purpose whose time has now passed.

...Dams were [once] an integral part of daily life. The dams and their impoundments were used to generate energy (by turning water wheels), grind grain, move logs down rivers, water livestock, irrigate crops, control floods, and create a reliable water supply. Later, many dams were used to drive electric turbines. In many areas of the United States there are rivers that have been dammed, for some or all of their length, for well over 200 years. However, as society's needs changed, more and more of these old dams were forgotten or so badly neglected that repairing them today carries a big price tag.

....Most dams in the United States are either privately owned or owned by local governments (i.e., taxpayers). Owning a dam involves a substantial amount of financial and legal responsibility. Dam owners are required by law to keep these structures safe. It can be expensive to make dams safe, and many dam owners have a difficult time paying for required repairs. Dams that generate no income, yet continue to demand upkeep are particularly burdensome. It is usually at this point that the decision to repair or remove a dam needs to be made."

Removing a dam can prove especially beneficial. Following a dam removal, local residents reap the benefits of improvements in:  public safety (no more deteriorating dam to avoid), the river's health (significant improvements in water quality, water flow, wildlife habitat, wildlife mobility result), the biodiversity of local aquatic wildlife (more diverse fish species and other animals occupy the area), recreational river access, and more.

Dams harm riverine ecosystems. They heat up the water, making it uninhabitable for aquatic life that require colder temperatures, they cause unhealthy nutrient levels, high rates of sedimentation and a paucity of dissolved oxygen in water upstream of the dam. Downstream, dams cause shortages of nutrients and wildlife habitat. Removing a dam improves water quality and access to high-quality wildlife habitat, encouraging a greater variety of fish and other aquatic wildlife to return. Without a dam blocking the river and degrading water quality, these species can survive and thrive - and they do. Local biodiversity increases significantly after dam removal. 

Dams are often beyond their average life expectancy (50 years); they are in deteriorating shape as a result. Being in the path of constantly flowing water, all dams need regular maintenance. Unfortunately, many do not receive that maintenance. 

Dams are also expensive to maintain; over the long-term, dam removal is usually significantly less expensive than regular dam maintenance.

Deteriorating dams - and even dams in good shape - can pose public safety hazards, including dangers to swimmers and boaters. 

Dams impede public recreation.

Despite all of the above, not all dams should be removed. For example, dams should not necessarily be removed if they are economically viable, if their removal would worsen local environmental conditions for the long-term (e.g., enable invasive, diseased, or contaminated aquatic species to travel further along the river), or if they are truly historical structures.

Contact Carly Rocklen if you are interested in learning more about removing a dam on your property: rocklen@neponset.org, 781-575-0354.

The above paragraphs are based on Dam Removal: A Citizen's Guide to Restoring Rivers, written by the River Alliance of Wisconsin and Trout Unlimited, Published in 2000:

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