The Dam Tsunami - The Invisible War Against Rivers in Europe

Almost eight years ago we gathered the data and created a map of all planned dams in the Balkans. The results were shocking to many people, even to those who liked hydropower. Thousands of dam projects became strikingly visible, threatening the most valuable rivers of the continent – the Blue Heart of Europe. In order to prevent these outrageous plans, Riverwatch and EuroNatur started a campaign in cooperation with local NGOs in the Balkans.

BY ULRICH EICHELMANN

In cooperation with NGOs (WWF EPO, EuroNatur and Geota) we recently did a dam assessment for the whole of Europe and the outcome is again an eyeopener.

In addition to the 21,400 existing dams, about 9,000 more hydropower plants are in the pipeline or already under construction, 2,500 of them inside protected areas such as national parks and Natura 2000 sites.

According to experts like Steven Weiss from the University of Graz, 20-30 fish species will go extinct if these dam plans become reality. Of course, this number would just be the tip of the iceberg with regards to biodiversity loss, since insects, mollusks, amphibians, plants and other groups of life would also suffer considerably.

If we don´t stop this hydropower madness, we are facing nothing less than the end of free-flowing rivers and streams in Europe and a collapse of biodiversity.

Dam construction in Valbona river in the Valbona National Park. Photo credit Mirjam Aliaj

The Ugur River in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Once, a spawning site for hucho (Danubian salmon).

What makes it even worse is the fact that over 90 percent of all the proposed and ongoing hydropower projects are so-called small-scale dams with an installed capacity of less than 10 Megawatt. These dams don´t even produce substantial amounts of electricity while causing considerable destruction.

Here is an example: In Germany there are about 7700 registered hydropower plants of which 7300 (or 94%) of them are smaller than 10 Megawatt. These 94% produce only about 15% of Germany’s hydropower electricity. However, it is important to understand that it’s not electricity, but the overall energy mix that is the crucial indicator for climate change issues and the country’s energy policy.

we are facing nothing less than the end of free-flowing rivers and streams in Europe and a collapse of biodiversity

Germany - A Case Study

In Germany, hydropower adds about 0,6% of the “energy cake”. This means, that 7300 small-scale dams only deliver 0,09% of the German energy mix, but they destroy 7300 rivers and streams. This is crazy, yet the percentages are similar in all other European countries as well.

In 2018, even the EU Commission noticed this disproportionality in a report about hydropower on the Balkans, and recognized that “…the contribution of small hydropower plants of a capacity of 10 MW or less to the global energy production is extremely limited while their impacts on the environment are disproportionately severe.”

So, dams are definitely not green, and small is certainly not beautiful. But why on earth are we facing this dam tsunami if it doesn´t make sense from the an energy point of view? The answer: Profit. Subsidies are driving the boom. Paid via electricity bills, the investors receive up to 3 times the market prize for their electricity from small dams, guaranteed for a long period of time (usually 10-15 years). And to top off this absurdity: the smaller the hydropower plant, the more money you get per kWh.

These small dams are particularly dangerous, because they are being constructed in the headwaters of our river systems. Many of these streams are the last to still be in more or less intact condition, or – following the EU wording – have a good ecological status.

The dam plans not only constitute an attack on the very last lifelines of Europe, but also on the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), as they strongly contradict with the goals of this directive.

Time is ticking for nature and especially for rivers!

In Serbia, the government plans to build 870 hydropower plants. But protest is huge in the country. in February 2019 about 5,000 people protested in Belgrade against destroying their rivers.

However, it seems that without us fighting against this madness, nobody would care, neither in EU institutions nor in the member states. The hydropower industry is fighting an invisible “war” against our rivers. For investors and many politicians every free-flowing waterway is a potential dam site.

So what can we do?

The most crucial thing is to eliminate the subsidies for hydropower. If the destruction of our rivers continues to be financially supported, we will not succeed in saving them. Secondly, we must join forces much more than we used to. The fishing community, NGOs,

activists, celebrities etc. must work together. Similar to the climate crisis, time is also ticking for nature and especially for rivers.

We cannot afford a “business as usual” approach. It’s either now or never and it’s no one else but us. In the EU, they are currently discussing a Green New Deal. Fine. But we also need a Blue New Deal, protecting our last free-flowing rivers, stopping absurd subsidies and initiating river restoration and dam removal, instead. Let´s go for it!

Langarica dam in Albania, diverting the water away from the HotovС-Dangelli National Park. This HPP was constructed by the Austrian company ENSO Hydro.

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