| North America
The first national-scale assessment of fish passage facilities at US hydropower developments for over 30 years has been carried out
deficiencies, sedimentation is a common one. Most reservoirs identified with decrease in storage due to sedimentation did not make corresponding operational adjustments. According to the authors, prolonged drought without operation adjustments led to continuous reduction in storage for many large reservoirs in the southwest US (eg, Lake Mead, Lake Powell, and Lake Navajo), posing potential threats to water supply and hydropower security. In conclusion the Yanan Chen and Ximing Cai say the deficiencies identified in this study can inform reservoir operators of the need for operational adjustments, especially during extreme events.
Glacial decline Canada is home to a quarter of the earth’s glaciers but
at its current pace, global warming could reduce the volume of the country’s western glaciers by as much as 96% in the next 75 years. Recent increases in annual melt have been described as ‘alarming’ and between 2021 and 2024 glacier melt rates in Western Canada have doubled the pace observed in the previous decade. This seems to be compounded by the problem of fallen ash from
Left: Drought levels in Lake Mead – one of the reservoirs in a recent study on storage and operation changes in the US
wildfires which darkens the surface of glaciers so that they absorb and don’t deflect the sun’s warmth. The role of glaciers in hydropower generation varies between regions. In some watersheds there are no glaciers while in others the contribution of annual glacial runoff can make up to around a fifth of total runoff. So in watersheds with shrinking glaciers there may be an initial increase in flow available for hydropower but a decrease in the long term. Research suggests glacier steam flow in western Canada is already past peak water levels, with glacier runoff contributions mostly decreasing.
References
www.gftinc.com/project/lake-williams-dam-rehabilitation/
A census of fish passage facilities at US hydropower developments across the conterminous United States by Paul G. Matson, Bryan B. Bozeman et al. Journal of Environmental Management Volume 391 September 2025, 126623.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.126623Get rights and content
The storage and operation changes of 256 reservoirs across the contiguous United States. Chen, Y., & Cai, X. (2025). WaterResources Research, 61, e2024WR037372.
https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR037372
www.bchydro.com/news/conservation/2025/
what-we-lose-as-our-glaciers-shrink-and-vanish.html
www.waterpowermagazine.com | September 2025 | 17
Below: The melting Athabasca Glacier with the retreat between 2006 and 2023 due to climate change and global warming, Jasper and Banff national park, Icefields parkway, Canada. The Athabasca Glacier, part of the Columbia Icefield, is not directly used for hydropower generation, but its meltwater contributes to rivers that are used for hydropower downstream
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