Mitigating impacts of climate change on flow regimes through management of small dams and abstractions

Abstract

Unregulated ‘free-flowing’ streams are essential in maintaining the ecological health of river systems within basins that are increasingly regulated by large dams. However, flow regimes in ‘free-flowing’ streams can nonetheless be impacted by smaller distributed (diffuse) forms of regulation such as small dams and pumped extractions, and climate change is expected to exacerbate these impacts. Research into these diffuse sources of regulation is rare. This study examines the relative impacts of climate change, small dams, and small extractions on streamflow. We assess whether active management of small dams and small extractions represents a potential option for mitigating reductions in flow ..