Run-of-the-River As Alternative

from ROR Magazine: Lifestyles of the Global Educationist - Spring/Summer 2023

Looking ahead…

Run-of-the-river is a new application of old principles to generate low-head hydroelectric power. As in previous centuries, water is diverted from a river to the water turbines and then flows back into the river instead of being held in a reservoir. There may be a small weir, but the river is not completely blocked. In a run-ofthe-river system, the water is normally delivered via a canal, or conduit diverting the water from upstream of the power plant. Of course, there must be enough of a drop in height for the water to have sufficient kinetic energy to power the turbines. And the river must have a steady flow throughout the year.

Run-of-the-river hydroelectric power facilities have minimal or no water storage, thus reducing the environmental impact. However, low-impact is not the same as no-impact. Water temperature changes and dissolved gasses downstream may impact fish. And in some instances, a ladder may be required for fish to help them swim upstream. Because the water is only diverted instead of dammed, there are many more suitable locations worldwide than with traditional hydropower. Run-of-the-river systems cost less than traditional hydroelectric systems to construct and may be completed in less time.

A disadvantage of run-of-the-river hydroelectric systems is that they have little or no energy storage capacity. All rivers have fluctuations in their flow. For example, the flow is relatively high in the spring but becomes low during the warm summers. And some rivers freeze in the winter. So run-of-the-river plants should be used in conjunction with other power generation sources in order to secure a steady supply of electricity. Simply removing traditional dams and replacing them with run-of-the-river isn’t a magic solution, of course.

As with all power generation technologies, there are both pros and cons. And using new technology in old ways is often very inefficient. However, reinventing our power grid has the potential to be transformative. Small run-of-the-river projects in the right locations can be created with relatively little influence on the environment. Environmental issues are greater in larger projects. This includes projects where several smaller plants are clustered within a few miles of each other. Additionally, some adjustments must be made for the local flora and fauna, so as not to disrupt their life cycles.

Social Justice Aspect

Many of the flooded lands are important to Native peoples. This includes both modern and ancient religious and cultural sites, many of which were destroyed in the process.

Compare this to the Aswan Dam in Egypt. Many ancient Egyptian monuments were painstakingly disassembled and reassembled on higher ground. Yet the late 20th century superpowers, USSR, China, and the United States consistently disregarded the rights of their Indigenous peoples when planning their large hydropower projects.

Decentralized or distributed generation often is touted as a new idea but Lewis Mumford presented this concept as far back as the 1930s. Mumford stated that technology must subject be subject to social democracy and wise regional planning. Otherwise, it could easily be misused, such as when Indigenous peoples are forced off their lands in order to build large projects. There must be prior, informed consent. Relatively small, local projects with more local control on the other hand can lead to more grassroots democracy.

Indeed, by 1970, Mumford had concluded that the combination of smaller scales and community authority could counter the centralized power of the industrial megamachine. In his book, The Pentagon of Power, for instance, Mumford wrote:

“The changes that have so far been effective, and that give promise of further success, are

By Lester Balajadia. A Shutter-

those that have been initiated by animated individual minds, small groups, and local communities nibbling at the edges of the power structure by breaking routines and defying regulations. Such an attack seeks, not to capture the citadel of power, but to withdraw from it and quietly paralyze it. Once such initiatives become widespread, as they at last show signs of becoming, it will restore power and confident authority to its proper source: the human personality and the small face-to-face community.”

Local efforts to reverse some of the damaging effects of dams and to return the land to its former glory still continue to this day. One glorious example comes from Washington State when the Elwha Dam was decommissioned in 2012 shortly followed by the decommissioning of the Glines Canyon Dam in 2014. Since then the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe along with the National Park Service played a major role in regenerating those former dam sites by planting native plants. In addition to the workers from the tribe and the Service, many volunteers joined hands to help. Now the natural environment is regenerating and salmon and waterfowl are returning to the river.

Conclusion

There are several aspects of dam removal and some of them also tie to the loss of water supply to the communities who were getting their water through it. As researchers from the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment, and Health concluded in 2021: “the dam removal process should be incorporated as a critical component in a dam’s planning phase. The process should include all stakeholders who are positively and negatively impacted by an existing dam and consist of up-and-down-stream communities, engineers, dam managers, and policymakers.”

Components of an effective dam removal plan include: identifying and rectifying negative impacts of the dam removal process, and “synchronize the environment and the communities” with a focus on restoring the land to its former glory without compromising existing benefits to the community.

Given the significance and large-scale impacts of this process, it is a topic that remains criminally neglected in mainstream media and rarely talked about in think tanks and other media responsible for dispensing insight and awareness of festering issues in society. There are several dams both locally in the United States and globally in nearly every continent, that are now approaching the end of their life cycle. These issues will be faced by many more communities and will need to be tackled in a balanced and responsible way from all angles.