European rivers are full. Of fish? No, barriers. Over 1 million barriers are blocking our rivers but as shown in the map above more and more are removed each day.
As is shown on the European Dam Removal Map*, many dams have been removed. However, we are only scratching the surface here. Over 1 million barriers are still blocking the European rivers. The amount of removed dams is a good development but there is still a big challenge to remove all the barriers and to create free flowing rivers in Europe.
This data is compiled from many different databases. We apologise for any irregularities and if you have any data or you are missing a dam, please contact us:
Contact*The data used for the map is made available thanks to:
- Sweden: National Swedish database (this database does not distinguish between naturally removed and man-removed barriers)
- France: Service d’administration nationale des données et référentiels sur l’eau (SANDRE), (this database does not distinguish between naturally removed and man-removed barriers)
- Spain: Ministry of Ecology Transition (MITECO)
- Finland: Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE)
- England: Environment Agency (EA)
- Wales: Natural Resources Wales (NRW)
- Italy: Centro Italiano per la Riqualificazione Fluviale (CIRF)
Yellow markers indicate the dams removals with an available case study.