Drawdown flushing of a hydroelectric reservoir on the Rhône River: Impacts on the fish community and implications for the sediment management

- Ecological impacts of a reservoir flushing were assessed on the fish community.
- The fish density in the reservoir was severely impacted, and dropped by 57%.
- The 16-month fish monitoring revealed the low resilience of the community.
- Lethal impact was observed downstream of the dam, with an apparent survival of 74%.
- A more ecologically friendly flushing strategy is needed for the Verbois reservoir.

Sediment flushings of hydropower reservoirs are commonly performed to maintain water resource uses and ecosystem services, but may have strong impacts on fish communities. Despite the worldwide scope of this issue, very few studies report quantitative in situ evaluations of these impacts. In June 2012, the drawdown flushing of the Verbois reservoir (Rhône River) was performed and subsequent impacts on the fish community were assessed, both inside the reservoir (fish densities by hydroacoustic surveys) and downstream (short-term movement and survival of radio tracked adult fish). Results showed that after the flushing fish acoustic density decreased by 57% in the reservoir, and no recolonization process was observed over the following 16 months. Downstream of the dam, the global apparent survival of fish to the flushing was estimated at 74%, but differed between species. The nine-year delay from the previous flushing and thus the amount of sediments to remove were too stressful for the low-resilience fish community of the Rhône River. Alternative flushing schedules are discussed to reduce these impacts.