Hello,

You write that "run of river projects do not use dams, instead diverting some of the water from a river into a pipe which sends the water downhill to a generating station."

Unfortunately, this is not true. All hydroelectric projects use dams, including run of river projects.

For political reasons, proponents have started calling them "weirs", but it is just another name for dam. Some run of river projects operate very large dams. For example, Plutonic is planning to build a dam in Bute Inlet that is *30 meters* high.

In many parts of the world, the term RoR is usually used for dams that have short term storage (less than one year). In British Columbia, the storage is typically 48 hours. The bottom line is that, whether the water is kept for 48 hours or 1 year, a dam is a dam.

We are discovering in British Columbia that so-called “green” run of river projects are extremely damaging to our ecosystems, destroying hundreds of creeks and rivers (often fish bearing ones), bringing roads and construction and power lines and human activity to pristine wilderness areas, dumping tons of rubble into river beds, in some cases sucking the rivers dry – and yes, building dams. This is why a growing number of British Columbians are opposing run of river projects and calling for a moratorium.

Ivan Doumenc
Vancouver, British Columbia