The Susquehanna River, in the Mid-Atlantic States of the United States, has a collection of

dams A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

. These dams are used for power generation,

flood control Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

and recreation. These dams have local and regional environmental impacts on the river and the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...

, both positive and negative.

Environmental impacts

:''And by making it more Susquehanna specific.'' The dams have a positive impact on the environment. They slow water, trapping silt and pollutants.

Conowingo Dam The Conowingo Dam (also Conowingo Hydroelectric Plant, Conowingo Hydroelectric Station) is a large hydroelectric dam in the lower Susquehanna River near the town of Conowingo, Maryland. The medium-height, masonry gravity dam is one of the large ...

is credited with preventing much of the silt from Pennsylvania from reaching the Chesapeake Bay. The dam spillways can add oxygen to the water. The down stream side of dams is favored by aquatic birds, possibly because the fish that pass through the dam are a bit stunned. Conowingo Dam is noted for its bald eagles.

Hydroelectric power Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

is considered an environmentally friendly method of power generation. The dams also make a negative impact on the environment. They raise the water level, altering the riparian environment. The upstream pools can become environmentally unsound below the surface, especially during summer. They block migratory fish, such as the American shad. The dams from York Haven down to the Chesapeake all have

fish ladder A fish ladder, also known as a fishway, fish pass, fish steps, or fish cannon is a structure on or around artificial and natural barriers (such as dams, locks and waterfalls) to facilitate diadromous fishes' natural migration as well as move ...

s or lifts to mitigate this.

Human impacts

:''And by making it more Susquehanna specific.'' The dams have both a positive and negative impact on human society, outside of the environmental impacts above. River dams have long been associated with power generation. In the past dams powered mills directly. Today dams are used both for direct hydroelectric generation and to form pools for cooling other forms of generation. Dams create navigable stretches of river where they may have been unnavigable before. The first dams at

Sunbury, Pennsylvania Sunbury is a city and county seat of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in Central Pennsylvania's Susquehanna Valley on the east bank of the Susquehanna River, just downstream of the confluence of its main and west ...

were to support year round ferry crossings. The creation of dams does have negative impacts. Communities on the river edge are displaced, such as Conowingo, Bald Friar, and Glen Cove,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

in 1928. Longitudinal river navigation is impeded. Although the historic Susquehanna was very difficult to navigate most of the year. Timber rafts could come down in the spring high water, but very few boats went up the river, before the canals were built. The Conowingo Dam is located near "Smith's Falls", where John Smith had to turn back while exploring the region in the early 17th century due to the impassable rapids.

List of dams

Listed from the headwaters toward the mouth of the river. This includes existing and historic structures, as well as dams off the river that have a major impact on the river. The river also ''grows'' its own ice dams during the winter and notable ones will be included.

Northern Branch

:''This section may be incomplete.''

New York

* Natural geologic formation at Cooperstown that forms Otsego Lake, the

headwaters The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or downstream confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. It is also known as a river's source. Definition The ...

of the Susquehanna. * Mill St. Bridge Dam at Cooperstown * Power generating dam at Goodyear Lake, Colliers Dam (Colliersville, NY). The dam creates a small lake used for motor boating and waterskiing. * Southside Oneonta Dam * Rockbottom Dam * partial dam just above confluence of

Chenango River The Chenango River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the Susquehanna River in central New York in the United States. It drains a dissec ...

Binghamton Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...

dam (low head) * Johnson City Goudy Station Power Plant Dam

Pennsylvania

* Oakland Dam (Dam is structurally deficient and has a 45-foot hole in it) * Wilkes-Barre Dam (proposed, inflatable) * Nanticoke Dam (former canal feeder) 1830-1901 * Nanticoke Dam (proposed, inflatable)

West Branch

Pennsylvania

Curwensville Dam Curwensville Dam is located on the West Branch Susquehanna River about 0.6 miles (1 km) upstream from Curwensville in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. The dam is an earth fill structure 2,850 feet long, rising 131 feet above the stream bed, w ...

*Shawville Dam (low head) *Lock Haven Dam (low head) * Williamsport Dam (low head)

Lower Susquehanna

Pennsylvania

* Shamokin Dam (original low head navigation and canal feeder) (18??-1904, replaced by Bower Dam) * Adam T. Bower Memorial Dam near

*Shamokin Dam power plant low head dam *Clarks Ferry Dam (former canal feeder) near

Duncannon, Pennsylvania Duncannon is a borough in Perry County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,473 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. The center of population of Pennsylvania is located in Du ...

* Dock Street Dam (low head) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (replacement planning under way) * York Haven Dam * Wrightsville Dam (low head, former canal feeder, demolished) *

Safe Harbor Dam The Safe Harbor Dam (also Safe Harbor Hydroelectric Station) is a concrete gravity dam, with an associated hydroelectric power station, on the lower Susquehanna River. It is the most northerly and last of three Great Depression- era public elect ...

* Holtwood Dam **

Muddy Run Pumped Storage Facility Muddy Run Pumped Storage Facility was built by the Philadelphia Electric Company and is a pumped-storage hydroelectric generation facility in Drumore Township, Pennsylvania, United States. When completed in 1968, Muddy Run was the largest pumped ...

(draws from and flows into the Conowingo Reservoir (river))

Maryland

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Dams And Reservoirs Of The Susquehanna River Susquehanna River Susquehanna River Susquehanna Susquehanna Susquehanna Susquehanna Susquehanna Susquehanna Susquehanna