Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34031413›Full record

ArticleNature communications2021

When timing matters-misdesigned dam filling impacts hydropower sustainability.

Marta Zaniolo, Matteo Giuliani, Scott Sinclair, Paolo Burlando, Andrea Castelletti

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Climate oscillation impacts on water supply augmentation planning.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023
    Article
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Marta ZanioloDepartment of Electronics, Information, and Bioengineering Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy.
Matteo GiulianiDepartment of Electronics, Information, and Bioengineering Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4780-9347
Scott SinclairInstitute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3719-9987
Paolo BurlandoInstitute of Environmental Engineering, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Andrea CastellettiDepartment of Electronics, Information, and Bioengineering Politecnico di Milano, Milano, Italy. andrea.castelletti@polimi.it.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7923-1498

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Decades of sustainable dam planning efforts have focused on containing dam impacts in regime conditions, when the dam is fully filled and operational, overlooking potential disputes raised by the filling phase. Here, we argue that filling timing and operations can catalyze most of the conflicts associated with a dam's lifetime, which can be mitigated by adaptive solutions that respond to medium-to-long term hydroclimatic fluctuations. Our retrospective analysis of the contested recent filling of Gibe III in the Omo-Turkana basin provides quantitative evidence of the benefits generated by adaptive filling strategies, attaining levels of hydropower production comparable with the historical ones while curtailing the negative impacts to downstream users. Our results can inform a more sustainable filling of the new megadam currently under construction downstream of Gibe III, and are generalizable to the almost 500 planned dams worldwide in regions influenced by climate feedbacks, thus representing a significant scope to reduce the societal and environmental impacts of a large number of new hydropower reservoirs.

Identifiers

PMID34031413
PMCPMC8144588

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.