Diminishing storage returns of reservoir construction

Surface water reservoirs are increasingly being relied upon to meet rising demands in the context of growing population and changing climate. However, the amount of water available in reservoirs (and the corresponding trends) have not been well quantified at the global scale. Here we use satellite o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2023-06, Vol.14 (1), p.3203-3203, Article 3203
Main Authors: Li, Yao, Zhao, Gang, Allen, George H., Gao, Huilin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
704/172/4081
704/242
Climate change
Construction
Dam construction
Dams
Datasets
Humanities and Social Sciences
Hydroelectric power
Hydrology
Industrialized nations
Moisture content
multidisciplinary
Reservoir construction
Reservoir storage
Satellite observation
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Seasonal variations
Storage capacity
Surface water
Trends
Water content
Water demand
Water storage
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Summary:Surface water reservoirs are increasingly being relied upon to meet rising demands in the context of growing population and changing climate. However, the amount of water available in reservoirs (and the corresponding trends) have not been well quantified at the global scale. Here we use satellite observations to estimate the storage variations of 7245 global reservoirs from 1999 to 2018. Total global reservoir storage has increased at a rate of 27.82 ± 0.08 km 3 /yr, which is mainly attributed to the construction of new dams. However, the normalized reservoir storage (NS)—the ratio of the actual storage to the storage capacity—has declined by 0.82 ± 0.01%. The decline of NS values is especially pronounced in the global south, while the global north mainly exhibits an NS increase. With predicted decreasing runoff and increasing water demand, these observed diminishing storage returns of reservoir construction will likely persist into the future. Despite the continually increasing global reservoir storage, the normalized storage—the ratio of the actual storage to the storage capacity—has declined over the past two decades, indicating diminishing storage returns from reservoir construction.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-023-38843-5