Chapter 6. Instream Uses: Navigation, Hydropower, Fishing, Recreation

In this chapter, we turn to the four most significant instream uses of water: navigation, hydropower, fishing, and recreation, trying to understand both the historical arc of these uses and their current importance and impacts. We address questions such as these:

  • How do societies use rivers for transportation, energy, food, and recreation? 
  • Are those uses compatible with maintaining healthy river ecosystems?
  • Is water-based transportation still important to the US economy?
  • Will increasing reliance on hydropower help mitigate climate change, or make us more vulnerable to it?
  • Why are salmon and other iconic fish doing so badly?

To the right, you can download resources from the book and access new resources relevant to this chapter.

Erie Canal profile.

Erie Canal profile. The horizontal scale runs from -10 miles on the right to 380 miles on the left side of the image, with Albany at mile 0 and Buffalo at about mile 370. The vertical scale runs from 0 feet (sea level) on the bottom to 600 feet on the top of the image, with Albany at an elevation of 0 and Lake Erie at an elevation of 565 feet. Vertical changes in the canal profile correspond to locks; notice the lock staircases near Albany (eight locks with a total elevation change of 64 feet) and at Lockport (five locks, 60 feet). Map in the public domain.

Chapter 6 Resources

Table of Contents

Highlights

Table 1: River channelization practices

Table 2: Statistical summary of US inland navigation

Figure 1: Lock operation

Figure 2: Global hydropower over time

Figure 3: Hydropower over time for four countries

Supplemental Resources

For more on navigation (Chapter 6 Section 1), particularly sites where the costs of maintaining navigation may outweigh the benefits, see this discussion of the Mississippi and Snake Rivers.

Chapters in Part 2