Thursday random water links

1. America’s most endangered Rivers.

The annual America’s Most Endangered Rivers® report has just been published. The report offer’s the environmental conservationist group’s assessment of the ten most threatened American rivers, based on three criteria:

Topicality: Is a major decision imminent in the coming year?

Significance: How important is the river for people and ecosystems?

Magnitude: How big is the threat.

It’s quite a subjective assessment, but interesting nonetheless to understand the perspectives of a hardcode conservationist group.

The top five most threatened rivers: (1) Upper Mississippi, (2) Lower Mississippi, (3) Big Sunflower River, Mississippi, (4) Puyallup River, Washington,, and (5) South Fork Salmon River, Idaho.

The report is summarized here in Scientific American.

2. Dam removal in Northern California

The plan – the largest dam removal project in the US – would re-open 360 miles of the Klamath River and its tributaries to salmon.

Article here.

3. “It was at least two acres, almost two football pitches”

A huge floating island in Lake Victoria triggered a nationwide blackout in Uganda after clogging a turbine in a hydroelectric power station.

The story (here on the BBC) is as fun as it sounds.