A dwindling water supply caused by reservoir sedimentation troubles engineers

I’ve always found it amusing in the engineering/biology work of river systems there is a tug of war between sides of if sediment is good or bad for rivers/streams ecosystems. The simple answer is yes…

Upstream biologists use best practices to introduce sediment into a river that is considered “beneficial” for aquatic life while downstream most State Dept. Of Environmental Protections consider sediment a pollutant that is “harmful” and seek to limit it altogether.

As with most things in life, absolutes are wrong, science and biology are usually somewhere in between where one can’t point to one rule and say “This is the way to go.”. Extremes in either direction of sediment will be detrimental to aquatic life and/or the overall health of a river system.

I won’t get off into the weeds of analysis, but this is the first time I saw a balanced article explaining effective river management that laypeople can understand that doesn’t seek to demonize the other side about sediment.