Confronting Climate Change: Stop-Gap Measures to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Sediment trapped behind dams makes them ‘hot spots’ for greenhouse gas emissions

With the “green” reputation of large hydroelectric dams already in question, scientists are reporting that millions of smaller dams on rivers around the world make an important contribution to the greenhouse gases linked to global climate change. Their study, showing that more methane than previously believed bubbles out of the water behind small dams, appears in ACS’ journal Environmental Science and Technology.