Most run-of-river B.C. hydro projects can harm fish

Study finds all but one of 44 projects is on fish habitat, including salmon, trout and char. Almost 100 per cent of private run-of-river power projects studied in B.C. are located on streams where they could affect fish, an interim study for the Pacific Salmon Foundation has found. Foundation president and CEO Brian Riddell said in an interview that while “most people sort of assume” that these hydro projects are located in stretches of river away from fish habitat, the reality is quite different. Run-of-river projects have the capacity to impact fish living immediately upstream of water intakes, in the middle reaches where water is diverted through pipes to power houses and, finally, in downstream habitat.