Environmental impact of reservoir desilting operation

The reservoir Cancano (Italian Alps) had problems of silting; the deposit amounted to about 0.2 million m3 and had completely occluded the bottom outlet of the dam, beginning to threaten the intake of hydroelectric power plant. This deposit has been partially removed by controlled flushing operations lasting 40-50 days each. Particular attention has been paid to the regulation of the amount of sediment discharged according to the limits of concentration of suspended solids (SSC) fixed in the river downstream of the dam in order to reduce the environmental impact of operations.