Economic Benefits of Dam Removal

Creating a searchable database to guide decisions about aging dams and help restore free-flowing rivers 

As dams age, owners, utilities, and public agencies must decide whether to continue investing in maintenance and upgrades or pursue removal. But the research needed to weigh the options was scattered across academic journals, agency orders, and consultant reports. Open Rivers Fund asked us to compile the economic evidence and help make sense of it.

We reviewed dozens of studies on the economic impacts of dams and the economic benefits of dam removal, drawing on benefit-cost analysis, hedonic property valuation, travel-cost modeling, input-output analysis, and regulatory cost accounting. We organized the findings across nine economic categories, including avoided maintenance costs, flood risk, fisheries, recreation, and property values. Where quantitative values were available, we standardized them to 2025 dollars. We then built a searchable database that lets users filter studies by economic impact category, geography, and publication year, and trace each value to its source.

The research found that dam removal can produce measurable economic benefits, though results vary by project. Nationally, removing dams in need of repair rather than rehabilitating them could save more than $81.6 billion.

The research also revealed important gaps: small, non-hydroelectric dams are underrepresented, and few studies track realized costs and benefits after removal.By making this evidence easier to find and trace, the database supports decisions that weigh the cost of keeping aging dams in place against the economic and environmental benefits of restoring free-flowing rivers.

Open Rivers Fund now hosts the database, where practitioners can find studies relevant to a specific dam and identify where additional research is needed.

Explore the database and read the white paper on the Open Rivers Fund website.

Photo: Jason Jaacks/Resources Legacy Fund