Global Dam Watch - Barriers and Reservoirs

The current version of the GDW database (version 1.0) aims to catalogue all types of anthropogenic instream barriers. While initial mapping efforts prioritize major dams that form reservoirs, as well as run-of-river barriers on larger rivers where more information is readily available, the dataset comprises two distinct but interconnected spatial layers:

  • Barrier and Dam Locations (Point Layer): Contains barrier and dam locations, geospatially referenced as point coordinates and co-registered to the global river network of HydroSHEDS.
  • Reservoir Extents (Polygon Layer): Contains associated reservoir polygons, which includes data representing the maximum storage capacity of the reservoirs measured in million cubic meters.
Water
Barriers Reservoirs
2 map layers referenced

The five foundational source datasets from which the first version of the GDW database was created are: 1) GOODD (Mulligan et al. 2020); 2) GRanD (version 1.4; Lehner et al. 2011); 3) FHReD (Zarfl et al. 2015); 4) JRC-GSW (Pekel et al. 2016); and 5) GROD (Yang et al. 2022).

1984-2022
N/A
https://africa-knowledge-platform.ec.europa.eu/geoserver/gwc/
Values differ across layers
Barriers
https://africa-knowledge-platform.ec.europa.eu/geoserver/wms?REQUEST=GetLegendGraphic&VERSION=1.3.0&FORMAT=image/png&WIDTH=20&HEIGHT=20&transparent=true&LAYER=akp:GDW_barriers_v1_0
Reservoirs
https://africa-knowledge-platform.ec.europa.eu/geoserver/wms?REQUEST=GetLegendGraphic&VERSION=1.3.0&FORMAT=image/png&WIDTH=20&HEIGHT=20&transparent=true&LAYER=akp:GDW_reservoirs_v1_0_lab&legend_options=fontColor:0xFFFFFF

Select for mapping