by EDF Group, Thai and Lao Governments

by the Ministry of Energy and Mines (Laos), TheunHinboun Power Company, Statkraft Oslo, Electrcité du Laos, and GMS Lao Company Ltd.

by Ministry of Environment (Ecudaor), Universidad de Cuenca, ETAPA Telecommunications, Empresa Electro Generadora del Austro, Junta General de Usuarios del Sistema de Riego Machángara (JGUSRM), Secretaria Nacional del Agua (SENAGUA), Instituto Nacional del Riego (INAR) and the provincial government of Azuay/Ecuador

by Niger Basin Authority (NBA) and the Government of Mali

by Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS)

by the Global Environment Facility (GEF)

The U.S. National Intelligence Council identifies the Water-Energy-Food Nexus as one of the mega trends for the coming decades. “The increasing nexus among food, water, and energy - in combination with climate change - will have far-reaching effects on global development over the next 15-20 years. In a tectonic shift, demand for these resources will grow substantially owing to an increase in the global population from 7.1 billion today to 8.3 billion by 2030.”

Opportunities and Technical Solutions to Address Water Shortage in East Africa Through Better Understanding of the Water & Energy Nexus. Held by Dr. Vincent Kitio, Energy Advisor at UN-Habitat, at the African Dialogue on the Water-Food-Energy Nexus in Nairobi.

held by Jasper Oduor, Executive Secretary of the East African Power Pool, at the African Dialogue on the Water-Food-Energy Nexus in Nairobi.

State legislatures and natural resource managers have traditionally addressed water and energy as two separate issues. However, water and energy are deeply connected and sustainable management of either resource requires consideration of the other. Thus, resource managers and lawmakers across the country are beginning to take a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach to the management of water and energy. This report provides overview information about the nexus between water and energy and provides a summary of state legislation addressing this issue.

held at the 10th European Conference: The Implementation of the Water Framework Directive Europe‐INBO, by Caner Aktaş, Boğaziçi University

Industrial processes rely on water for cooling, chemical solvents, cleaning, just to name a few. Forty percent of the worlds’ food is produced from irrigated lands. However, much of this would not be possible without energy; which is a critical input to pump, move, and treat the water required by municipalities, industries and agriculture. Ironically, however, much of this energy would not be available without water to turn turbines, wash inputs, or cool equipment. Thus in many cases use of one resource is inextricably linked to use of the other - hence, the energy-water nexus.

Held at the Second Annual Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa Addis Ababa, 19-20 October 2012, by Gisela Prasad, Energy Research Centre, University of Cape Town

Hydrological change is a central part of global change. Its drivers in the past need to be understood and quantified for accurate projection of disruptive future changes. Here we analyse past hydro-climatic, agricultural and hydropower changes from twentieth century data for nine major Swedish drainage basins, and synthesize and compare these results with other regional and global assessments of hydrological change by irrigation and deforestation. Cross-regional comparison shows similar increases of evapotranspiration by non-irrigated agriculture and hydropower as for irrigated agriculture. In the Swedish basins, non-irrigated agriculture has also increased, whereas hydropower has decreased temporal runoff variability. A global indication of the regional results is a net total increase of evapotranspiration that is larger than a proposed associated planetary boundary. This emphasizes the need for climate and Earth system models to account for different human uses of water as anthropogenic drivers of hydro-climatic change. The present study shows how these drivers and their effects can be distinguished and quantified for hydrological basins on different scales and in different world regions. This should encourage further exploration of greater basin variety for better understanding of anthropogenic hydro-climatic change.

This book creates an awareness of the important couplings between water and energy. It shows how energy is used in all the various water cycle operations and demonstrates how water is used – and misused – in all kinds of energy production and generation. Population increase, climate change and an increasing competition between food and fuel production create enormous pressures on both water and energy availability. Since there is no replacement for water, water security looks more crucial than energy security. This is true not only in developing countries but also in the most advanced countries. The western parts of the USA suffer from water scarcity that provides a real security threat. The book does not aim to show “how to design” or to solve some of the very intricate conflicts between water and energy. Instead it systematically lists ideas, possibilities and a number of results. There are a few more technical chapters that act as entry points to more detailed technical literature - by Gustaf Olsson

“The nexus approach embeds the opinion water, energy and food security cannot be achieved in single sector methodology. Considering the interlinkages between water, energy and land is crucial for achieving sustainable development objectives.” - Agriwaterpedia is an initiative to foster the provision of approaches and good practices, and to draw data from experiences and lessons learnt from a variety of development countries. The platform is also an instrument to trigger communication and actively promote knowledge exchange.

A major international conference was held by CEP-BCI in February 2012. The conference benchmarked GMS economic growth between 2001 and 2010 and its impact on environmental and social development as well as provided an outlook for the next decade. Topics discussed included known and emerging economic, environmental, and climate change challenges in the context of food, water and energy security, and participants charted out key strategic thrusts for the coming decade. More than 233 delegates, including senior government officials from the GMS countries, private sector representatives and development partners attended. The conference outcomes have provided important inputs to the GMS program in general, and CEP-BCI Phase II in particular. During the next decade, emphasis will need to be placed on the management of food, water and energy resources in the GMS, which requires a careful balance of economic and environmental interests and better management of natural resources.

by Holger Hoff (SEI): Overview, Initial Scenarios, Charles Iceland (WRI): Hydropower, Vulnerability to and Impacts on Water Scarcity, Jakob Granit (SEI/SIWI): Water Energy Nexus Opportunities, Guy Pegram (Pegasys): Water Food Nexus Opportunities, Abby Onencan (Nile Basin Discourse): The Role of Science, Nexus, Cooperation

The complex interplay of food, energy, and water demand and supply poses numerous policy challenges, especially in the context of expanding population sizes, rising standards of living, and resource management constraints due to sustainable environmental practices.1 Bhutan provides an interesting illustration of how these issues can be addressed holistically, in a relatively socially responsible, economically beneficial and environmentally sustainable way. By Paula Hanasz, Future Directions international

by Alain Vidal CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food

by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), with funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the California Energy Commission

by Janos J. Bogardi, Executive Officer of GWSP

Using nexus thinking around water, energy and food leads to positive feedback loops and a brighter future for all - by SABMiller

The paper provides an overview of the current status of large scale artificial water storage development and its functions in the water, energy and food security nexus. The paper presents a typology of water storage structures and provides an analysis of the risks, benefits and trade-offs posed by different storage options. It also highlights good practices and lessons learned from past experiences and explores emerging opportunities for water storage schemes to enhance water, energy and food security in the future.

by Peter Stigson, Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL), held on 3 July 2012 at the Chinese Academy of Science, Institute for Policy and Management (CAS/IPM)

A map of the world’s 6,862 large dams

Co-chaired by Keshab Man Shakya, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Nepal, and Pema Gyamtsho, Minister of Agriculture and Forests, Bhutan, this side event highlighted local, national and regional knowledge-based solutions that are inclusive and supportive to the water, food and energy nexus and have promoted green growth strategies and reduced poverty. Organized by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), the Government of Nepal, Mountain Partnership, Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), EVK2CNR, Global Gender and Climate Alliance (GGCA).

Presentation on the ERD 2011/12 by Dirk Willem te Velde and Imme Scholz, given at the UNCSD (Rio+20) on 19 June 2012

Interview with Stephan Opitz, Director General of KfW, on the Rio+20 conference and the work of KfW. On the occasion of the UN-conference Rio+20 he explains how Germany’s promotional bank implements this task. KfW promotes sustainable projects and programmes in developing and transition countries in areas such as water supply, food security and energy and is in this way supporting a “green economy” in its partner countries.

The twentieth anniversary of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, comes at a time when human-caused emissions have pushed our planet to the brink of a climate crisis. The effects of the global industrial economy brought planetary levels of carbon dioxide to a record high of 31.6 gigatonnes (Gt) in 2011, according to a 2012 International Energy Agency (IEA) report – only 1 Gt below the level that the IEA considers necessary to keep global temperatures from rising beyond 2°C. In response, many governments, banks, and corporations are increasingly looking to large hydropower dams to reduce fossil fuel use. Proponents claim that large hydropower dams will help usher in a “green economy.” Rather than achieving greater protection of the planet’s ecosystems from the demands of growing energy use, this policy direction will put an increasing burden on Earth’s freshwater species and habitats.

In the face of climatic and other socioeconomic changes, most South Asian countries having large and growing population, limited land resources, and increasing water stress face a common challenge of how to grow more food with the same or less land, less water, and increased energy prices. This concept paper seeks deeper understanding of the interlinkages among water, energy, and food, which is crucial to formulate cross-sectoral policies for more resilient and adaptable societies. In South Asia, such a nexus approach inevitably needs to take Himalayan ecosystem services into account. Rice and wheat, the staple foods in South Asia, require huge amounts of both water and energy. The Indus-Ganges-Brahmaputra plain - the sub-region’s grain basket and one of the world’s largest areas of irrigated agriculture - depends in large part on the Himalayan mountain system as a source of both surface and groundwater for irrigation; as a source of hydropower; and as a regulator of climate and a repository of agro-biodiversity. To sustain these services and to ensure both upstream and downstream food, water, and energy security in South Asia, policies and strategies must therefore promote improved management of Himalayan watersheds, forests, wetlands, and rangelands. Recommended measures include support to restoration of natural water storage capacity; development of climate smart, environmentally and socially sound water infrastructure; adequate investment for natural resource management; and incentives to mountain communities for managing Himalayan ecosystems.

This paper aims at identifying and recommending best practices and policies from global business to address the water-energy nexus, while outlining potential drivers of innovation.

West African countries are planning to construct new large dams in order to meet their energy and water needs and to promote food security against an uncertain backdrop of climate change. If these new dams are to offer development opportunities for all and avoid social conflict over land and water management then lessons need to be learned from past projects.

Is water the “gold of the 21st century,” potentially triggering “water wars” between countries sharing the precious resource? Such scenarios proliferated in the 1990s, but today a different paradigm is taking root. Politicians are beginning to emphasise the peace dividend of water cooperation; and development agencies are now supporting transboundary water cooperation projects around the world. And even at the highest level of political discourse, water cooperation has been identified as an entry point for broader peacebuilding.

This article explores the water, energy and food nexus in Central Asia as an avenue to seek regional solutions to common challenges. A benefit-sharing scheme was in place between the countries in the Central Asia in the Soviet Union era, but since independence unilateral action has been the norm. It is concluded that a regional integrative approach would be beneficial in the water, energy and food nexus. Collaborative options include exploring existing regional frameworks with a focus on additional investment in hydropower power generation, regional power market development, irrigation reforms, and addressing regional environmental public goods such as water flows and quality.

International Rivers welcomes the opportunity of Rio+20 to provide input into this critical process and offers the following comment and recommendations on the conference’s Green Economy theme.

by Andrew Etzinger, ESKOM, held on the SAWEF Conference in South Africa

by Dr. Jerome Delli Priscoli, Institute for Water Resources, US Army Corps of Engineers, Governor World Water Council, Editor in Chief Water Policy, held on the SAWEF Conference in South Africa

Needs for affordable and clean energy, for water in adequate quantity and quality, and for food security will increasingly be the central challenges for humanity:these needs are strongly linked.

Message from the International Conference on Transboundary River Basin Management, Phuket, 1-3 May 2012

1-4 May 2012 Inn at the Forks, Winnipeg, Manitoba

by Margaret Catley-Carlson, held at the South African Water, Energy and Food Forum: “Managing the Mega-Nexus”, 18-19 April 2012

Water and energy are inextricably linked. Energy is needed to provide freshwater; and water is needed to produce most forms of energy. Climate change will hit through water. Power production is the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Water and energy are each recognized as indispensable inputs to modern economies. And, in recent years, driven by the three imperatives of security of supply, sustainability, and economic efficiency, the energy and water sectors have undergone rapid reform. However, it is when water and energy rely on each other that the most complex challenges are posed for policymakers.

Nature is the unseen dimension of the nexus. With its functions integral to the three securities and their inter-dependence, nature is part of the infrastructure needed to manage the nexus and its resilience. Nature helps mediate the nexus links, by storing, moving, cleaning and buffering flows of water, making drought and flood less severe, and food and energy production more reliable. Without healthy ecosystems in well-functioning watersheds, the infrastructure built for irrigation, hydropower or municipal water supply does not function sustainably, and is unlikely to achieve the economic returns necessary to justify investments.

Presentation at the “Planet under Pressure” Conference, London, 27 March 2012

“At the heart of the dams debate are issues of equity, governance, justice and power – issues that underlie the many intractable problems faced by humanity.”

A collection of case studies on the NEXUS presented by CGIAR’s Challenge Programm, the EDF Groupe and the World Water Council on the WWF6

Dams – Blessing or curse? Over 48,000 large dams are in operation worldwide.

This paper is the scientific background paper of the Bonn2011 Nexus Conference. It explains the Nexus and presents initial evidence for how a nexus approach can enhance water, energy and food security in a green economy by increasing efficiency, reducing trade-offs, and building synergies across sectors.

The EU as a whole is the world’s largest donor and a key trading partner for developing countries. With its broad and ambitious development policies and comprehensive partnerships, the EU it is already making a significant contribution towards the MDGs. But we could have even greater impact.

by Rainer Hakala, Energy Unit C.5., Directorate General for Development and Cooperation - EuropeAid, European Commission (EC)

An interview with Jasper Oduor, Executive Secretary of EAPP

A voice from the ground, Edward Byers, PhD student from Newcastle/UK, gives his view of the NEXUS event at the German Pavilion in Rio.

An interview with Albert Butare, Co-Chair of the Bonn2011 Nexus Conference and NEXUS ambassador

“The nexus is an important process which has been started at the Bonn conference and needs to be continued by committed people at all levels in order to effect change”. — by Nicole Kranz

The SEI’s work on the water, energy and food security nexus – an interview with Holger Hoff

Needs for affordable and clean energy, for water in adequate quantity and quality, and for food security will increasingly be the central challenges for humanity:these needs are strongly linked.

What has brought nexus thinking to the fore, and what does this nexus look like? How does it relate to climate compatible development?

The flow of water through rivers, lakes and aquifers remains central to the Nexus

Mountains deserve special attention in the water-food-energy nexus discussions

Increasing energy efficiency and the use of renewables can directly improve water resource management, thereby also impacting positively on food security

Solving energy challenges cannot come at the cost of achieving water security goals

How Water Makes Green Economies a Moving Target

We only have a limited amount of freshwater on this planet, so how do we use it?

Why attempts to ensure water, food and energy security should focus on innovative bottom-up strategies rather than large multipurpose projects

The Vienna Energy Forum 2013 will focus on the energy dimension captured in the Rio+20 outcome document “The Future We Want” and will facilitate on how energy should be integrated into the post- 2015 global development framework.” During the Forum a side-event about the recent international undertakings and progress on the water-energy-food nexus is taking place.

This workshop will discuss food security from a nexus perspective with particular emphasis on scientific analysis and evidence as well as generating tools and appropriate responses.

The 2-day conference in December 2012 will focus on how energy policy and governance are influenced by or influencing water and food sectors. The first day deals mainly with energy governance issues in Asia Pacific countries, but with papers pointing to the importance of Nexus internationally.

The Second Mekong Forum on Water, Food and Energy will continue this constructive dialogue on the relationship between the cost and benefits of water development.

The evidence for climate change is now considered to be unequivocal and it can cause huge impact on global water resources. Substantial adaptation is needed to ensure management of water resources for food, energy and environment.

This panel constitutes a continuation of the dialogue started at the Bonn2011 Nexus Conference and aims to reflect recommendations by the UNSG’s High Level Panel on Global Sustainability.

Recognition and understanding of the closely-bound interaction between water, energy and food production and use – the ‘nexus’ – is established in these sectors, but perhaps for many, ‘this nexus’ is still not entirely understood - by Rebecca Welling, IUCN

In The Guardian’s series on the water-food-energy nexus, Tim Smedley looks at the amount of energy we use to pump, clean and transport water. The US alone uses 520bn kilowatt‐hours (kWh) to move, treat and heat its water, which accounts for up to 60% of the energy bill in some cities, and 90% of the energy bill on some farms.

“Rising interdependence of water, energy, food resources raises security concerns while resource problems that cross boundaries have scaled up in recent years.”

“Following the recent blackouts in India, Robert Kimball discusses the complex relationship between water and power and the dangers of water scarcity in the 21st century.”

Energy, water and land are being squandered as the world throws out as much as half the food it produces.

“Improving irrigation in arable land in the developing world can be an effective way to increase food productivity and thus food security.”

The importance of renewable energies to achieving climate change targets and sustainable development was presented by the International Renewable Energy Alliance (REN Alliance) at COP18 in Doha. Programme Director Tracy Lane represented IHA during the side event ‘Towards 100% Renewables: Case studies and examples from regions and municipalities’, which was organised by the REN Alliance.

Do we really understand - or think sufficiently about - the “Energy-Water-Food Nexus”? That was the concern shared during a searching Singapore Energy Summit plenary session on Monday.

Water, food and energy are interconnected. Agriculture accounts for about 70% of global freshwater use and can pollute freshwater supplies if mismanaged. Water is also used to generate electricity: in the USA, power generation accounts for about 50% of all freshwater withdrawals3and drought in countries that use hydropower – Ethiopia and Ghana, for example – can lead to black-outs. Energy, in turn, is needed to fertilise and transport crops, which can themselves be used as biofuel to create energy. Large amounts of energy are also required to pump water to drier regions and, as water scarcity increases, so will the energy needed for technologies such as desalination. - This is good news; the leap forward in quality of life for so many millions is something to celebrate. But this growth could be jeopardised by the resource challenge being felt across the world. The expanding population will need 70% more food, and growing and processing this food will increase water stress. The Water Resources Group, of which SABMiller is a member, estimates that there could be about 40% shortfall between water demand and available freshwater supply by 2030 - by Andy Wales, SAB Miller

In short, predictions of a Water World War are overwrought. However, tensions over water usage can still exacerbate other existing regional conflicts. Climate change is expected to intensify droughts, floods, and other extreme weather conditions that jeopardize freshwater quantity and quality and therefore act as a threat-multiplier, making shaky regions shakier -by

The principal challenge of this century, in my view, will be adapting to a life without abundant, cheap fossil fuels. It has been the lifeblood of our society, and turns out to have some really fantastic qualities. The jury is still out as to whether we will develop suitable/affordable replacements. But additional challenges loom in parallel. Water is very likely to be one of them, which is especially pertinent in my region. For true believers in the universality of substitution, let me suggest two things. First, come to terms with the finite compactness of the periodic table. Second, try substituting delicious H2O with H2O2. It has an extra oxygen atom, and we all know that oxygen is a vital requisite for life, so our new product will be super-easy to market. Never-mind the hydrogen peroxide taste, and the death that will surely visit anyone foolish enough to adopt this substitution. Sometimes we’re just stuck without substitutes - by Tom Murphy

In India, like in the United States, the power sector is the single largest user of water – more than agriculture. Presuming that India could solve its power problems and build more coal, they would run out of fresh water even faster.

Asia’s water crisis is at the heart of the world’s water challenges, where the degradation of surface and subterranean water resources threatens the ecosystem. With Asia facing the world’s lowest per capita access to fresh water, the continent’s ever-deeper search for water is sucking groundwater reserves dry with millions of pump-operated wells even as it confronts river depletion. Groundwater is recklessly exploited because it is not visible to the human eye. What is out of sight tends to be out of mind, as people drill ever deeper into the receding water table. At least seven factors have contributed to the rising economic and security risks linked with the Asian water crisis.

Drought and rising temperatures are forcing water managers across the country to scramble for ways to produce the same amount of power from the hydroelectric grid with less water, including from behemoths such as the Hoover Dam. Hydropower is not the only part of the nation’s energy system that appears increasingly vulnerable to the impact of climate change, as low water levels affect coal-fired and nuclear power plants’ operations and impede the passage of coal barges along the Mississippi River.

By Stuart Orr, Freshwater Manager, WWF International, and David Grant, Senior Manager: Water Risk and Partnerships, SABMiller

A summary of the Stockholm Water Week’s discussions on the NEXUS on 28 August 2012.

In its RIO+20 Call-to-action, CGIAR called for “adopting cross-sectoral approaches which facilitate broader partnerships, coordinated regulatory frameworks and appropriate economic incentives. We need the vision and courage to transcend conventional sectoral approaches and apply integrated thinking to the management of agriculture, aquaculture, livestock, forests and water.” AlertNET wanted to find out more, and talked to Stephen Hall (Director General, WorldFish Center), Papa Seck (Director General, Africa Rice Center), Tony Simons (Director General, World Agroforestry Centre), Alain Vidal (Director, Challenge Program on Water and Food – CPWF), Amy Duchelle (Research Fellow, Center for International Forestry Research - CIFOR) and from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture - IITA), we have Peter Neuenschwander (Scientist Emeritus) and Piet van Asten (Systems Agronomist).

Management of water resources needs “substantial improvement and actual reform in many countries,” and an integrated management is significant for “the most valuable natural resources,” Olcay Unver from the UNESCO’s water assessment program told Xinhua. “There has been some improvement over the the past decade or so, but we would very much like to see this expedited mostly by national government,” the director of UENSCO Program Office for Global Water Assessment said in a recent interview.

If Europe is serious about reducing its dependence on imported fossil fuels and reaching its target for renewable energy (20% of supplies by 2020), policymakers must understand that water is a central component of tomorrow’s energy mix. Water is critical for fuel production and power generation, and hydropower systems can store energy efficiently.

Hunderttausenden Menschen droht eine ökologische Katastrophe: Ein gigantischer äthiopischer Staudamm könnte dazu führen, dass der Turkana-See in Kenia noch weiter austrocknet. Die Region gilt jetzt schon als eine der gewalttätigsten Afrikas - die Konflikte würden sich weiter verschärfen.

Global demand for energy will increase 30 percent by 2030, according to estimates, but in regions that are experiencing rapid economic growth, the increased demand for energy will lead to increased demand for water. The conflicting nature of achieving both water and energy security is exacerbated by a lack of institutional policy frameworks that integrate both concepts. However, the upcoming UN Rio+20 Sustainable Development Conference could provide an opportunity to change that.

Scientists from 15 countries are calling for a better political response to the provision of water and energy to meet the challenge of feeding a world of 9 billion people within 30 years.

National science academies of 15 countries issued joint statements today calling on world leaders about to meet at the upcoming G8 Summit and other international gatherings this year to give greater consideration to the vital role science and technology could play in addressing some of the planet’s most pressing challenges.

In December the Mekong River Commission (MRC), an intergovernmental body made up of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, called again for approval of a potentially devastating dam at Xayaburi in northern Laos to be withheld until more is known about its effect on the lower Mekong. But now CH. Karnchang, a Thai construction giant contracted to build a $3.8 billion dam at Xayaburi has told the Bangkok Stock Exchange that dam construction officially began on March 15th, and that 5,000 workers have just been hired.

The alternate energy sources in Pakistan need to be utilized in order to meet the demand of the country. Pakistan is amongst the countries that divert the maximum amount of water for irrigation but has the minimum water productivity and researchers need to make their contribution in optimal use of water resources.

The ‘nexus’ has become a popular buzz word to describe the complex linkages among water, energy and food security – sectors that have traditionally remained fairly separate. Talk of the water-energy-food nexus was a hot topic at last month’s Planet Under Pressure conference; it is also the focus of a significant German government-organised input to the UN Rio+20 Summit. What has brought nexus thinking to the fore, and what does this nexus look like? How does it relate to climate compatible development?

“The WFE nexus is an approach to balance development priorities in a more integrated manner. The approach supports a transition to sustainability, by reducing trade-offs and generating additional benefits that outweigh the transaction costs associated with stronger integration across sectors,” write Alain Vidal

Africa’s third longest river, the Niger, is a source of water, food and energy for nine West African countries. But frequent droughts induced by a changing climate, and exacerbated by rapidly growing demand, pose a threat to water availability and livelihoods. However, countries and communities can overcome the problem of how to share water resources if they adopt what scientists call “the nexus approach”, a key agenda item at the week-long Water Forum in Marseilles, France.

“Never had I imagined before that representatives of countries, international organizations, and private and public sectors would agree on unifyng and synchronizing their efforts under the threat of a common enemy: Water Scarcity.”

The Guardian takes a look at some of the world’s most contentious dam projects, from the Three Gorges in China to Brazil’s Belo Monte dam

Dams on tributaries worse for fish than those on the main river