Reservoirs and Associated Dams of the World: Average Capacities and Uses

Map authored by Karie Holtermann

This map created with leaflet shows reservoirs and their associated dams throughout the world. The size of the circles represents the representative capacity (cubic km) of each reservoir. The Global Reservoir and Dam Database, contains 6,862 records of reservoirs and their associated dams with a cumulative storage capacity of 6,197 cubic km. While the main focus was to include all reservoirs with a storage capacity of more than 0.1 km3, many smaller reservoirs were added if data were available. Mouse over cabalities allows the user to better interact with the data. Pop-ups provide the user with more information about the particular reservoir.

Data Source and Method

Data were acquired from NASA, "Lehner, B., Reidy Liermann, C., Revenga, C., Vordosmarty, C., Fekete, B., Crouzet, P., Doll, P., Endejan, M., Frenken, K., Magome, J., Nilsson, C., Robertson, J., Rodel, R., Sindorf, N., Wisser, D. (2011): High-resolution mapping of the world's reservoirs and dams for sustainable river-flow management. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment." NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC)

The map was generated using custom Javascript, including the Leaflet library.

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