Sedimentation in Reservoirs

The principal phases of the problem of reservoir sedimentation are reviewed in this paper, including (a) the origin and nature of sediment, (b) its transportation to and through, or deposition in, the reservoir, and (c) remedies for reservoir silting. Quantitative study of sedimentation rates may be made from several approaches, none of which are sufficiently developed to permit more than approximate estimates of probable sedimentation rates. Such estimates may be of use to design engineers, who must allow for inevitable depletion of storage, but the real solution to the problem, both from the technical and social viewpoints, seems to lie in the prevention of sedimentation, and conservation of the available storage to the greatest extent possible.