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Impact of Beavers of Water and Hydrology
How will we monitor water quality?
The appropriate pathogens will be sampled during the course of the quarantine period to ensure that the released animals are disease free. The previous licence application secured the partnership of the Public Health Department of Argyll and Bute Council who are conducting monitoring of the area as part of the regime of public health control and we are in the process of securing of a similar arrangement with the Council for the trial.
What is the impact on hydrology?
Ponds and dams can have marked benefits on local water quality. Dams are usually only built on small streams, usually less than 3 metres wide, and these can moderate the detrimental effect of irregular flow. The modifications can also raise the water table locally creating wetland areas to the benefit of biodiversity. The ponds can help to neutralise acidic run-off, act as sinks for pollutants and increase the self purification of a watercourse. They can form considerable sediment traps, reducing very strongly erosive runoff and particulate loads in downstream water. Dams are not necessarily permanent.
Do they pose a flooding threat?
In general terms, beavers can actually help to mitigate against flooding lower down in the river system by building dams and moderating water flow. The modifications made to the streams can raise the water table locally, creating wetland areas to the benefit of biodiversity.