Dammed context: Community perspectives on ecosystem service changes following Poland's first dam removal

Decisions to build or remove dams and other large engineered hydraulic infrastructures are always entangled in social and environmental impacts, which are often evaluated formally through bureaucratic processes. In Europe dam removals are relatively infrequent, even though extensive hydraulic infrastructure has degraded biodiversity and water quality. The Wilkowka dam in southern Poland was required to be removed rapidly, primarily due to engineering failures during its construction. Using survey methods, we examine the local community's perceptions of the net environmental and social impacts of the Wilkowka dam removal. In surveying the opinions of households, 62% of respondents expressed that decisions about the removal were taken without sufficient community consultation, and 92% felt that the dam had been removed despite their opposition. Although the dam had been built recently and had failed to operate at design capacity, respondents reported strong attachments to the services they perceived it to provide, including water supply, flood regulation and cultural significance. In spite of the possibility of an environmental disaster and long-term environmental degradation, most surveyed households would have preferred it to have been renovated or reconstructed. In short, the removal of the Wilkowka dam was perceived by local households but also by local officials as bringing about a net loss in socially relevant ecosystem services, despite the urgent need for removal perceived by regional and national authorities. The local community's rapid attachment to the dam despite its potential negative impacts on biodiversity and the local environment were primarily attributable to the high expectations as to the hydrological services that the dam was to provide (water supply, flood regulation and its larger symbolic value as an infrastructural investment in the community). This work provides an empirical demonstration of the importance of understanding the social, ecological and technological context within decision-making processes regarding dam removals, and its implications may improve the planning and implementation of future dam removal projects.