A Coastal reservoir is a type of

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

to store fresh water in a dammed area of a coastal sea near a

river delta A river delta is a landform, archetypically triangular, created by the deposition of the sediments that are carried by the waters of a river, where the river merges with a body of slow-moving water or with a body of stagnant water. The creat ...

. Saemanguem in South Korea,

Marina Barrage Marina Barrage is a dam in southern Singapore built at the confluence of five rivers, across the Marina Channel between Marina East and Marina South. First conceptualised in 1987 by then Prime Minister of Singapore, prime minister Lee Kuan Yew t ...

in Singapore, Qingcaosha in China,

Plover Cove Plover Cove, also known by its Chinese names Shuen Wan Hoi () or Shuen Wan (), is a cove in the Tai Po District of Hong Kong, near Tolo Channel and Tolo Harbour. Geography It is encircled by the hills Pat Sin Leng and Wan Leng (), the Yim Tin T ...

in Hong Kong,

Zuiderzee Works The Zuiderzee Works () is a system of dams and Levee, dikes, land reclamation and water drainage work, which was the largest hydraulic engineering project undertaken by the Netherlands during the twentieth century. The project involved the dammin ...

and

Delta Works The Delta Works () is a series of construction projects in the southwest of the Netherlands to protect a large area of land around the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta from the sea. Constructed between 1954 and 1997, the works consist of dams, slu ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, and

Thanneermukkom Bund The Thanneermukkom Bund (Thannermukkom Salt Water Barrier) was constructed as a part of the Kuttanad Development Scheme to prevent tidal action and intrusion of salt water into the Kuttanad low-lands across Vembanad Lake between Thannermukkom o ...

in India are a few existing coastal reservoirs.

Advantages

Unlike land-based water reservoirs, there is no land submergence in the case of coastal reservoirs. They store water without disturbing land use by replacing standing salt water of the sea area by fresh water from a river. The coastal reservoir area is separated from the sea by building earth dikes, e.g. by

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

. Fresh water from these reservoirs can be used for irrigation, drinking water and industrial purposes. Sometimes the reservoirs are used for flood control and

land reclamation Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lake ...

. The social and environmental impacts of coastal reservoirs are often negligible compared to land-based water reservoirs. The construction costs are a few times less than the costs of land-based reservoirs since there is no expenditure for acquiring the vast land area, the submerged immovable properties and the rehabilitation of displaced people. The sea side of the coastal reservoir can also be used for locating a deep sea

harbor A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be moored. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is ...

Climate change

A coastal reservoir project can also create adequate capacity

Pumped-storage hydroelectricity Pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH), or pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHES), is a type of hydroelectric energy storage used by electric power systems for load balancing (electrical power), load balancing. A PSH system stores energy i ...

potential to store the electricity generated by

variable renewable energy Variable renewable energy (VRE) or intermittent renewable energy sources (IRES) are renewable energy sources that are not dispatchable due to their fluctuating nature, such as wind power and solar power, as opposed to controllable renewable ener ...

sources and ensure adequate round-the-clock electricity supply. Due to irrigation, lands which are not available for cultivation and forestry can be turned into a habitat with copious greenery with enhanced carbon storage in the

topsoil Topsoil is the upper layer of soil. It has the highest concentration of organic matter and microorganisms and is where most of the Earth's biological soil activity occurs. Description Topsoil is composed of mineral particles and organic mat ...

which would contribute in mitigating the global warming process. With the advent of cheap

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

like solar and wind power, the availability of energy sources is not an ongoing issue but water availability is still a major issue that can be solved by coastal reservoirs to a major extent.

References

{{reflist Reservoirs Lakes by type Bodies of water

Advantages

Climate change

See also

References