Sweden, Finland, and Spain drove the latest record water barrier removal in Europe, reconnecting thousands of kilometers of rivers.
Dam removal in Europe marked 2025 as the fifth straight year of growth for river restoration. Crews tore down 603 barriers across 21 countries, according to the newest annual report from Dam Removal Europe (DRE). That total beat the 2024 record of 542 removals by 11%, confirming the trend as the largest record water barrier removal in Europe since tracking began.
The pace of change has been striking. Just six years ago, Europe removed about 100 barriers a year. Last year’s number was six times higher, showing how record barrier removal in Europe has moved from a niche idea to a mainstream practice.
Most of what came down were small, forgotten structures. Culverts made up half of all removals, while weirs accounted for another 31%. Only about 10% were larger dams, and just 5% had ever been used for hydropower generation, though many of those had already stopped operating.
Size mattered too, but not in the way people might expect. Nearly 78% of removed barriers stood less than two meters tall, roughly the height of a doorway. Another 20% ranged between two and five meters, while just 2% exceeded five meters. These smaller projects tend to cost less and move faster, which helps explain why the numbers behind this record water barrier removal in Europe keep climbing.
Sweden topped the list with at least 173 removals, many of them old timber dams left over from the logging industry. Rivers were once channeled to float logs downstream, and those structures had long outlived their purpose. Finland followed with 143 removals, and Spain rounded out the top three.
Together, these removals reconnected more than 3,740 kilometers of rivers, a distance similar to driving from Lisbon to Moscow. That reconnection matters because rivers work as connected systems. Fish need to move upstream to breed, and sediment needs to flow downstream to keep habitats healthy.
Two countries joined the movement for the first time in 2025. Iceland removed a dam on the Melsá River that had powered a local farm since 1958, restoring more than two kilometers of habitat for sea trout and Atlantic salmon.
Record water barrier removal in Europe welcomed Iceland as a first-time participant in 2025, as crews dismantled a farm dam on the Melsá River that had blocked fish passage since 1958, restoring more than two kilometers of river habitat for sea trout and Atlantic salmon. Photo courtesy of Dam Removal Europe.
North Macedonia also saw its first-ever barrier removals. Workers dismantled a wartime concrete structure on the Pčinja River that had blocked fish for more than 70 years. The structure measured 53 meters long and 30 meters wide and was packed with salvaged railway steel. Its removal reopened roughly 70 kilometers of river for at least 10 fish species, including four found nowhere else in Europe, such as the Vardar bitterling.
In southern France, workers also demolished the Isaby dam in October 2025, opening a tributary of the Gave de Pau River. The project restored up to 10 kilometers of river network for threatened species, including Atlantic salmon and the Iberian desman, a small mole relative that depends on clean, flowing water.
That kind of local impact adds up across the continent. Freshwater fish have been hit especially hard by blocked rivers, with 42% of Europe’s freshwater fish species now threatened with extinction. Removing obsolete barriers is one of the more direct ways to help those populations recover, which is a key reason why record water barrier removal in Europe continues to draw support from governments and conservation groups alike.
There is still a long way to go. Europe’s rivers remain fragmented by an estimated 1.2 million barriers, and more than 150,000 of those are considered obsolete. Advocates describe clearing them as one of the biggest and most achievable ecological wins available today.
Progress has not been even across the continent. Southeastern Europe accounted for just 1.3% of all removals in 2025, reflecting fewer resources and less monitoring in the region. Still, North Macedonia’s first removal signals that record water barrier removal in Europe is beginning to reach new places, including regions long left out of the movement.
The European Union has added momentum through policy. A 2024 law set a target to restore 25,000 kilometers of free-flowing rivers by 2030, and national governments are starting to follow with their own plans. Austria, for example, introduced its first national river connectivity plan in March 2026, at a time when only 12% of the country’s rivers still flow freely.
Record water barrier removal in Europe is gaining policy momentum, with a 2024 EU law targeting 25,000 kilometers of free-flowing rivers by 2030, as fewer than one in eight of the country’s rivers still run freely. Photo by (left) Jóhannes Guðbrandsson, and (right) Iðunn Hauksdóttir, courtesy of Dam Removal Europe.
In Finland, the removal of a power station dam on the Hiitolanjoki River changed the water almost overnight. It moved faster, ran cooler, and sounded less like a reservoir and more like a river.
See also: Mongolian Scientists Study Fish-Friendly Dam Alternatives in America
That shift, repeated hundreds of times across 21 countries, is what the numbers in this report ultimately describe. A river returning to its natural rhythm benefits the species living in it and the communities living beside it. As more countries join the effort, record water barrier removal in Europe shows that rivers are finally getting a rare chance to flow freely again.
