The River Doon
The iconic River Doon is under threat.
Scottish Power a subsidiary of Spanish conglomerate Iberdrola, wants to reduce the flow in the Doon. This threat to the Doon, which is one of Ayrshire's finest assets and renown the world over, led to the formation of the SavetheDoon.com campaign, which set out to protect the River Doon for future generations.
The dam was built so that water from the Doon catchment could be taken to supply the hydro power stations on the Kirkcudbright River Dee.
About two thirds of the water that should naturally flow down the Doon is now removed through a tunnel into the Dee, the largest loss of water from any catchment in Scotland. At the time there were parliamentary inquiries to discuss the compensation flow that should be agreed to protect the Doon from the worst effects of this huge loss of its natural flow.
The figure of 45 million gallons per day (mgd) was agreed and the operators of the Galloway Hydros Scheme have been legally obliged to release that volume of water since the dam was built in 1936.
That long standing agreement, which has served the Doon and Ayrshire well, is now threatened. Under EU legislation the operators of Galloway Hydros, Scottish Power, are required to restore water flow in parts of the River Dee, a river that has been devastated by the effects of the hydro scheme. There is no overall shortage of water in the Dee; it already has gains thirds of the water from Loch Doon, but Scottish Power are proposing to reduce the compensation flow in the Doon, halving the small percentage of the time when the flow in the Doon exceeds its natural level.
All of this is for the sake of the renewable energy that could be produced by one modern wind turbine.
