With over one million barriers blocking Europe’s rivers, prioritising dam removal is crucial. This is why the Open Rivers Programme focuses on removing as many small, obsolete dams as possible from rivers across Europe.

The situation is no different on the waterways of the Upper Mureș Basin. Despite its natural value, the connectivity of the Mureș River and its tributaries, from the source to Reghin, is affected by numerous dams and small barriers, most of them outdated. These obstacles block fish migration, affect water quality, and reduce the resilience of aquatic ecosystems.

From April this year until March 2026, together with our project partners – the Romanian Wilderness Society  – and in collaboration with Fauna & Flora International, we are collecting data and making a full inventory of artificial barriers across 550 km of rivers and tributaries. At the same time, we are assessing their ecological impact and establishing a list of barriers to be proposed for removal.

Here is how the survey on the Toplița stream went.