The public policy pendulum has swung from strong public support for building new dams towards a new support for dam removal. Impoundments were usually made for transportation, industrial, hydropower, or municipal drinking water purposes - in our climate, unlike the Western United States, impoundments for irrigation are as scarce as hen's teeth.
Most Virginia impoundments are for hydropower or drinking water. In addition, many dams were built in the 1700's and 1800's to supply mechanical energy to mills. Small gristmill dams are mostly gone now, removed by floods. Other dams built in the 1800's as part of canal systems are, in most cases, just a small Class 1 or Class 2 rapid in a free-flowing stream today. However, there are still some large dams in cities such as Richmond and Fredericksburg. These create flat-water recreation opportunities, or at least interfere with white-water recreation (though Hollywood and Pipeline rapids in downtown Richmond are spicier because of old dams...)
Dams interfere with fish migration, and some still block it completely. Such dams are targets for removal, especially Embrey Dam in Fredericksburg. In the 1970's, the proposed Salem Church Dam on the Rappahannock was blocked - but it took an additional 30 years to remove Embrey Dam.
Proposals for new dams are not common, but one in particular has drawn close attention recently - the King William Reservoir.
