On the 20th of May we went to the north to select candidate reference and hydropeaking-affected sites to study fish microhabitat use in near-natural rivers and in rivers affected by hydropeaking. We have selected the hydropeaking-affected sites downstream Bragado HPP at Avelames River and Covas do Barroso HPP at Covas River. Regarding the reference streams we have selected two sites, each one upstream of the above HPP: one is located at Couto River (a tributary of the Covas River) and the other is located at Avelames River. Both are free-flowing, present well-structured riparian galleries and considered to have good water quality. There are no relevant pollution sources at such river segments.
