Book excerpt: Siltation in reservoirs has become an important problem when dams are getting older and stop functioning when the sediment has accumulated to a certain extent. With proper sediment management techniques, negative effects of sediment can be avoided and reservoir life and performance can be improved. This volume deals with reservoir sedimentation, deposition and removal. It provides the principles of sediment transport and gives guidelines to predict reservoir life. It presents several removal techniques, accompanied with detailed operation descriptions. With the help of the RESCON open source software, cost analysis tools to determine the optimum method for maintenance and operation of a reservoir can be applied. To illustrate practice and to assist the reader in setting up a sediment management operation, a number of case studies of existing large dams are included. Written by two experts on reservoir operation, this volume is intended for professionals and advanced students working on dam and reservoir design, construction, operation, maintenance and rehabilitation.