The Susquehanna River, in the Mid-Atlantic States of the United States, has a collection of dams. These dams are used for power generation, flood control, navigation and recreation. The first dams at Sunbury, Pennsylvania were to support year round ferry crossings.
Among their negative features, dams slow water and trap silt, including pollutants. Conowingo Dam is credited with preventing much of the silt from Pennsylvania from reaching the Chesapeake Bay. The dam spillways can add oxygen to the water. The downstream side of dams is favored by aquatic birds, possibly because the fish that pass through the dam are a bit stunned. The dams also raise the water level, altering the riparian environment. Dams block migratory fish, such as the American shad. The dams from York Haven down to the Chesapeake all have fish ladders or lifts in an attempt to mitigate this.
Communities on the river edge have been displaced, such as Conowingo, Bald Friar, and Glen Cove, Maryland in 1928.
Listed from the headwaters toward the mouth of the river. This list includes existing and historic structures, as well as dams off the river that have a major impact on the river. The river also grows its own ice dams during the winter and notable ones will be included.