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(Category:Hydrology, summary)
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{{Wikipedia}}
{{cat header| default.png |Dams| Dams have many serious environmental, social and public health impacts. }}
Dams have played an important role in supplying and storing water, particularly for large communities such as cities, and also for [[agriculture]]. However, they are now widely recognized as having many serious negative environmental, social and [[public health]] impacts:
*Trapping of sediment - this reduces [[sediment]] and [[nutrient]] flow down the river, with effects as far away as declining [[marine|offshore]] [[fish]] stocks (as is reported with the {{WP|Three Gorges Dam}} in [[China]]. This sediment also fills the dam, reducing its capacity.
*Interference with [[ecosystem]]s including fish stocks. This is particularly the case where indigenous species are adapted to a cycle of wet and dry, as in Australian rivers - dams disrupt the cycle, and indigenous species lose their survival advantage over introduced species.
*Traditional farmers whose farming patterns depend on the natural cycle of the river can suffer. For example, in the Nile Valley, traditional farmers received [[irrigation]] and natural [[fertilizer]] from the annual floods, but after the {{WP|Aswan Dam}} was built, they could not get the water without paying,{{fact}}, and had to pay for fertilizer instead of receiving free nutrient-rich sediment deposited by the flood.
*Displacement of local people. Activists (including {{WP|Arundhati Roy}}{{fact}})alleged that poor people are frequently thrown off their land with no choice, and little or no compensation.
*[[Disease]]s spread by water may be an issue. For example the use of the Aswan Dam for agriculture removed the traditional dry period, allowing [[snail]]s to survive, spread, and act as intermediate hosts{{fact}} for the [[schistosomiasis{{wp sup|schistosomiasis}} [[pathogen]], causing serious health problems to agricultural workers and others who had contact with the water.
 
These factors, and the fact that most suitable sites for dams have been dammed already, mean that other means of [[water supply]] are generally preferred. In some cases, old dams may actually be removed, or at least made to allow more water through (referred to as an {{WP|environmental flow}}).
 
Of course, many factors must be considered, and the needs of the community may be such that a dam is required. In this case, design is very important:
*Size no larger than necessary. This can be helped by emphasizing [[water efficiency]] in the community.
*Use of [[fish ladder]]s{{wp sup|fish ladder}} to minimize ecological impact. These should be designed for the local species.


[[Category:Hydrology]]
[[Category:Water supply]]
[[Category:Water supply]]

Revision as of 15:59, 19 October 2011

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Main page Dams
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