Disadvantages of Dams and Multifaceted Challenge

Abstract

Dams, once hailed as engineering feats, have come under fire because of their negative impact and unpredictable consequences. Although it produces energy in large quantities that can be relied upon, and not like other low-production energy sources, it continuously depletes countries' financial resources, unlike dams, which only consume a financial resource at the beginning. Water resources are managed in an uncontested manner, but closer examination reveals a number of negative social, economic and environmental impacts. In this article, these disadvantages are examined, with particular attention to disturbance of natural river flows, environmental damage, community uprooting, and financial difficulties. In order to reduce the negative impacts of dams, it calls for a balanced approach to water management that takes alternatives into account.

Introduction

As essential tools for flood control, irrigation, water management, and hydroelectric power production, dams have had a significant impact on human civilization. However, there are many defects resulting from this powerful source of electricity production in its design and functions, such that it has a profound effect on us, the soil, agriculture, water, and the environment, which are impossible to mention by heads of state to ensure people’s silence, but I deliberately mentioned its negative impact in this paper scientifically and logically afterward. An in-depth study of the operation of dams until another source is established or the operation of dams is investigated. This article also explores the various negative impacts of dams, including their financial, social and environmental costs.

Effects on the Environment

• Disruption of Natural River Flows: Dams change how rivers naturally flow, which has an effect on ecosystems downstream.

• Construction of dams alters the riverbank's topography, accelerates erosion of the riverbed downstream, and deteriorates estuaries' underwater deltas. Dams can impact the benthic habitats of estuary areas by changing sediment transport, which can cause the estuarine turbidity maximum zone to retreat.As well Submergence Issue: When water levels rise, a sizable area becomes submerged and transforms into a reservoir. The owners of those lands must be moved, fairly compensated, and given a good place to live. This means that planning the construction of a dam will cost more money.

• Sediment Buildup: By capturing sediment upstream, dams lessen its downstream flow. In regions that were previously supported by sediment deposits, this may result in erosion and habitat deterioration.It has been noted that dams have significant effects on sediment dynamics and geomorphic processes in addition to river flows. An estimated 19 billion tons of sediment are transported by rivers annually, accounting for 90% of all dissolved and particulate matter deposited in the ocean. Rivers play a major role in shaping the morphological evolution of estuaries and nearby sea areas, as well as hydrological changes. Amenuvor et al. used Landsat remote sensing images to study the hydrology of the Volta River before and after the Akosombo Dam from 1936 to 2018. The study's findings showed that the dam's construction had a significant impact on the river's morphological evolution as well as its hydrology.

According to their research, the delta's river flow and sediment transport have dropped by 23.23% and 92.32%, respectively. The annual total sediment transfer to coastal areas in China's major rivers has been determined to have dropped from 2.03 billion tons in 1955–1968 to 0.50 billion tons in 1997–2010. Analogously, research on the movement of sediment in rivers in Switzerland, Russia, Europe, North Africa, and South East Asia has demonstrated that human disruptions in river basins, primarily from the construction of dams and reservoirs, are the primary reasons for the decreases in sediment movement.

Reduced sediment transport can deprive fertile regions of vital nutrients, and variations in water temperature regimes can affect aquatic life.

• Dams damage aquatic ecosystems by severing rivers, which prevents fish from migrating and from finding breeding sites. Food webs and aquatic biodiversity can be negatively impacted by changes in oxygen levels and water flow patterns.

• Loss of Biodiversity: There are established cycles and variations in the downstream flow.Building dams has the potential to submerge important riparian habitats and upset the delicate equilibrium of wildlife and plants in river ecosystems. This may cause endemic species to become extinct or decline.

• Dams must be built at great expense, and the government must make sure that tight regulations are followed and a very high standard is maintained. They also need to be in operation for many years before they can earn a profit large enough to offset the high cost of construction.

• Residents in the surrounding towns and villages that face the possibility of floods must be moved. Their farms and businesses are lost.

• Dams have the potential to uproot a sizable population.

Because of the reservoirs that form behind each dam, an estimated 500 million people have been displaced by dams over the course of the last 200 years. As the neighboring dry lands get inundated, we no longer have the option to use land that was formerly accessible for several purposes. This means that even if there will eventually be more water available to support additional irrigation, local agricultural activities experience a period of disturbance.

• A dam's reservoirs may increase greenhouse gas emissions.

When vegetation gets engulfed in water, then the plants will finally die. This results in the release of methane from the decomposing organic matter, which eventually enters the atmosphere.

Given that methane has up to 20 times the reflectivity of carbon dioxide, the rise in greenhouse gas output is noteworthy.

In certain places, the use of dams may also be a factor in the disappearance of forests. Because fewer photosynthetic processes are taking place daily when a large number of trees are lost at once, there is a proportional intake of carbon dioxide.

• Local ecosystems are disturbed by this technology.

Dams produce a reservoir by creating a flooding problem behind the structure. This not only interferes with human activity but also devastates the environments that currently support wildlife. This problem has the potential to upset entire ecosystems, which might be detrimental to the entire regional biome.

The choice to dam the water can have negative effects on marine species, such as migratory fish, that depend on a river's unhindered flow.

• Some sediment from rivers has advantages.

Dams can have a significant effect on a region's entire aquatic ecology. Because of the upstream transformation, there is less settling downstream, supporting the entire marine environment. Temperature, chemical composition, and shoreline stability can all vary as a result of it. Additionally, invasive species like algae and snails that threaten the native plant and animal groups that once inhabited the river are found in many reservoirs.

In the first ten years of operation, a dam's downstream riverbeds may erode by several yards. Afterward, this harm may continue downstream for hundreds of miles.

• In the event of a dam failure, flooding is a risk.

Dam failure can have catastrophic effects for people downstream, even though we may be able to control flooding with them. The Dam at Vajont failed in 1963, barely four years after the completion of its construction near Venice, Italy. Around 50,000,000 cubic meters of floodwater from a landslide that occurred during the reservoir's first filling caused a tsunami that affected the towns and villages nearby. The wave reportedly rose to a height of more than 820 feet.

Because the dam was situated in a geologically vulnerable area, the accident claimed the lives of nearly 2,000 people. When China's Banqiao Reservoir Dam collapsed in 1975, it contributed to It is thought to have killed 171,000 people.

• The groundwater table may suffer as a result of dam construction.

Deepening riverbeds lead to a situation when the groundwater table falls along the river. This implies that it is harder for plant roots to get to the things they need to survive. To get water for their homes, nearby homeowners must also drill deeper wells. This problem can even alter the fluid's mineral and salt composition, harming the soil's structural integrity in the process.

• Building a dam requires a significant financial commitment.

A structure taller than fifteen meters is considered a huge dam. According to this criteria, there are more than 57,000 structures throughout the globe. There are more than 300 major dams that are taller than 150 meters. With more than 23,000 operational facilities, China has the most. At 9,200, the United States lags far behind in second place. These days, building a big dam might cost upwards of $20 billion and take anywhere from seven to ten years. Numerous towns could make greater use of those resources. Furthermore the building of dams alters the life cycles of aquatic habitats, including those of fish. Their life cycles are adjusted to the flow patterns and natural habitat of rivers. Changes to the flow result in changes to the physical environment.

• Dams have the potential to impede the flow of water into other states, provinces, and nations.

Building a dam at or close to a boundary between two states, provinces, or nations may also impede the flow of water in one of those regions. This implies that they are no longer directly in charge of the supply coming from the same river in the next nation. This drawback may lead to serious problems between neighbors, generating a continual source of contention that occasionally even sparks war.

• The water may become too shallow to navigate.

By releasing water downstream and constructing pathways for marine life to travel upstream, dams attempt to minimize their negative effects on the environment. The improvements made to this engineering technique have yielded certain advantages, notwithstanding its imperfections. The depth of water that might be accessible downstream is not resolved by this procedure. The Colorado River serves as a prime illustration of this problem, as the volume of damming activities prevents the watercourse from reaching its outflow in most years.

A river cannot be used for transportation purposes if its waters are too shallow to be useful.

Additionally, this problem modifies the settlement profile, depriving wetlands and marches of the vital riverine supports, Moreover Water waste: When water is used more than what is needed for evapotranspiration. Either surface water or groundwater can be found in the system. However, aside from minerals taken from soils, fertilizers and pesticides are the main causes of its deterioration in quality. Waste of this kind must be reduced.

• Maintaining reservoirs can be difficult.

In communities where drought poses a serious problem, a reservoir located behind a dam can be an invaluable asset. There are unique difficulties in maintaining this new body of water since evaporation can occur during dry spells, exacerbating environmental issues. With this drawback comes the tendency for the sediment to accumulate a large amount of organic debris, which can lead to the formation of potentially cancer-causing trihalomethanes when the water is chlorinated for drinking.

• Failure of Dams: There are a variety of reasons why dams fail. The failure can be attributed mostly to forces that were either unanticipated or not considered. Another reason for failure could be poor design or unforeseen flooding. Another factor contributing to dam breakdowns is improper guidelines not being followed during design and construction. Occasionally, excessive and unexpected earthquakes can cause dams to crumble. People living in that area may be severely endangered by dam failure.

Effects on the Social Repercussions:

• Community Displacement: Communities living in the flooded area are frequently forced to relocate when dams are built. This may result in unstable livelihoods, cultural heritage loss, and social unrest.

• Cultural Heritage Loss: When archaeological sites and culturally significant areas are flooded by dams, historical records are erased and ties between present-day communities and their past are severed.

• Disruption of Livelihoods: Dams have the potential to upend the customary way of life and means of subsistence for communities that depend on rivers for transportation, agriculture, or fishing.

• Public Health Risks: Standing water behind dams can provide mosquitoes and other disease-carrying insects with a breeding ground, which can be hazardous to public health. Communities and villages are uprooted during the construction of large dams. The villagers are forced to give up their livelihoods and their lands.

Effects on the Economic Repercussions:

• High Construction Costs: Building a large dam can be expensive, requiring large sums of money that could be used to fund the development of other water management options.

• Maintenance Costs: Dams have recurrent expenses because they need constant maintenance and care to maintain their structural integrity and operational effectiveness.

• Loss of Tourism Revenue: Dams have the potential to negatively affect tourism revenue in places recognized for their scenic value by destroying the natural beauty of rivers and landscapes.

• Potential for Dam Failure: Although they are uncommon, dam failures can have disastrous effects that result in the loss of life, destruction of infrastructure, and destruction of the environment.

Conclusion

Without a doubt, dams have been crucial to human development because have given us access to irrigation, flood control, and hydroelectric power. It is impossible to overlook the effects dam construction has on the environment, though. Dams cause habitat destruction by altering the course of natural river flows. Additionally, they may have an effect on ecosystems downstream and eventually raise the risk of flooding.

We must balance the environmental costs and benefits of dams if we are to work toward a sustainable future. It is imperative to investigate substitute energy sources, enforce more stringent regulations on dam construction, and give priority to dam removal when applicable. We can make sure that the decisions we make today do not negatively affect the ecosystems and biodiversity that support all life on Earth by finding a balance between development and environmental protection.

Dams are intricate infrastructure undertakings that have advantages and disadvantages. An analysis of the environmental, social, and financial consequences of dams is necessary to comprehend their drawbacks. When building a dam, sustainable water management strategies should minimize the negative effects on the environment and society, emphasize responsible use, and investigate other options like the possibility that technical developments negative environmental effects of dams or used another way to produce electricity.To secure water security for future generations while preserving the health of our ecosystems and communities, a well-balanced approach is essential.

Majed Almohsen