Dams and its affect on environment

What is a Dam?
A dam is an artificial barrier usually constructed
across a stream channel to
impound water. Timber, rock, concrete, earth, steel
or a combination of these
materials may be used to build the dam. Dams must
have spillway systems to
safely convey normal stream and flood flows over,
around, or through the
dam. Spillways are commonly constructed of non-
erosive materials such as
concrete. Dams should also have a drain or other
water-withdrawal facility for
control the pool or lake level and to lower or drain
the lake for normal
maintenance and emergency purposes.

Following are the impacts of dam on

environment
By the end of the 20th century, the dam industry had
choked more than half of
the earth's major rivers with more than 50,000 large
dams. The consequences
of this massive engineering program have been
devastating. The world's large
dams have wiped out species; flooded huge areas of
wetlands, forests and
farmlands; and displaced tens of millions of people.
The
dam has become increasingly problematic over the
past 70 years, not just
because of its inadequate fish passage system but
also because of the high
temperatures the dam creates in the slack water of
its reservoir --
temperatures that can be fatal to the threatened wild
steelhead that make it
past the dam to areas where the fish historically
thrived.
Dams and its affect on environment
What is a Dam?
A dam is an artificial barrier usually constructed
across a stream channel to
impound water. Timber, rock, concrete, earth, steel
or a combination of these
materials may be used to build the dam. Dams must
have spillway systems to
safely convey normal stream and flood flows over,
around, or through the
dam. Spillways are commonly constructed of non-
erosive materials such as
concrete. Dams should also have a drain or other
water-withdrawal facility for
control the pool or lake level and to lower or drain
the lake for normal
maintenance and emergency purposes.
Following are the impacts of dam on environment
By the end of the 20th century, the dam industry had
choked more than half of
the earth's major rivers with more than 50,000 large
dams. The consequences
of this massive engineering program have been
devastating. The world's large
dams have wiped out species; flooded huge areas of
wetlands, forests and
farmlands; and displaced tens of millions of people.
Hemlock Dam is located on the Gifford Pinchot
National Forest and was built
in 1935 to store irrigation water for the Wind River
Nursery, which closed in
1997, leaving the dam with no purpose and a
growing list of problems. The
dam has become increasingly problematic over the
past 70 years, not just
because of its inadequate fish passage system but
also because of the high
temperatures the dam creates in the slack water of
its reservoir --
temperatures that can be fatal to the threatened wild
steelhead that make it
past the dam to areas where the fish historically
thrived.
(a) Creation of a reservoir
The damming of a river creates a reservoir upstream
from the dam. The
reservoir waters spill out into the surrounding
environments, flooding the
natural habitats that existed before the dam’s
construction. According to
recent studies, reservoirs contribute to greenhouse
gas emissions as well.
The initial filling of a reservoir floods the existing
plant material, leading to the
death and decomposition of the carbon-rich plants
and trees. The rotting
organic matter releases large amounts of carbon
into the atmosphere. The
decaying plant matter itself settles to the non-
oxygenated bottom of the
stagnant reservoir, and the decomposition—
unmitigated by a flow pattern that
would oxygenate the water—produces and
eventually releases dissolved
methane.