Positive and negative socio-economic effect of DAM

In the previous note we highlighted on the issues related to water scarcity. We have discussed
about the possible measures we can take for addressing the issue of global water crisis. These
measures include building several small reservoirs instead of few mega projects, develop small
catchment dams and soil management, micro catchment development and afforestation etc.

Dams are one of the most important modern infrastructure which is playing an important role
in growth and expansion of civilization. Dam type infrastructures are also evidenced in
historical time which were used as water reservoir or sometimes for military purpose. Dams
are basically constructed to store water and to control the amount of water moving down a
stream of river. Hoover dam, constructed in the year 1935 was the largest concrete structure on
the planet at that time. Later on dams were constructed by many countries like India, Spain,
Switzerland, China Pakistan etc. and these dams are used to create electricity, facilitate water
for irrigation and flood prevention. Presently Nurek dam in Tajikistan is the largest in the
world. Nearly 17% of world’s total electricity is generated from dam and it is a relatively
cheaper form of renewable energy. Large dams enable larger storage of water and reduces the
multiplicity of efforts which would be needed for construction of several small dams. Again
large water storages are also some times very useful in various developmental projects. The
large dams enable harnessing of large water resources potentials, where and when available, to
meet needs of fast growing societies round the world: food, fodder, fish production
(aquaculture), drinking water, clothing fibres, sanitation, energy, industry, wildlife and others.
After several decades of evolving dam construction activity, even today’s needs are far from
satisfied in many developing regions. There are more than 45,000 of large dams around the
world.

Some of the positive socio-economic impact of DAMs are highlighted below:

1. Dams are able to re-divert waterways to other areas giving protection to the society
from devastating flood and protecting the communities. For example, by constructing
dam and controlling the water supply of Nile river, Egypt has been able to give
protection to the local farmers against the harsh drought and famine of the desert.
2. Dams are the main source of hydro-electric power generation and nearly 17% of
world’s hydroelectric power is generated from these dams. Hydroelectric power is one
of the renewable source of energy and is relatively cheap.
3. Dams are largely helping in irrigation and is a great source of water for farm and
industrial activities. About 10% of cropland in the United States is irrigated by dam
water. For India also, dam water helps in great way in irrigation of cropland.
4. Dams are also protecting environment by trapping many hazardous materials in water
and capturing sediments which otherwise may contain toxic ingredients.Some dams
also have mine tailing impoundments, which help facilitate the processing of minerals
in an environmentally friendly way.
5. Dams also help facilitate the nations waterways making water transportation easy and
reducing the risk of water-borne accidents.
6. Dams are identified as important tourist spots. Therefore, it is helping in generating a
good amount of revenue by attracting many tourists.
7. Dams have important contribution in reducing the unemployment problem of a country.
Dams, since these are attractive tourist spots and a major source of hydro-electric power
generation, are providing direct and indirect employment opportunities to large section
of unemployment youths.

Negative socio-economic effect of dams:

1. When water rushes through a dam and through its internal turbine, there are chances of
sediment layer deposition which can pollute the water and disrupt the ecology of water
environment.
2. Usually rushing flood waters replenish the nutrients in the soil in water which is
beneficial for growth of the agricultural products, to the plant and animal life in water.
When the water path is artificially diverted this natural delicate ecosystem is get
disrupted. For example, after construction of Aswan high dam in Egypt, due to
availability of less amount of nutrients and food, fish production around the areas were
found to decline. Some dam therefore, arranges fish ladder for facilitating fish
migration.
3. Since the trapped water has somewhat larger temperature than the surrounding, Some
flora and fauna are able to adapt to the changing conditions, but many will not, and
could be destroyed in the new environment. therefore, many small creatures could not
adapt to this changing environmental condition and thereby causing threat to ecological
balance.
4. Construction of large dams leads to displacement of many local people and in many
cases the tribal population get effected by this, both socially and economically.
Because, many times proper rehabilitation arrangement are not made by the
government for these poor people. In India 16 to 18 million people were displaced due
to construction of large dams, out of which 40-50% people were tribal people.
5. Seismic threat associated with these large dams is matter of serious concern for the
inhabitants residing in nearby areas of the dam. It may lead to sudden devastating flood
for the local villagers and the life of the villagers are at high risk. However, during
construction adequate measure has always been taken and therefore, rarely it can
happen. In simple words, a dam collapse would be an absolute catastrophe.
6. After construction of many dams, erosion of surrounding has been noticed in many
cases. Such kind of erosion may lead to land slide leading to serious problems
sometimes.
7. Construction of dams is very much cost expensive. The engineering and technical
aspects, along with the actual construction, is a time intensive and laborious process
that has to be done with absolute precision.
8. Sometimes there remains a possibility that water could overflow from some of the
dam’s spillways and could not be controlled. That may lead to a devastating situation.
Even sometimes it may be hard to rely on the accuracy of hydraulic modelling studies
and other advanced analytics.
 9. Other problems associated with dam construction are fragmentation and physical
transformation of rivers, impacts on the riverine ecosystem, disruption of fishing and
travel by boat etc.

Homework for you!

 Prepare a note on various renewable and non-renewable energies with a detailed
discussion on hydro-electric non-renewable energy. Provide your own view about:
i. The environmental impacts of large dams.
ii. Oil and its environmental impacts.
 Write short notes on ‘Narmada Bachao Andolan’
 Hydroelectric power generation despite being economic booster, has created serious
ecological problems. Comment on the statement.

Photovoltaic energy:

When sunlight is directly converted to electricity using a technology based on photovoltaic

solar cell, then it is termed as Solar photovoltaic energy or PV solar energy. This is based on
the photovoltaic effect. Solar panel used in this device comprise many smaller unit called
photovoltaic cells and the technology is based on photovoltaic effect. In simple words, the
effect due to which light energy is converted to electrical energy in certain semiconductor
materials such as silicon crystal is known as photovoltaic effect. When radiation from the sun
hits one of the faces of a photoelectric cell, it produces an electric voltage difference between
both the faces that makes the electrons flow between one to the other, generating an electric
current. There are three types of solar panels: Photovoltaic as mentioned above, solar thermal,
installed on houses to receive the sun directly and thermodynamic, which operate in varying
weather conditions. In photovoltaic device, solar cells use the sun’s light, not its heat, to make
electricity. PV cells require little maintenance, have no moving parts, and essentially no
environmental impact.

Energy Conservation:

Energy conservation is the effort made to reduce the consumption of energy by making
efficient use of energy or by reducing the amount of service used. Conventional energy sources
have a variety of impacts on nature and human society. Therefore, much emphasis has been
given on the use of renewable energies, instead of the conventional ones. For the countries like
India it is very much essential. Judicial and equitable use of energy sources enable ones to
afford sustainable lifestyle i.e. to use the energy resources in an environmentally friendly way.
For example, effort to reduce the use of fossil fuels is a step forward in this direction. India
have a great potential to generate sufficient hydroelectric power to meet its energy demand.
Construction of many small dams can certainly be helpful in this regards. Energy efficient
cooking can reduce pollution and save energy at the same time. Use of the other source of
renewable energy is definitely catalytic in this regards. More importantly we should reduce the
wastage of energy and collectively should sort out effective strategies to reduce the wastage of
energies.

Write down what an individual can do to conserve energy (Atleast 10 points).

Or Write down what an individual can do to conserve electric energy.

What an individual can do to preserve natural resources? List out at least 12 points.

World Food problem

A sizeable portion of the global population continuously fighting acute hunger and many more
are suffering from malnutrition. This number is continuously on the rise. Present crisis of
COVID-19 pandemic will aggravate the situation further since current crisis will create a
turmoil in the world economic sector. That will make it difficult to achieve the sustainable
development goals and building a more stable and resilient world. Poor economic status of
third world countries, Parity in resource distribution between northern and southern countries,
weather extremes, conflict/insecurity was the main driver of food crisis. For example, due to
the continuous conflict in the middle east nearly 39 million people are identified as acutely
food insecure people. Similarly south Africa which is badly effected by weather events, has the
largest number of acutely food insecure people (See yourself what the term acutely food
insecure means). Countries in the horn of Africa and Southern Africa and Pakistan are deeply
effected by food crisis. Inter communal violence and other conflict in some of the African
countries results in creation of large refugee populations in neighbouring countries such as
Uganda. Economic crisis has a marked effect on acute food insecurity levels, particularly in
the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Haiti and the Sudan. Among the globally
displaced people, many of them were internally displaced due to the disturbances to maintain
refugee status. More than half of these refugees were hosted in countries with high numbers
of acutely food-insecure people.
Creating awareness among the general masses about the need of maintaining sustainable life
style can improve the scenario. However, we need to rely much on the technological solutions
to this problem. The development attained in the field of biotechnology and genetic engineering
has substantially improved the average production of food crops. The green revolution in India
drastically changed the food production scenario in India and currently India is more or less
food sufficient country. Equally we need to emphasis on reducing the food waste world wide.
For example, in the United States 30% of all food is thrown away each year and about half of
the water used to produce this food also goes to waste. The food lost or wasted in Latin America
could feed 300 million people. United Kingdom house hold waste nearly 6.7 million tonnes of
food every year. These are few examples only. Considering the food waste in the entire world,
one can imagine the gravity of the situation.

However, food harvest is gradually improving to ensure sufficient staple crops. Another
situation coming out from the present crisis is that due to the movement restriction and
disruption of transport service, processing of food and other critical goods will be effected and
household delivery of goods also will be effected. Further due to the economic turmoil, many
countries will not be capable of maintaining their food supply chain. Disruption in the supply
chain of agricultural input inability to access livestock markets will result in decline of crop
and livestock production. From these fact the food security consequences of the pandemic can
be imagined.

(You can make a separate note on your own on the world food crisis.)

What an individual can do to improve the world food crisis? Mention at least 10 points.

Prepare a brief note on (i) land resources (ii) Open cast mining.