Environmental Impact of Dams

Water is an essential resource for all forms of life on Earth. Regrettably, it is not uniformly

distributed around the planet, either by season or by place. Dams have been built all over the world

to avoid floods, provide drinking and household water, produce electricity, and serve as irrigation

reservoirs. Dam constructions have played an essential role in the evolution of civilization, since they

help fulfil demand for water at specific periods and regulate stream regimes. Water is still necessary

for mankind's existence and the future growth of the world's cities, industries, and agriculture. There

is a tremendous need for water across the world today. The demand for water is increasing at a rate

of over 100 million people each year while global pollution continues to rise. At the same time, our

natural resources are being used irresponsibly. The construction of dams that generate reservoirs for

storage and future distribution is one of the most effective ways to manage water resources for

human purposes. Dams are one of the most important human-made changes to the hydrological

cycle. They have aided human socioeconomic development by providing water for drinking,

irrigation, and energy, but they have also had a significant influence on freshwater ecosystems. The

natural environment deteriorates, habitats are destroyed, and ecological services, many of which

improve people's well-being, are lost when water is over-extracted, its quality reduced, or

hydrological regimes changed. Inter-basin transfers and water withdrawals for supply and

agriculture have fractured 60 percent of the world's rivers, according to estimates. Environmental

concerns played little role in the design and operation of the vast majority of the world's existing

dams. However, in the last two decades, an increase in environmental consciousness has led to the

understanding that water resource management includes a duty to safeguard water users and

natural resources that rely on water from overuse or degrading consequences. As a result, a lot of

work has gone into devising strategies to mitigate the worst effects of dams. However, past

experience suggests that the effectiveness of these interventions is very varied and far from certain.