Dams: A Short Description:

A dam can be shortly described as a barrier constructed across a waterway to control the flow of water or raise its level. Dams have two main functions- the first is to store water to compensate for fluctuations, in river flow or in demand for and energy; the second is to raise the level of water upstream to enable water to be diverted into a canal, for irrigation, domestic and industrial purposes (Mc Cully 1996).

Dams: The Global Scenario:

As of today, there are 45000 large dams operating around the world and an additional 1500 under construction in various countries. Those in favor of damming argue it is an appropriate way to deal with the pressures of development. Dams provide water to 12-16% of world food production; contribute to 19% of the total supply of electricity worldwide through hydropower; and help control water supplies, a major role of 12% of large dams (United Nations Cyber School bus). This clearly shows that dams are generally accepted as viable and favorable answers to the development questions posed to the world. However, what are not normally taken into account are the costs that dam building imposes upon the society and nature. While dams can improve agricultural output by making more land suitable for cropping, aid flood control and provide hydropower to millions of people, they are also responsible for significant environmental damage and the disruption of many communities (Rivers at Risk: Dams and the future of freshwater ecosystems). According to the WCD, overall displacement because of dams could be 40 to 80 million people worldwide as of 2000. This, coupled with the ecosystem disruption and habitat destruction of various species,

brings to the fore the effects of dams that are glossed over by those who favor building them.

Adverse Effects of Dams:

Despite the ridiculously high number of dams that exist in the world today, over one billion people do not have access to safe drinking water and another two billion have no access to electricity(WWF). If dams were the solution to any problems such a scenario would not have existed today. However, worse than solving the worlds problems, dams have created problems of their own and these range from the socio-economic to environmental ones. According to the World Commission on Dams report analyzing 125 of the worlds largest dams, two-thirds of them had negative socio-economic and environmental impacts. Therefore, its worth to find out exactly what kind of effects dam building entails.

Environmental Impacts:
Dams change the ecosystem significantly, as soon as they start operating. Effects vary from upstream to downstream and generally be worse downstream. The upstream river valley transforms into a big reservoir. Its significance can be judged from the fact that approximately 400,000 sq km worldwide is submerged under artificial reservoirs (International Development Studies Network). Such a change leaves permanent inundation of forests, wetlands and wildlife (often among the most diverse ecosystems in world) into a much more uniform reservoir (Mc Cully 1996). Apart from this, the creation of a reservoir leaves it susceptible to evaporation; around 7% of the total consumption of water is evaporated from such reservoirs (Mc Cully 1996). This evaporation is waste of water (a precious natural resource), which is a direct result of building dams. Downstream, much of the impact is due to a decreased sediment load and absence of natural flooding. Since most of

the sediment is blocked by and settled in the reservoir, the downstream is starved of its sediment load (R.M. Baxter Pg-271). Due to this, the fertility of the river banks is reduced, which prompts farmers in this area to resort to artificial fertilizer use, which in turn aggravate the problems. It also leads to the erosion of the coastal areas (reduced sediment load) and saline penetration into ground water aquifers (reduced fresh water);since the construction of the Aswan Dam, the area of the Nile Delta has reduced because of the erosion by the sea and fall in sediment deposition(R.M. Baxter). As far as the floodwaters are concerned, they transport nutrients, organisms and genes, replenish groundwater levels, enable the waterpurifying role of floodplains, and regenerate habitats (WWF). Water below the dams is said to be hungry due to a less than natural sediment load and therefore, it erodes the downstream bed and banks to regain lost sediment, in turn leaving a rocky stream bed which is a poor habitat for aquatic fauna and species (International Development Studies Network). At least 20% of the worlds 9000 recognized fresh water species have become extinct, threatened or endangered in recent times (J.N. Abromovitz 1996). One reason for this is that dams block free movement of organisms and fragment river eco-systems, which lead to biodiversity loss. Moreover, dams deteriorate the water quality downstream. As soil and vegetation is decomposed in the newly formed reservoir, the water will start to deoxygenate and that can be lethal for fishes downstream (Food and Agricultural Organization).

Socio-Economic Effects:
Dams have very far-reaching socio-economic effects as well and many of them stem from the environmental ones as well. Such effects include displacement of people (at the dam building site), loss of livelihood as a consequence of displacement, reduced fish catches downstream of the dam, loss of fertile flood plains harming river side farming, and new diseases as a

consequence of altered area geography. We will look at each of these in greater detail. Displacement: When the site for a dam is chosen, large areas are needed to be cleared for the reservoir. In almost all cases, these areas are inhabited by communities, which are displaced in order to clear the area. The magnitude of this can be gauged from the single case study of India, where according to a conservative estimate; fourteen million people have been displaced by reservoirs (World Bank Re-settlement and Development). The displacement and resettlement of such communities is a problem ridden process. To begin with, it forcibly uproots indigenous communities from their cultural, economic and social roots. Such ties, when once broken, can hardly be revived again. For the displaced, it is a trauma which is worsened because many of the communal bonds, which help define their societies, are destroyed by displacement and by the loss of common resources on which their economy is based (Mc Cully 1996). In many cases, re-settlement is not looked after once people have been displaced. For instance, in India three quarters of the millions of dam ousted were given no replacement land or housing; at best they received a small sum of cash compensation, often they got nothing at all (C. Maloney 1996). One can imagine displacement in Indian Finance Ministers words in 1961, We will request you to move from your homes after dam comes up. If you move, it will be good; otherwise we shall release the waters and drown you all. Therefore, once displaced such communities end up impoverished, demoralized and bitter (Mc Cully 1996). Reduced Fish Catch Downstream: Due to the fragmentation of the river eco-system and reduced downstream sediment load, fish catches downstream diminish. For example, the construction of the Tucurui Dam on the Tocantins River in Brazil made it significantly more difficult to catch fish60% fewer fish were caught for the same amount of effort (United

Nations Cyber School Bus). Such is the fate of most rivers where dams have been constructed and this means that the standard of living of the fishing communities is bound to suffer, once a dam is built and this suffering can be enormous for many families who solely depend on fishing for their livelihoods. River-side Farming Communities: Since dams are a flood controlling mechanism and also trap most sediments in the reservoirs, it negatively affects the fertility of the river side land, which otherwise is rich in composition, due to the nutrients deposited by the river. Once this happens, there is a decline in the crop outputs of river side farmers. For this they resort to the use of artificial fertilizers, which not only pollutes underground water, but also creates imbalances in the soil composition. Moreover, it increases the cost of sowing crops. New Diseases: Dams alter the geography of the area they are built in and this also triggers the birth of new diseases. Dams lead to the creation of reservoirs, which are perfect habitats for snails and mosquitoes in most cases and this leads to diseases like malaria and schistosomiasis (Mc Cully 1996). Schistosomiasis now affects roughly 200 million people (International Development Studies Network).These diseases mostly inflict the locals of that area, who are even poorly immunized against such diseases, which only aggravates the problems.

These by no means exhaust the list of environmental or socio-economical effects of dams, but I would rather argue are only the tip of the ice-berg. However, they shed light on the kind of changes and problems that dam building entails. Although, in some countries governments try to mitigate these problems, this tends to add to the cost of building dams and making them seem more economically unviable in my opinion. I have, in this half of my paper, tried to

present a global picture of the effects of hydro-electric dams; now I would move to a more specific country study, that of Pakistan.

The Pakistan Scenario: A Coast Devastated

The Indus River originates some 5000 meters above and 2900 kilometers away from the Arabian Sea. Ten major rivers join it as it passes through the Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan. Its not only the river which led to the creating of the ancient Indus Civilization, but is also the lifeline of Pakistan, a country of 160 million, mainly dependent upon agriculture. Some of the major dams are Tarbela on the Indus River, Mangla on Jhelum River and Warsak on the Kabul River. In this part of my paper, I will not repeat all the effects of dams in the Pakistan context, but rather concentrate on the effects on the Pakistani coastal areas, of dam building. Primarily this is because dams have had tremendous socio-economic effects on the coast; the shrinking mangroves and the slow death of coastal agriculture in the districts of Thatta and Badin have affected millions of people.

Mangroves: A Waning Ecological Treasure

Mangroves are an integral part of Pakistans coastal geography and cover a total of 257,500 hectares in Pakistan. They are salt tolerant evergreen forests which occur in the transition zone between dry land and open sea. Their importance lies in the fact that they are a natural habitat and breeding grounds for species like fish, shrimps, crabs, oysters and many others. Besides that, they are a natural barrier against hurricanes and typhoons that originate in the Arabian Sea and also supply the poor coastal communities, who have no electricity, with

essential fire wood. However, mangroves survive on a very crucial sea water and fresh water equilibrium and in the absence of fresh water, they ultimately start dying. Damming the rivers in Pakistan has precisely had that effect. A significant reduction in water supply, sedimentation and coastal erosion has led to the slow death of chunks of the mangrove forests (World Wildlife Fund 2000). The estimated available freshwater flow of the Indus Delta is about 180 billion-m, carrying with it some 400 million tones of silt. However, construction of dams and irrigation channels has reduced the annual flow that reaches the mangroves to less than 43 billion m (LEAD). Hence, the rate of mangrove degradation in the delta has been estimated at 6% and only 15% are considered healthy (Thompson and Tirmizi 1995). With the mangroves are associated lives of most of the costal residents and a collapse of the mangrove eco-system will not only eliminate all the related species, but also devastate people who depend upon them. Human population in and around the mangrove forests on the coast of Pakistan is estimated to be 1.2 million and over 90% of the population is involved directly or indirectly in fishing (World Wildlife Fund).

Most of Pakistans fishing industry relies on fish found in the mangroves, notably shrimps which are the principal fisheries export of Pakistan. Besides that, local fishermen also depend on fish catches from the mangroves area as source of income to feed their families, Palla and dangri are two valuable types of fish whose catch was 600 tons in 1986, but it has been reduced to 200 tons now (Mangroves the ecological treasure of Pakistan 2004). Moreover, there are yet other livestock owners whose animals survive on the fodder derived from the mangrove forests, a total of 6,000 camels and 3,200 buffaloes used the resources of this ecosystem and consumed 67 million kgs of leaves valued at Rs33.4 million and 9.5 million

kgs of grass valued at Rs19.5 million respectively till 1998 in the Thatta coastal belt alone (Livelihood of Coastal People Threatened: Mangrove Degradation 2002). If the mangroves are destroyed, so will be the lives of people associated with these economic activities. In Karachi alone, 135,000 people depend on the mangroves for their livelihood (LEAD) and this gives an idea of the magnitude of the calamity which might ensue, if corrective measures are not taken and government drops its insistence on building yet more dams. Apart from the livelihoods lost, it would mean that these people would turn to the cities (primarily Karachi) for employment. This would add to the slums of the city and further aggravate its existing problems. Therefore, the government needs to realize that if it does not change its national priorities, there is an ecological and social catastrophe waiting to happen and its magnitude would greatly hurt the countries national interests.

Coastal Agriculture: Where did my land go?

Coastal agriculture has been a feature of Indus Delta since times immemorial and has not only been a major source of employment, but has also added to the national economy. It used to be a fertile plain for growth of the valuable rice crops, but lately, diversion of water upstream has lead to the intrusion of sea water in the coastal area. According to Tahir Qureshi, coastal eco-system director in Pakistan for IUCN, a lot of engineers and politicians consider any flow of water into the sea a waste. Such thinking has led to the covering up of 1.2 million acres of farmland by sea water and millions more destroyed by salt deposits (A River Diverted, the Sea Rushes In). This has left a countless number small scale farmers and peasants landless, without any compensation. Therefore, many have left for the slums of Karachi (A River Diverted, the Sea Rushes In) and this has only led to a worsening of the

mega citys countless problems. Not only agriculture, but the sea has also intruded the ground water aquifers as well and according to the Pakistan Fisher folk Forum Chairman Muhammad Ali Shah, even drinking water has become a problem now for the locals. People in these areas are suffering from various diseases, due to drinking the brackish water. Moreover, what is left of the coastal agriculture, due to a persistent shortage of water and alteration in the lands nutrient composition, the fertility of the farmlands has decreased. This has led to the emergence of new diseases in the crops and extensive use of fertilizers. I can say this from personal experience, since my father has been cultivating land in this area since 1968. According to him, fertilizers and pesticides a couple of decades ago were unheard of even amongst the most progressive of farmers and now a large chunk of inputs comprise of pesticides and artificial fertilizers, to ensure the harvest of a good crop. This is because the soil resilience and fertility has decreased. Such reaction on the part of the locals is only a temporary solution, which, instead of solving the problem, would further aggravate it. One visible impact has been increased acidity level of the farmland. Thus, similar to the mangroves, it is a catastrophe waiting to happen, unless the government changes its attitude.

Conclusion:
The purpose of this paper was not to present a balanced approach to the effects dams, since their virtues are universally known and widely cited as the reason for their creation. What normally does not come to the fore, due to corporate and governmental interests, is their negative socio-economic and environmental effects, which led me to take this approach. However, many or most of the effects that I have tried to bring in light here are associated with large dams and it is pertinent to note here that small dams do not pose problems of such

a scale or magnitude. Instead, they have been proved to be more useful than large dams due to lower costs and earlier benefits. Another notion that I would like to dispel here is that hydrological dams are often said to be a renewable source of energy, whereas, in reality they are not because the number of dam sites and their age of operation is finite. In case of Pakistan, I brought to the fore two of the most pressing and immediate problems, being born out of the creation of large dams. The mangroves and dependent eco-system and communities are threatened by the lack of fresh water flow and the coastal agriculture has also been dealt a severe blow to the intrusion of sea water. Millions of lives are at stake, whereas, government has announced the creation of three more large dams by the year 2016. The situation can be better defined in the following words of Ed Averill (President of Oregon Wildlife Federation 1937), I hope future generations will not look back upon their ancestors with scornful contempt, as they ask Why in the name of all the fishes that swim the seas, did they permit the engineers to utterly destroy our streams.