Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Mega Dams
Mega Dams
Introduction
This presentation focuses on the negative impacts
of large scale irrigation and hydroelectric dams
from both an environmental and a social
perspective. It is designed to describe how dams
effect their surrounding physical environment, as
well as their social impact on local people and
their cultures. To do this, it focuses on the
lifecycle of freshwater extraction at it largest scale:
through the use of gigantic concrete mega-dams.
Dam Uses
Direct Water Usage:
Dam Uses
Indirect Uses:
Flood Control Dams even out the peaks and lows of a rivers
natural flow cycle by calming seasonal flooding, then storing that
water for gradual release year round.
From: http://www.unep.org/vitalwater/a2.htm
Hmm . . . Those
But with
lotsseem
of large
countries
sure
to
dams
they
could
provide
have a lot of water, why
water
thirsty
dont
theyfor
justtheir
build
lots
masses
of large
damsand
to fixclean
their
electricity
to
fuel
problems??
industrialization!
Everyone would benefit, it
would be fabulous!
Gravity dams
Arch dams
Buttress dams
Gravity Dams
From: http://www.dur.ac.uk/~des0www4/cal/dams/conc/gappu.htm
Gravity Dams
Gravity dams are the most common type of
large dam in the world because they are
easy and cheap to build. They can also
be built across long distances over
relatively flat terrain. This makes them
very applicable in non-mountainous
regions. The largest gravity dam in the
world is the Aswan Dam in Egypt. (24)
Arch Dams
From: http://www.photo.net/photo/pcd2882/hoover-dam-aerial-91
From: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/dam/arch_forces.html
Arch Dams
Arch dams can only be built where the walls of a
Buttress Dams
From: http://www.dur.ac.uk/~des0www4/cal/dams/conc/buttress.htm
Composite Dams
Composite dams are combinations of one or
more dam types. Most often a large section
of a dam will be either an embankment or
gravity dam, with the section responsible for
power generation being a buttress or arch.
From: http://www.dwaf.gov.za/orange/images/web176l.jpg
Materials
Upstream
On-site
Downstream
Global Scale
Habitat Destruction :
The area that is covered by the reservoir is destroyed, killing whatever habitat
existed there beforehand.
Habitat destruction also happens far upstream from a dam. Migratory fish
can no longer travel upstream past large dams in order to reach their
spawning grounds.
Habitat Destruction
Disease
On-Site Impacts:
Reservoir-Induced Seismicity
Flow Reduction:
In Central Asia the Aral Sea shrank by half of its original volume after
the Soviets began diverting water for electrical generation, as well as
for cotton and other crops. Although this may be one of the most
visible example, overextraction of water resources and the resulting
drops in local water tables are happening worldwide.
From: http://www.unep.org/vitalwater/resources.htm
From: http://www.unep.org/vitalwater/23.htm
China
Named Chinas Sorrow for its history of ruinous floods, the Yellow
River now barely trickles in its lower reaches and in recent years has
gone dry due largely to heavy irrigation upstream. Its not alone: The
once mighty Nile, Ganges, and Colorado Rivers barely reach the sea in
dry seasons.
From: http://www.unesco.org
India
Matamoros, Mexico
From: http://www.city.ames.ia.us/waterweb/images/money_1.jpg
Mexico City
From: http://www.culliganlaredo.com/water_glass_d.jpg
Santiago, Chile
Displacement
Displacement
From: http://www.visionengineer.com/env/dam.jpg
The Nile
The Ganges
The River Jordan
The Colorado
The Parana
Types of Development
Once that problem has been met, then issues of water access and
quality will be answered, because the country will have moved up to
at least a 2nd world status.
Financial Issues
Depending on the site and the scale of the project, prices for each
project varies greatly. Average costs for large projects are usually in
the area of billions of dollars (US).
For smaller or less developed countries this cost is often more than
their annual GDP, and is absolutely insurmountable without the help of
outside financing.
The World Bank is the greatest single source of funds for large dam
construction, having provided more than US$50 billion (1992 dollars)
for construction of more than 500 large dams in 92 countries (27)
From: http://www.city.ames.ia.us/waterweb/images/money_1.jpg
So . . .
Conservation
Using aggressive conservation approaches is one of the easiest and most
cost effective ways to eliminating the need for new dams. Replacing old,
leaking infrastructures is costly on the front end, and most municipalities in
poor countries lack the funds to do it.
Different conservation techniques and technologies can be applied to all areas
of water use, from industry to agriculture. What lacks in most countries is an
incentive to conserve. With state subsidized water flowing to areas of
industrialization, it is more costly for companies to conserve water than to
waste it. The answer proposed by the neoliberal train of thought is the
commercialization of water markets. By being forced to pay for their own
water, people turn to conservation to reduce costs. This may work well for
certain parts of the industrial and commercial sector, but local people can ill
afford to pay for water to be delivered to their homes, let alone improve the
leaking pipes in their homes.
Irrigation Techniques
This?
Irrigation Techniques
Or this.
Correctly used, drip irrigation places the exact amount of water where it
is needed, when it is needed. This can reduce the amount of water
needed for irrigation anywhere from 30% to 70%
Local Control
We may now be facing the greatest challenge of our time. As water is the very
centerpiece of life, the fight against the globalization and commodification of
water is the centerpiece in the fight for global, universal justice and equity.
There are many ways to assist the developing world in this crisis, the major
among these is the cancellation of the Third World debt. Without the crushing
load of debt, countries would be able to control their own resources, and would
not be forced into models of development that are not right or natural for their
country.
Water must be declared a basic human right. This might sound elemental, but at
the World Water Forum in The Hague, it was the subject of heated debate, with
the World Bank and the water companies seeking to have it declared a human
need. This is not semantic. If water is a human need, it can be serviced by the
private sector. You cannot sell a human right. (12)
~ Maude Barlow ~
References
1)
Blue Gold: the Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the Worlds Water . M. Barlow, T. Clarke.
The New Press, New York, 2002.
2)
The California Water Atlas. Karl, William L. ed. State of California Office of Planning and
Research, Sacramento. 1978
3)
Water and Water Policy in World Food Supplies . Articles presented at Texas A&M University
on May 26-30, 1985. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, TX. 1987
4)
5)
Justice and Natural Resources: Concepts, Strategies, and Applications . K. Mutz, G. Bryner &
D. Kenney. Island Press, Washington, 2002
6)
Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams . Patrick McCully, Zed Books,
London, 1996
7)
The Water Manifesto: Arguments for a World Water Contract . Petrella, Riccardo. Zed Books,
London, 2001
8)
Integrated Approach for Efficient Water Use Case Study: Israel Saul Arlosoroff, The World
Food Prize International Symposium: From the Middle East to the Middle West: Managing
Freshwater Shortages and Regional Water Security, Des Moines ,Iowa, USA October 24-25,
2002
9)
2)
Country Review Paper: Experience with Dams in Water And Energy Resource Development In The
Peoples Republic of China
Case Study: Large Dams: Indias Experience