Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Problems with
Water Power
In Egypt, a huge dam stretches across
the mighty Nile River. The Aswan High
Dam is more than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers)
long and 364 feet (111 meters) high. It provides
the people in Egypt with more than 10 billion
kilowatt-hours of electricity each year. This electricity could i ll
the power needs of more than one million homes. The dam is
considered one of the greatest modern building projects in the
world, but not everyone likes giant dams such as the Aswan.
Water power can solve many energy needs, but hydropower
and other forms of water power are not perfect. Some people
think the problems that dams cause are worse than the good
they do. Also,
environmentalists
fear that scientists still do
not know all the possible harmful effects of wave, tidal, and
thermal power.
The Dangers of Dams
Building a dam for hydropower means changing the way a river
l ows. This means that i sh can no longer swim up and down
the river as they once did. A dam also holds back food and
other substances i sh need to live. Environmentalists say dams
have affected many kinds of i sh. The i sh begin to die off and
then disappear in rivers where some dams are built.
A moving river carries tiny bits of rock and other material
called sediment. The l ow of sediment is important for many
