Research Project Continued

So, I have continued my research and tried to find out impacts dams have on the environment that I was not already aware of happening. I never considered how does would cause erosion. Erosion occurs as the water moves its way downstream. The water grinds at the sides of land at the shorelines and slowly breaks off the land. This does not happen all that greatly in an water stream that has not been dammed. The reason for this is that sediments travel in the water and replace some of the failing away shorelines. However, dams do not let these sediments pass by easily. So, erosion occurs faster down from a dam. This causes the width of the waterway to lengthen. The sediments end up caught in the reservoir above the dam. As there is more sediments here now, it can no longer hold as much water. Dams also increase pressure on nearby land to hold them in place. This can often lead to landslides occurring. Dams built on top of faults are feared to cause earthquakes due to the added pressure from the reservoirs on these faults. The reservoirs can also become breeding grounds from diseases as they are just large bodies of water slowly moving. Mosquitoes easily breed and grow in these places. They can them transfer diseases like West Nile to humans.

I am finding ample negative environmental effects from dams, but not any positives. Given, hydroelectric dams provide electricity without having to burn coal, but does the other effects of dams to the environment really make that pro worthwhile? I am going to have to continue my research and for a time focus on just find some positive impacts dams bring to the environment. Although, is impact on the environment ever truly positive? Wouldn't the world be better off if humans never bothered it? We do damage to the environment and then the positive actions are often just to reverse a previous negative impact. Anyway, that is for a whole nothing research topic.