What are Dams?

Dams are massive barriers built across rivers and streams to confine and utilize the flow of water for human purposes such as irrigation and generation of hydroelectricity. This confinement of water creates lakes or reservoirs. A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees (also known as dikes) are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are often used in conjunction with dams to generate electricity. A dam can also be used to collect water or for storage of water which can be evenly distributed between locations. The first known dam was built in 2900 B.C. across the Nile River to protect the city of Memphis from flooding. Dam build was continued into the time of the Roman empire, after which dam construction was literally lost until the 1800s. Dams are a structure also seen in nature - beavers build dams to keep the water deep enough to cover the openings to their homes, protecting them from predators. Reasons to build a dam:

generation of hydroelectricity Irrigation: These are often diversion dams, which stop a rivers natural course so that water can be sent off to a different place. Control flooding: These are called detention dams, which are constructed to either stop or slow the amount of water in a river.

Throughout the last century, many large dams were built worldwide and only today are the implications really being understood. The infrastructures and ecosystems of the regions in which these dams were created were severely damaged/destroyed, reaking havoc on the people, animals, and vegetation who called these places home. The topic of large dams is a perfect example of the way different types of structures are related. Dams, a man-made structure, have huge impacts on the natural structures of the ecosystems of the rivers they divide. The social structure of the community which is flooded by the reservoir is also hugely impacted by the dam's construction. Looking even deeper, the psychological structures of these people will be affected, as they lose their homeland and, often, their sense of history and culture. Environmental Impacts: the construction of large dams completely change the relationship of water and land, destroying the existing ecosystem balance which, in many cases, has taken thousands of years to create. Currently there are around 40,000 large dams

which obstruct the world's rivers, completing changing their circulation systems: this is not going to occur without dire environmental impacts. Throughout the past few years, the negative impacts of dams have become so well known that most countries have stopped building them altogether and are now forced to invest their money into fixing the problems created by existing dams. Soil Erosion One of the first problems with dams is the erosion of land. Dams hold back the sediment load normally found in a river flow, depriving the downstream of this. In order to make up for the sediments, the downstream water erodes its channels and banks. This lowering of the riverbed threatens vegetation and river wildlife. One of the reasons dams are built is to prevent flooding. However, most ecosystems which experience flooding are adapted to this and many animal species depend on the floods for various lifecycle stages, such as reproduction and hatching. Annual floods also deposit nutrients and replenish wetlands. Species Extinction As fisheries become an increasingly important source of food supply, more attention is being paid to the harmful effects of dams on many fish and marine mammel populations. The vast majority of large dams do not include proper bypass systems for these animals, interfering with their lifecycles and sometimes even forcing species to extinction. Spread of Disease Dam reservoirs in tropical areas, due to their slow-movement, are literally breeding grounds for mosquitoes, snails, and flies, the vectors that carry malaria, schistosomiasis, and river blindness. Changes to Earth's Rotation Nasa geophysicist Dr. Benjamin Fong Chao found evidence that large dams cause changes to the earth's rotation, because of the shift of water weight from oceans to reservoirs. Because of the number of dams which have been built, the Earth's daily rotation has apparently sped up by eight-millionths of a second since the 1950s. Chao said it is the first time human activity has been shown to have a measurable effect on the Earth's motion.

SOCIAL IMPACTS: Growing global concern about the social costs of large dam projects, and about how to solicit meaningful participation from those most affected, resulted in the formation of the World Commission on Dams in 1998 and the publication of the first systematic assessment of large dams around the world in 2000 (World Commission on Dams, 2000a). Social Impact AssessmentVanclay (2002b: 388) defines SIA in the following manner: Social impact assessment is the process of analyzing (predicting, evaluating and reflecting) and managing the intended and unintended consequences on the human environment of planned interventions (policies, programs, plans, projects) and any social change processes invoked by these interventions so as to bring about a more sustainable and equitable biophysical and human environment. Goals of SIA:
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By identifying potential impacts in advance of a large project, agencies and individuals can make better decisions about which interventions should be undertaken, and how. Mitigation and compensation measures can be undertaken to minimize the undesirable impacts of development interventions.

DIVISION OF SOCIAL IMPACTS OF DAMS: 1. INDIVIDUAL AND HOUSEHOLD LEVEL1. death, death of family member 2. arrest, imprisonment, detention, torture, intimidation, or other abuse of human Rights inflicted on an individual 3. reduced availability of food and adequate nutrition 4. reduced control over fertility (loss of availability of contraception, and gender dis-empowerment to make decisions about birth control) 5. reduced level of health and fertility (ability to conceive)

6. reduced mental health, increased stress, anxiety, alienation, apathy, depression 7. uncertainty about impacts, development possibilities, about own life as a result of social change 8. loss of aspirations about the future for self or children 9. reduced actual personal safety, increased hazard exposure 10. experience of stigmatisation and deviance labelling 11. reduction in perceived quality of life, subjective well-being, self esteem, self image 12. reduction in standard of living, level of affluence 13. worsening of economic situation, level of income, property values 14. decreased autonomy, independence, security of livelihood 15. change in status or type of employment, or becoming unemployed 16. decrease in occupational opportunities, potential diversity, flexibility in employment 17. moral outrage, blasphemy, religious affront, violation of sacred sites 18. reduction in environmental amenity value 19. reduced perception of communityness, community cohesion, integration 20. loss of community identification, connection to place (do I belong here?) 25. changed attitude towards local community, level of satisfaction with the Neighbourhood

COMMUNITY AND INSITITUTIONAL LEVEL1. death of people in the community 2. violation of human rights, freedom of speech

3. reduced adequacy of physical infrastructure (water supply, sewerage, services and utilities) 4. reduced adequacy of community social infrastructure, health welfare education libraries etc 5. reduced adequacy of housing in the community 6. increased workload on institutions, local government, regulatory bodies 7. diminished cultural integrity (continuation of local culture, tradition, rites) 8. loss of rights over, and access to, resources 9. destruction of, or other negative influences on, heritage and other sites of archaeological, cultural, or historical significance 10. increased inequity (economic, social, cultural) 13. increased concern about social justice issues in relation to minority or indigenous groups 14. worsening gender relations in the community 15. decreased economic prosperity 16. increased dependency, reduced autonomy, reduced diversity, decreased viability of the community 17. increased unemployment level in the community 18. loss of other options (opportunity cost) 19. decreased level of community participation in decision making, loss of empowerment