In most countries, when the word Dam is mentioned, our mind goes to a lot of things including electricity production. I have been able to see about 3 dams and hopefully might see more if they are not something of the past in the nearest future. From Shiroro dam in Niger State, to Asejire Dam in Oyo state, and the great Kainji Dam in Niger State. The three dams I have seen are for different purposes, two of them for hydro-electrical power production which are in Niger state, and one for flood control.
Dams have been for thousands of years for purposes such as irrigation, erosion control, electricity, drinking water, and so on. Over 16% of our world's electricity is dependent on hydro power and it accounts for over 70% of the world's renewable electricity as at now. While this is far better than the days of my ancestors that made energy from the burning of coal, it still has its own negative impact on the environment.
Before we start to demonize dams, we need to understand that its making was a wonder especially with the fact that it was able to serve a lot of purposes but then its effect was seen in our rivers and aquatic life. With free flow revers, trees depends on the flow to distribute seeds and aquatic organisms like fishes are able to live freely but when the flow of water is disturbed in the case of reducing the flow, it begin to have effect on the water such as leading to increase in temperature which can affect lives of aquatic organisms like fish and plant. Also, when water is held in a location for a long time, it can lead to the water becoming toxic or it can cause it to lose oxygen. When dams are created, they also stop the flow of sediment down rivers.
No dam last forever and this could be as a result of high maintenance cost or lack of need for the dam again. Before you begin to ask if it possible to remove Dams, the answer is YES and when you ask how this is done, it is not done through explosion as we would imagine because that will not be ecologically friendly. In the United States, over 1200 dams have been removed.
With the removal of dams, the places where usually covered by water becomes free allowing the river move as it would and boosting the aquatic ecosystem. When we look at dams we cannot but mention the emission of Carbon as a result of the killing of plants, and animals which also leads to the lack of oxygen in the water since it is stagnant for a while.
Although, we cannot destroy all the dams in the world because a lot of them still have their advantage to our world. We need these dams to capture water for farms, and cities but then we can make them more ecologically friendly so both animals and plants can survive while they still meet their purpose.
Read more
- https://www.americanrivers.org/threats-solutions/restoring-damaged-rivers/how-dams-damage-rivers/
- https://www.nps.gov/olym/learn/nature/dam-removal.htm
- https://earth.org/dams-economic-assets-or-ecological-liabilities/
- https://archive.iwmi.org/wle/solutions/dams/index.html
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/45165880_Ecosystem_Impacts_of_Large_Dams
