Hydro power boomed in the 1960’s. The possibility of cheap electricity enthralled governments, and moreover the dams promised an abundant supply of water. However they were not yet aware of global warming, and the need to sustain the environment. Now a new study has mentioned the term unsustainable hydro power for the first time.
There is No Future for Unsustainable Hydro Power, Scientists Say
The report claims hydro power projects in the U.S. in the 1960’s and 1970’s took scant regard of their environmental impact. They were part of thousands of dams constructed in North America and Europe between 1920 and 1970.
More recently, this construction largely ceased when people started expressing concerns. Their questions were about the negative impact on the social and natural environments. In fact, “They are removing more dams in North America and Europe than they are building,” the scientists say. The builders of unsustainable hydro power have moved on to new markets, their report says.
However the Appetite Is Still Voracious in Emerging Societies
These new markets are in Mekong River Basin, Amazon River Basin, and Congo River Basin. The scientists savage these projects in their report. “They are repeating the same problems,” they say.
The projects are “disrupting river ecology, causing deforestation, and losing aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity. Moreover they are releasing substantial greenhouse gases, displacing thousands of people, and altering people’s livelihood. Plus they are affecting the food systems, water quality, and agriculture near them.”
These are heavy words to absorb for lovers of green hydro energy. The thought of unsustainable hydro power comes as a shock, but it is reality in the Mekong Delta.
The Three Gorges Dam is generating 22,500 megawatts of much-needed energy. However, it displaced 1.24 million residents from above and below the wall to sterile new towns, and completed the extinction of the Chinese River Dolphin begun by over fishing, and earlier dams.
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