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- DRIIA content manager & webmistress, Dianne Murray.

Dam-Reservoir Info & Impact Archive

The Web's *original* dam impacts site!

Established in April of 1994 - 2007 is our lucky 13th year on the net!

Winner of Top Ten Award on tenlinks.com for civil engineering, under dams Political site of the day, Jan. 7th, 1999 this page is referenced by Smithsonian Institute's online Oc
ean Planet exhibit, on NASA webspace [Best Viewed With Any Browser] Listed at EcoIQ - supporting & promoting sustainability.

These pages copyright C. Dianne Murray and the Dam-Reservoir Working Group 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007. Other authors as noted. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, but link to pages at will.

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Welcome!

... you've reached the web's *original* site on water development impacts, online since April of 1994 : the Dam-Reservoir Inf ormation & Impact Archive!

DRIIA Editor
ial 'blog

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DRIIA's mission?; to be the antidote to the incomplete and unbalanced, dare I say *biased*, information provided by promoters of unrestrained water development. DRIIA exists to, ah, hand them a reality "cheque". ;) The impacts listed on this site are based on peer-reviewed literature, none of it contentious, much of it now 30 or more years old; additionally the site features breaking news reports concerning hydroelectric power, renewable energy, alteratives to dams and breaking news on the environmental & social fallout of large water development projects around the world (for example Narmada, Tehri, and Three Gorges).

Fight Spam! Click Here!

Raison d'etre

Why this archive? - first time visitors click here- Primarily because the word you hear on the street is an incomplete one - that of promoters rather than researchers into impacts. It makes little sense to go to a promoter for the known downsides of a project. Yes, they know how to build and run reservoirs and power stations but that hardly makes them experts on the agricultural, hydrological, ecological, oceanographic (yes - reservoirs have effects on the deltas and estuaries!), seismic, environmental, socio-economic and even cultural impacts.

If I want a dam built [not an EIA, mind, just one built] sure I'll go to one of the E-7 and not a biologist. But for a haircut, I say go to a barber, not a scissors manufacturer, or a butcher. For a side of beef, visit the butcher not the barber...'nuff said! ;)

Global Effects

Real projects have real effects. And truth can be stranger than fiction! Dams in the Northern Hemisphere have even been shown by a NASA geophysicist to be speeding the earth's rate of rotation, as well as altering Earth's magnetic field. Years of water withdrawls for large irrigation dams for cotton cultivation have salinized drinking water for people living in Turkmenistan, who depend on the Amu-Darya River, in Central Asia. :-(

Sure, sure, promoters - just *tell* me that's not a major effect! >;-o Leading research shows that profligate damming & redirection of rivers is having some surprisingly ugly global effects. In 1997 there were ~39,000 large dams in the world, 5500 in the United States and 618 in Canada; is it any wonder global effects are happening?

As of 28 February 2005, it was no big surprise to anyone who has been studying the field of hydro impacts for more than a decade when New Scientist at long last reported that hy droelectric generation is no more benign than coal-fired energy plants are. Hydro impact reseachers have known this since the early 1990's, when John Rudd and his colleagues reported their groundbreaking findings on greenhouse gas emissions and Canadian hydroelectric reservoirs. Better late than never for scientists outside the field to acknowledge it, I suppose. And there is a lot more data now and their findings have been repatedly replicated by other researchers looking at other reservoirs around the world. I wondered back then if it would lead to any action from our (Canadian) federal gov'twhen they passed the Kyoto-friendly slightly green budget. NOPE. Meanwhile, the Toronto Star was reporting that Goodale's budget's climate plans were a tad hazy. .

NEWS!

The website is undergoing a revamp. We now have a blog. And that is where I've moved some of the information - you can now read editorials and all about the importance of Volume 41 of Canadian Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences to Dam Impact analysis, and about how aquatic scientists' impacts findings have been supressed and government scientists gagged on our new blog: see SUPRESSION OF SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION & IGNORANCE OF NATURAL LIMITS. And you can also read about how EARTH's MOST POPULOUS COUNTRIES FLOOD THEIR MOST VALUABLE ARABLE LAND & SET THE STAGE FOR MASS STARVATION. Just click here to get to the new blog.

- DRIIA content manager & webmistress, Dianne Murray.

Let
X = X. Science... with an edge.

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DRIIA pages and pages elsewhere

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Email us your aquatic conservation and research announcements.

IMPACTS, ETC.

GEOGRAPHICALLY SPEAKING

DAM FAILURE, SAFETY AND FLOODS

  • Groupe de recherche sur la Sécurité et l'Intégrité Structurale des Barrages en Béton - Research Group on Safety and Structural Integrity of Concrete Dams Check out their research pages!
  • CORRECTED!FEMA's DAM FAILURE pages
  • The historic Johnstown Flood.
  • FEMA is the US's Federal Emergency Management Agency: FEMA & MITIGATION DIVISION: includes links to the NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE POROGRAM & to FEMA's FLOOD MAP STORE.
  • FEMA has picitures of the effects of dam failures.
  • FEMA's FLOOD links
  • FEMA's NATIONAL DAM SAFETY PROGRAM
  • In Canada:Dam operators charg ed with criminal negligence in deaths of woman and child.

    AFFECTED PEOPLES

  • Proceedings from the Second International Meeting of Dam-Affected People and their Allies, aka "Rivers for Life" (Rasi Salai, Thailand, November 28-December 3, 2003) now available as a .PDF file from The International Rivers Network at their website "Rivers for Life" 2003 Proceedings Available. NGO'sa nd affected people's groups can receive a free hard-copy plus a 15-minute CD video about the meeting. For all others, th cos t is a reasonable $15 US from IRN (plus postage and handling). To order please email esabe l@irn.org.
  • INDIA:NARMADA PROJECT FAQ
  • INDIA:Narmada Bachao Andolan's Press Releases.
  • Arundati Roy's The Road to Harsud.< LI>Rain water harvesting in Hondurasat OAS, the Organization of American States.
  • ARCTIC CIRCLE's Crees of Quebec Page
  • AQUATIC CONSERVATION & OTHER CONSERVATION LINKS

    Plants, Seeds, More!

    FILMS

    ALTERNATIVES & RENEWABLES

    ECONOMIC IMPACTS

  • International Development Studies Network has a page on the Environmental, Social and Economic Impacts of Dams
  • Dams and Economics at RedFish BlueFish.
  • Are dams and reservoirs a sound financial investment? Read all about it in World Wildlife Fund's investor's guide to dams.

    PAGES ELSEWHERE

  • There are some great links & lots of information at The US Water News Arch ives.
  • INDIA: Omkareshwar project threat ens food security of indigeous peoples and farmers in India.
  • CANADA: Exciting new solar technology breakthrough makes solar power more adaptable, affordable.
  • INDIA: Omkareshwar project threat ens food security of indigeous peoples and farmers in India.
  • DAMS RIVERS AND PEOPLES: current issue. and th eir
  • previous issue.
  • Nairobi Dam rehabilitation
  • The World Biodiversity Database, v. 2.1 courtesy of ETI (the Expert Center for Taxonomic Identification)!.
  • UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission's fabulous searchable register of marine organisms!
  • USA: Large dam construction on the rise!
  • USA: Information and statistics on large US dams
  • KeyWATER Web Portal is based out of Belgium, with links to lots of other water sites, including the WaterMasters Ring with links to post-graduate courses and opportunities and information.
  • Tenlinks.com has a top ten listing for dam pages on the world wide web under the civil engneering category. Click the above link to see their page with hot links to sites such as the US Bureau of Reclamation [who brought us the world's first giant dam - the Hoover dam],as well as the World Commission on Dams, plus other sites including ICOLD's US site and a dam site run by the US based Environmental Defense Fund with a funky site online map of dams around the world. These are just a few of the sites you can reach on dams through tenlinks.com.
  • USA: National Renewable Energy Laboratories.
  • CANADA:Solar Energy Society of Canada, Inc.
  • new energy links from Greenpower.
  • Green Power website, with frames
  • Green Power website, without frames!
  • Alternatives to Hydropower - another impacts etc page based in the UK.
  • UNESCO hosts a Water Portal online.
  • The World Commission on Dams was formed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and the World Bank.
  • WCD related:Article about the World Commission on Dams
  • UNEP Aquatic biodiversity news
  • Smithonian Insititute on Water Development Impacts on freshwater/ocean margin
  • Stream and River Ecology
  • Rivers, an online journal
  • NASA's Global Change directory on aquatic habitat changes.
  • California fisheries and rivers need protection Check this link out for what to do to help conserve food, habitat and jobs under threat from too much water withdrawal.

  • River Revival:Dam Decommissioning Project
  • More about the fight to save fisheries from too many dams: online article and webpage on: the Russian River and decommissioning dams, from the Press Democrat.

  • under construction: more biblio page links!
  • IONICS 2-Day INTERNATIONAL WATER SYMPOSIUM.
  • The WaterWeb Consortium has a site on Water & the Environment.

    IONICS 2-Day INTERNATIONAL WATER SYMPOSIUM.

  • INTERNATONAL LAKE ENVIRONMENT COMMITEE FOUNDATION features the WORLD LAKE DATABASE
  • Based in the USA, THE ASSOCIATION OF DAM SAFETY OFFICIALS
  • ICE: The INVENTORY OF CONFLICT AND ENVIRONMENT , is a part of AU geography professor JIM LEE'S You can SEARCH ICE.
  • At ICE, check outCOLORADO RIVER DISPUTE
  • This may be of interest. as several dams and reservoirs are included: the Tennessee Valley Authority's environmental assessments.
  • TURKEY, ILISU:Ilisu Dam Campaign
  • In TURKEYthe ATATURK DAM.
  • In GHANA a national park is threatened by the Bui dam project
  • In BRAZIL the ITAIPU PROJECT
  • VENZUELA: a new species of bird is discovered as it loses its only known habitat to a hydroelectric dam.
  • In NEW MEXICO, controversy about how much the Animas La Plata Dam Project helps the Ute people.
  • In CANADA, QUEBEC, the CANADIAN ARCTIC RESOURCE COMMITTEE's webpages have: Unheard voices: James Bay II and the Women of Kuujjuarapik"
  • BURMA-THAI borderSalween Watch Hotamailout #6
  • BURMA-THAI borderSalween Watch Hotmailout #5
  • In CHINA, farmers protesting embezzling amongst government workers on the Three Gorges Project are being held by the government of China.

  • INDIA: Affected peoples ask for help: Maheshwar
  • INDIA:Emergency Action Alert: protesting fishers murdered.
  • INDIA:Narmada webpage

  • THE NEW INTERNATIONALIST has an article on the Narmada project"A Temple Too Far".
  • INDIA: Oustees fast for Narmada/Sardar Sarovar. Support requested!
  • SOUTH AMERICA: Penhuache nation seeks support to save Biobio River.
  • SE ASIA:Mekong Forum Homepage
  • SE ASIA:Mekong Basin concerns, protection and help requested
  • LAOS: New dam project planned

  • Environmental impacts in SOUTH AFRICA, KAROO, are available at OXFORD UNIVERSITY's ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE INSTITUTE
  • IN the MEDITERRANEAN the ecosystems still hasn't stabilized 30 years after construction of the Aswan High Dam
  • WORLDWIDE:Many fish threatened with extinction because of aquatic habitat destruction/interference
  • KOREA: Koreans call for help in conserving Tong River.
  • UKRAINE: Bug River habitat threatened. Help requested.

  • Help conserve fish!Appeal to USBR to save native fish of Columbia river system
  • Sturgeon conservation pages and links
  • IN THE USA:Friends of Sebago Lake's website. Roger Wheeler of FOSL says to check it out for information on decommisioning, restoration and salmon.

  • In WASHINGTON STATE, USAthe GREEN/DUWAMISH WATERSHED ALLIANCE's webpages.
  • ALERTS

    A FEW INDUSTRY LINKS

    EDITORIAL

    This information is now in it's new home on DRIIA's NEW BLOG, where you can alsofind news headlines on dams, erservoirs, impoundments, aquatic science, and related subjects. Just scroll down the blog's side bar! You can also subscribe. I will peridoically add new editorials.

    DRIIA Editor
ial 'blog

    ↑ Grab this Headline Anima tor

    SUPPRESSION OF SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION & IGNORANCE OF NATURAL LIMITS

    This article has moved to our new blog. Read all about the importance of Volume 41 of Canadian Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences to hydroelectric impact analysis, as well as all about how aquatic scientists' dam impacts and other findings have been supressed and government scientists gagged. Some of the links have gone dead but I am working at resurrecting any that have disappeared from webspace.

    EARTH's MOST POPULOUS COUNTRIES FLOOD THEIR MOST VALUABLE ARABLE LAND & SET THE STAGE FOR MASS STARVATION.

    This article focuses on dams projects in India and China. I have fixed the broken links.

    BLOG FEED

    WHAT'S UP WITH FRESHWATER?

    some data on freshwater supply and related info\ . The links page on freshwater from the same site

    IT IS BROKE, SO FIX IT: WAYS AND MEANS

    Demand Side Management

    New York State's Department of Environmental Protection recommends reducing water demand.

    What one deregulated company is doing to show how much water and energy you are using: Volt Viewtech's audits and Free water efficiency surveys, etc.

    DESALINIZATION

    US gov't gives the lowdown on DESALINISATION. Tampa Bay desalinization project.

    GREEN your power sources with the GREEN POWER discussion groups[GREEN POWER BUTTON]

    Cool sites to visit:

    [Planet Ark Environmental News Headline Service] boycott spam!Spam: just say no.

    WE MAY NEED A MIRACLE TO SAVE EARTH's WATER RESOURCES

    Can it hurt to pray for wise use of water "development" technologies? To pray that the planet and its people and all the aquatic creatures have enough clean water and air and arable land or whatever other resources they need? How could it hurt?

    Hey... we *may* need a miracle to get through the Water Crisis! ;-> I am NOT joking!

    Try it: think of it as an experiment...

    You do NOT need to be any particular faith to place a prayer petition or a note in the The Western Wall in Jerusalem, in Israel, otherwise known as the Wailing Wall. You just need to believe there is s force in this universe stronger than multinationals and the market. ;)

    You may also light a candle at Journey to the One's Virtual Candle click on virtual candle and select the colour you want. For Catholics, you can place your prayers for our water and fish and aquatic resources and oceans and arable land and all the displaced people at the shrineThe Association of the Miraculous Medal Peace. May the Great Spirit bless you! :)

    About DRWG

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  • Acknowledgements

    Support to keep DRIIA in operation through donations in kind to DRIIA through the generosity of: SSW logo dasA Coldstream software engineering logo (Last handcoded update: May 5, 2004, by cdm. Copyright C. Dianne Murray, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999. 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994; other authors and dates as listed and appropriate. All rights reserved! For information or permissions concerning republication contact the publisher.

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