1.1.8: Hydro-Electric Power, (Hep).

1.1.8.1: The Status of Dams.

1.1.8.1.1: A Conventional Form of Energy?

Hydro-electric power is one of the oldest, and most extensively developed, forms of alternative energy. Hep schemes vary in size from the small scale to those covering vast tracts of land. However, since the second world war, there has been such a huge increase in the construction of mega-sized hep schemes that in many ways it could be regarded as a conventional form of energy like fossil fuels and nuclear power. There are, of course, greens who admire dams .. "many (environmentalists) seem uninterested in the upside of (hydro-electric) projects, mainly huge amounts of zero-emission, zero-fossil fuel energy for nations where runaway air pollution is a daily threat to life." [1] Although many greens, such as fred pearce, oppose massive dam projects, they continue to support smaller schemes because these inundate less land, cause less interference to the flow of rivers, and result in fewer siltation problems, etc. "This would allow massive power generation without destroying the flood cycles of great rivers, without drowning fertile valleys and forcing the evacuation of millions of people and without destroying the resource itself beneath a mountain of silt. Suddenly, hydro-electric power might become genuinely renewable .." [2] This attitude might seem to be enlightenment born of hindsight but in other ways it might also be seen as continuation of geophysiological destruction - after all, now that the world's major rivers have been dammed a new rationale is needed to dam the smaller ones.

1.1.8.1.2: The Politics of Dams.

After the second world war dams came to symbolize a country's technological and economic prowess. An international rivalry developed to see which country could build the biggest dam. This rivalry afflicted not only the superpowers but third world countries. Russia .. "boasted three of the world's ten largest reservoirs and four of the ten largest hydro-electric plants." [3] Dams generated a huge amount of prestige and kudos for politicians on the national and international stage as well as being bloated monuments to progress.

The construction industry is permeated by more sleaze and fraud than any other industry. The bigger the construction project, the greater the opportunity for fraud - and there are few bigger construction projects than hep dams. For example, as regards the bakun hydro-electric dam, "The contract has been awarded to a company which has amongst the major shareholders two of the sons of the chief minister of sarawak. It will flood 75,000 hectares, all of which will be clearcut first." [4]

1.1.8.2: The Energy Generated by Dams.

Hydro-electric power provides a significant proportion of the world's electricity, "Three-fifths of electricity is produced from fossil fuels, one-fifth each from hydro-electric power and nuclear fission, and less than 1% from renewable energy sources." [5] ; "Hydro-electricity .. produces more than a fifth of the world's electricity with a combined capacity of more than 360,000 megawatts, the great majority attached to large dams." [6] The generation of hep electricity is greater in some countries than in others, "Hydro-electric power provides a substantial amount of the world's electricity, ranging from 9.5% in the US, to two-thirds in Canada and virtually 100% in Zambia, Paraguay and Norway." [7] A significant proportion of hydro-electricity is used by the metal smelting industry.

1.1.8.3: The Spread of Dams.

1.1.8.3.1: The Types of Dams.

There are various types of dam - some are constructed for water supply (drinking water and/or irrigation) others provide electricity, some supply both.

1.1.8.3.2: Total Number of Dams.

There are a huge number of dams around the world - not all of them producing hydro-electric power, "The world's 36,000 dams, each with a height greater than 15 metres .." [8] Some of the biggest dams are huge, "Today, worldwide, there are more than a hundred 'superdams', with a height of more than 150 metres, subduing some of the world's greatest rivers. Three quarters of the world's superdams have been built in the last 35 years; around 50 of them were completed in the 1980s." [9]

1.1.8.3.3: Water contained by World's Dams.

"Their reservoirs (superdams) have a total capacity of 6,000 cubic kilometres and they cover almost 600,000 square kilometres. That makes them, in aggregate, roughly the size of the North Sea. Their capacity is equal to 15% of the annual run-off of the world's rivers. Already those dams are holding back so much water that they artificially lower by a few millimetres the tides on every beach in the world." [10] ; "The world's artificial reservoirs today hold as much water, and cover as much land, as the North Sea." [11]

1.1.8.4: The Geophysiological Damage to the Supply Side of the Carbon Spiral caused by the Generation of Hydro-Electric Power.

1.1.8.4.1: Mining and Quarrying.

The mining and quarrying for the raw materials needed for the construction of dams and the manufacture of electricity turbines, etc, releases greenhouse gases.

1.1.8.4.2: Processing.

The processing of the raw materials for the manufacture of electricity turbines for hydro-electric power, etc, releases greenhouse gases.

1.1.8.4.3: Manufacturing.

The manufacturing of electricity turbines for hydro-electric power releases huge quantities of greenhouse gases.

1.1.8.4.4: Cement Industry.

Vast quantities of cement are often used in the construction of dams and cement making is one of the world's largest sources of CO₂. The hoover dam in the united states .. "contained enough concrete to pave a two-lane highway from San Francisco to New York." [12]

1.1.8.4.5: Site Clearance.

The site of the hydro-electric scheme may need to be cleared before construction begins. If this involves the burning or razing of Forests this releases CO₂.

1.1.8.4.6: Dam Construction.

The construction of hep projects requires energy which causes the release of CO₂. The bigger the hep projects the greater the release of pollution.

1.1.8.4.7: Transportation.

The transportation of ores from mines to processing industries; the transportation of refined ores to manufacturers; and the transportation of hydro-electric power equipment from manufacturers to hep sites, all release pollution.

1.1.8.4.8: Carbon Emissions from Flooded Forests.

The bigger the dam, the greater the area of land submerged by water reservoirs. Some of the land flooded by water reservoirs is Forested. Sometimes the Forests are logged prior to flooding but other times they are not and when the Trees decompose they release greenhouse gases such as methane.

General.

"Large scale hydro-electric power schemes .. are often carried out without clearing trees from the land to be flooded." [13]

Canada.

"Canada has recently built a number of gigantic hydro-electric power schemes, especially in northern Quebec. Much forest (roughly 10,000 square kilometres) has been flooded. In most cases the trees were not cleared before flooding took place. This large store of carbon means that the area is probably, although there are no measurements, a large scale emitter of methane, and will be for many decades or centuries as the carbon in the flooded forest and peat is converted anaerobically to CH₄ in the shallow lakes. In consequence, although this is a renewable energy project, it is probably also a major greenhouse source." [14] ; "A new study in Canada has found that some hydro-electric reservoirs give-off as much carbon dioxide and methane as coal-fired power stations producing a similar amount of electricity. The problem is the forests, soils and peat bogs flooded by the reservoirs. Once these are flooded, they decompose, releasing the gases. To date, emissions from hydro-electric reservoirs have not been taken into account in assessments of national emissions of greenhouse gases." [15]

1.1.8.5: The Geophysiological Damage to the Demand Side of the Carbon Spiral caused by the Generation of Hydro-Electric Power.

1.1.8.5.1: Mining and Quarrying.

The mining and quarrying for the raw materials needed for the construction of dams, the manufacture of electricity turbines, etc, causes geophysiological damage.

1.1.8.5.2: Processing.

The processing industries suffocate the land on which they have been constructed.

1.1.8.5.3: Manufacturing.

The construction of dams requires a large range of machines and equipment e.g. electricity turbines, earth-moving equipment, tractors, trucks, etc, .. " the Italian company Fiat, which had built the dam and canals, and supplied most of the equipment from tractors and trucks to the advanced laser technology for levelling the fields (in the floodplain)." [16] The manufacturing industries constructing hep equipment suffocate large areas of land.

1.1.8.5.4: Dam Construction.

Dams suffocate the land. For the suffocation of the Earth's Photosynthetic capacity by the water reservoirs created by dams see below.

1.1.8.5.5: Transportation.

The construction of hep dams often requires the construction of new roads causing the suffocation of even more of the Earth's life support system.

1.1.8.5.6: The Reduction in Photosynthesis.

The construction of dams causes deforestation in a number of ways.

1.1.8.5.6.1: The Reduction in Photosynthesis brought about by the Inundation of Land by Water Reservoirs.

The construction of dams creates water reservoirs. The inundation of land reduces its Photosynthetic capacity. If there were Forests on the land the inundation causes a considerable drop in Photosynthesis. However, inundation does not completely destroy Photosynthesis since aquatic Photosynthesis may flourish. Indeed, as will be noted, if Photosynthesis starts to take place in hep water reservoirs, action has to be taken to prevent it from clogging up the electricity turbines.

1.1.8.5.6.1.1: Inundation per Country.

This section gives a rough idea of the scale of the land that has been inundated and thus the reduction in the Earth's Photosynthetic capacity.

Bangladesh.

The Kaptai Dam.

Brazil.

The Tucurui Dam.

"The world bank funded Tucurui reservoir, which at 2,160 square kilometres, is the fourth largest in the world, almost certainly caused a large number of species extinctions. All the energy goes to foreign-owned aluminium smelting industries." [17] ; "The Tucurui dam on the river Tocantins .. flooded 2,400 square kilometres (of the Brazilian Amazon). The Tucurui is the Earth's largest hydroelectric station in the world. From Tucurui's turbines, power lines swing out across the rainforest .. to aluminium smelters at Vilo do Conde. The raw material for the smelters comes from the bauxite mines dug in the jungle floor of the Grand Carajas mining region to the southwest. The aluminium smelters .. are owned by Albras, a partly Japanese-owned company .. Albras has plans to triple its output and that means more dams." [18] ; "The Tucurui dam covers 2200 square kilometres, formerly rainforest, and deforestation has occurred around the lake. Eventually, the Tocantins river project, of which the dam is part, will involve 8 large and 20 small dams forming a chain of lakes 1900 kilometres long." [19]

Balbinas Dam.

"The billion dollar Balbinas dam .. flooded an area the size of an english county. It generates on average only 110 megawatts (an area the size of two football pitches is needed to generate enough electricity for a one kilowatt fire)." [20] ; "Located in the heart of the Amazon, Balbina was to be an ambitious mega-project, a dam that would supply hydro-electric power to the city of Manaus. Today, 25,000 square kilometres lies beneath the dam's waters." [21]

Canada.

The James Bay Project.

James Bay I.

"James Bay I tamed the Eastman and La Grande rivers .. Its five reservoirs cover 11,000 square kilometres. Its four giant hydroelectric plants, by the time add-ons are completed in 1994, will have a capacity of almost 15,000 megawatts .." [22]

James Bay II.

James Bay II will tame five rivers and create 12,000 megawatts.

James Bay as a whole.

"When completed sometime early next century, the entire James Bay project is intended to have a capacity of 27,000 megawatts. It will have cost an estimated $63 billion and will have drowned an area the size of Belgium." [23]

La Grande 2 Dam.

"The 170 metre high La Grande 2 contains an immense underground generating station twice the size of Notre Dame, cut into the hard rock of the Canadian Shield." [24]

Chad

The Maga Dam.

"It is the Maga Dam (which takes much of the flow of the river Logone, one of the two main sources of water feeding Lake Chad) that is drying out the once teeming Waza National park, destroying habitats for the numerous species of antelope, and undermining the chances of survival for the elephants sheltering in the park." [25]

China.

Sanmenxia Dam.

"The Chinese finished building the Sanmenxia dam on the Yellow river in 1960." [26]

The Three Gorges Dam.

"In China, the Three Gorges dam received approval from the People's Congress earlier this year. The reservoir behind the dam will be 250 miles long." [27]

Egypt.

The High Aswan Dam.

.. "a man-made lake more than 300 kilometres long straddles the Egypt-Sudan border behind the Aswan High Dam completed in 1970." [28]

Ghana.

Akosombo dam.

"Ghana's Akosombo dam displaced 78,000 people from an area the size of Puerto Rico .." [29] ; "The dam on the Volta in Ghana flooded over 8000 square kilometres." [30]

Guatemala

Chixoy.

"Chixoy hydropower plant .. (which) produces 70% of the country's (Guatemala) electricity .. cost US$1,000 million. The Chixoy dam is now suffering such severe silting caused by forest loss in the watershed area that the life of the dam has been reduced by 45 years .." [31]

Guyana.

"This autumn the French government begins construction of a giant dam in the rainforest of French Guiana that will provide hydroelectricity for the European space agency's satellites. The dam will flood 310 square miles of dense, unbroken rainforest." [32]

Honduras.

El Cajun Dam.

India.

The Bhakra Dam.

This is 226 metres high and is built on a tributary of the Indus.

The Teri Dam.

Still under construction... "the 29 billion rupee rockfill dam at Tehri in the Himalayas .. the highest dam planned in India, will be uprooting some 85,600 people living in the Himalayan valley, including submerging the entire Tehri township of 19,764 ..." [33]

The Narmada Dam.

Still under construction... "the network of multipurpose dams of the Narmada river. .. the Narmada Valley project will displace a total population of 1.5 million and inundate 550,000 hectares of forest and arable lands." [34] ; "The Narmada dam project in Indian, scheduled to build 30 large dams and up to three THOUSAND smaller ones .. will displace 250,000 people and submerge 130,000 hectares of forest." [35]

The Marmada Sagar Dam.

"The Marmada Sagar dam (just one of the Narmada Valley project dams) in Madhya Pradesh, to be apportioned $350 million by the World Bank, will be dispossessing 170,000 rural inhabitants and flooding 84,695 hectares of forest tracts and farmland in order to irrigate 123,000 hectares downstream." [36]

Indonesia.

The Kedung Ombo Dam (Central Java).

.."in central Java, the controversial Kedung Ombo dam funded by the world bank, the Export-Import Bank of Japan and the national budget .. flooded 6,000 hectares of fertile farmland." [37]

Malaysia.

Bakun hydro-electric dam.

"It will flood 75,000 hectares, all of which will be clearcut first." [38]

Nigeria.

The Kainji Dam.

Built on the river Niger.

The Bakolori Dam.

"By international standards the Bakolori dam, a 50 metre high plug on the Sokoto river, is not big. Its reservoir covers only 80 square kilometres." [39]

The Tiga Dam.

The Challawa Dam.

(On the river Hadejia).

Pakistan.

The Jari Dam.

The Mangla Dam.

Built on the river Jhelum.

The Tarbela Dam.

Built on the river Indus.

Paraguay.

The Itaipu Dam.

Built on the river Parana.

The Yacyreta Dam.

Built further downstream on the river Parana. "In South America, the Yacyreta Dam, on the Parana River between Paraguay and Argentina .. has a 70 kilometer long reservoir." [40]

Philippines.

"Mindanao (the largest island in the Philippines) was identified by the Philippine government as suitable for heavy industrial development. Construction of several hydro-electric plants on the Agus river near Iligan city began as early as 1955 (There are now power shortages because) .. the supply of water to these dams has seriously declined because of the deforestation that resulted from the island's development. Mindanao's forested area has declined by over 50%. This deforestation has lead to a decrease in rainfall and to more droughts. In July 1992, total hydro-electric production was a mere 43% of capacity, more than 500 MW below expected output. A series of six hydro-electric plants have already been built on the Agus river which flows north from Lake Lanao in north-western Mindanao. This is the second largest lake in the Philippines covering some 360 square miles." [41]

The Sahel.

"The conventional wisdom about the disappearance of trees from the Sahel is that peasants cut them down for firewood, while their animals eat the remainder. In fact, according to Peter Warshall, it is clear-cutting (of trees) for the large scale irrigation, dams and reservoirs that is one of the principal causes of large-scale deforestation." [42]

Sudan.

The Sennar Dam.

Suriname.

Brokopando dam.

"4,067 square kilometres of tropical forest were flooded for Lake Brokopondo in Surinam, just north of Brazil." [43]

Uganda.

The Owens Falls Dam.

United States of America.

The Hoover Dam.

"It towers more than 200 metres above the bottom of the Black canyon, close to the Grand canyon." [44] The reservoir created is called Lake Mead.

The Grand Coulee Dam.

(Completed in 1942 was twice the size of the Hoover dam).

The Shasta Dam.

The Oroville Dam.

The Glen Canyon Dam.

(Reservoir created is Lake Powell. The lake .. "from which roughly a tenth of the Colorado's flow evaporates each year in the hot desert sun." [45]

The Parker Dam.

Imperial Dam.

The Navajo Dam.

The Flaming Gorge Dam.

In Wyoming.

United States of Soviet Russia.

The Kuibyshev dam.

The Kuibyshev dam on the Volga .. "flooded almost half a football pitch to provide enough generating capacity to run one single-kilowatt electric fire." [46]

The Tsimlyansk dam.

The Tsimlyansk dam flooded 2,700 square kilometres of farmland, drowning more than 2 football pitches to run a one-kilowatt electric fire." [47]

The Nurek Dam.

(300 metres high).

The Rogun Dam.

(335 metres high).

The Inguri Dam.

(In Georgia. 272 metres high).

Caspian Sea.

A disastrous miscalculation about the construction of a dam on an inlet to the Caspian sea has caused a colossal degree of ecological damage. [48]

General.

"Soviet engineers .. worried nothing about drowning wide fertile river valleys with shallow reservoirs behind huge earth dams. In all, they flooded an area roughly the size of France." [49]

Venezuela.

The Guri Dam.

Built on the river Caroni, "The Guri dam in Venezuela flooded 4,000 km2 of unique rainforest ..." [50]

Zambia.

The Kariba Dam.

"The Kariba dam flooded about 5100 sqr kilometres including some of the wildest and most 'natural' land on Earth, a precious fastness of rhino, elephant .." [51]

The Bakolori Dam.

The reservoir (created by the Bakolori Dam on the Sokoto river) displaced 13,000 people and threatened to ruin the livelihood of 40,000 families living on the floodplain). "In 1979, there was a peasant uprising against the newly completed dam. The rebellion lasted seven months and ended in .. massive bloodshed at Birnin Tudu, the headquarters of the construction company. The ancient floodplain farming system was destroyed at great cost. The only winner in this farrago was the Italian company Fiat, which had built the dam and canals, and supplied most of the equipment from tractors and trucks to the advanced laser technology for levelling the fields (in the floodplain)." [52]

Zimbabwe.

"In Filabusi, Zimbabwe, a dam built three years ago by the government has never held a drop of water (because of the drought). The Garanyemba dam is now reduced to a couple of foul-smelling pools." [53]

1.1.8.5.6.1.2: Total Area of Inundation.

India and South America.

"In India and South America, hundreds of thousands of hectares have been destroyed by the building of hydro-electric dams." [54]

Worldwide.

In the introduction to his book on the construction of dams, fred pearce states that it has been estimated that, "The world's artificial reservoirs today hold as much water, and cover as much land, as the North Sea." [55] However, later on in the book, he states that it is the reservoirs of the superdams that have inundated an area the size of the north sea, "Their reservoirs (superdams) have a total capacity of 6,000 cubic kilometres and they cover almost 600,000 square kilometres. That makes them, in aggregate, roughly the size of the North Sea." [56] He also points out that, "Soviet engineers .. worried nothing about drowning wide fertile river valleys with shallow reservoirs behind huge earth dams. In all, they flooded an area roughly the size of France." [57] Whether this has been included in the north sea estimate is not known. The area of land around the world which has been inundated by water reservoirs must be massive and may have caused a considerable reduction in the Earth's Photosynthetic capacity.

1.1.8.5.6.1.3: Future Dam Projects.

Brazil.

The Altamira Complex.

"So once Tucurui is fully utilized, the government owned electricity utility for the Amazon will tackle .. the Xingu. The Brazilian government's planners have earmarked six dam sites on the Xingu .. which would flood an area of the valley the size of Wales. These projects, known together as the Altamira Complex. When the Tucurui was completed, it sold electricity to Albras at roughly a third of the cost of its generation." [58] ; "Eventually, the Tocantins river project, of which the dam is part, will involve 8 large and 20 small dams forming a chain of lakes 1900 kilometers long." [59]

France.

"This autumn the French government begins construction of a giant dam in the rainforest of French Guiana that will provide hydroelectricity for the European space agency's satellites. The dam will flood 310 square miles of dense, unbroken rainforest." [60]

Indonesia.

"The Nipah irrigation dam on the island of madura, East Java, Indonesia. The project would flood 710 hectares in Sampang District." [61]

Malaysia.

The Malaysian government is planning to build .. "a 214 metre high pile of rock and concrete .. $4 billion, 2,400 megawatt hydro-electric dam. In all 200,000 acres of forest and farmland will be flooded and an estimated 7-10,000 people will lose their homes." [62] ; "The Bakun (dam) project, described by its developers as the world's biggest private power scheme, involves construction of a dam nearly twice the size of the Aswan dam in Egypt and the flooding of an area larger than Singapore. An area of more than 80,000 hectares, much of it tropical rain forest, will be cleared .." [63]

1.1.8.5.6.2: The Reduction in Aquatic Photosynthesis caused by Siltation.

Rivers transport huge quantities of silt. After dams have been constructed this sediment no longer flows downstream but accumulates behind the dams. The silt blots out sunlight or suffocates aquatic Vegetation. This reduces, but does not necessarily abolish, the Photosynthesis taking place in the water reservoir.

1.1.8.5.6.2.1: Dam Siltation Per Country.

China

Sanmenxia.

"The Chinese finished building the Sanmenxia dam on the Yellow river in 1960. Four years later the reservoir behind it had almost filled with silt and was taken out of action. ... They had forgotten about the Yellow river's silt." [64]

Guatemala

Chixoy.

"Chixoy hydropower plant .. is now suffering such severe silting caused by forest loss in the watershed area that the life of the dam has been reduced by 45 years .." [65]

1.1.8.5.6.2.2: The Scale of Global Siltation.

"Worldwide, the replacement cost of reservoir capacity lost to siltation is estimated at $6 billion per year." [66]

1.1.8.5.6.3: The Reduction in Terrestrial Photosynthesis brought about by Development.

After the construction of a dam, the area surrounding the hydro-electric reservoir is likely to be logged, developed, or used for agriculture, "Hydroelectric dams in rainforest areas cause other problems in addition to the direct effect of destroying forest. Finally, and perhaps most devastatingly, the access and development created by the dam buildings projects opens up huge areas of rainforest to exploitation, including cutting, burning and conversion to cattle ranches." [67]

Brazil.

The Tucurui Dam.

"The Tucurui dam covers 2200 square kilometers, formerly rainforest, and deforestation has occurred around the lake." [68]

Philippines.

The Agus River Dams.

"Mindanao (the largest island in the Philippines) was identified by the Philippine government as suitable for heavy industrial development. Construction of several hydro-electric plants on the Agus river near Iligan city began as early as 1955. (There are now power shortages because) .. the supply of water to these dams has seriously declined because of the deforestation that resulted from the island's development. Mindanao's forested area has declined by over 50%. This deforestation has lead to a decrease in rainfall and to more droughts. In July 1992, total hydro-electric production was a mere 43% of capacity, more than 500 MW below expected output." [69]

1.1.8.5.6.4: The Reduction in Terrestrial Photosynthesis brought about by Hep Refugees.

Some of the land flooded by hep schemes was formerly agricultural land. The dam displaces the people who lived and worked on the land. Some of these people are given alternative land but on most occasions they are left to find their own new plot of land. Vast numbers of people have been forced off their land by hep, "As a result of hydro-electric projects approved by the World Bank between 1979 and 1985, 450,000 people on four continents were involuntarily resettled." [70] Many of these displaced people, development refugees, move onto the land surrounding the water reservoir in order to try and grow crops. Even if the land is marginal they have no other choice but to try and grow crops on it. The uprooting of people by dams causes the destruction of even more of the Earth's Photosynthetic capacity.

1.1.8.5.6.4.1: Hep Refugees Per Country.

Ghana.

Akosombo Dam.

"Ghana's Akosombo dam displaced 78,000 people from an area the size of Puerto Rico .." [71]

India.

The Marmada Sagar Dam.

"The Marmada Sagar dam (just one of the Narmada Valley project dams) in Madhya Pradesh .. will be dispossessing 170,000 rural inhabitants ..." [72]

Indonesia.

The Kedung Ombo Dam (Central Java).

.."in central Java, the controversial Kedung Ombo dam funded by the world bank, the Export-Import Bank of Japan and the national budget displaced 30,000 people ..." [73]

Nigeria.

The Bakolori Dam.

The reservoir created by the Bakolori Dam on the Sokoto river displaced 13,000 people and threatened to ruin the livelihood of 40,000 families living on the floodplain, "In 1979, there was a peasant uprising against the newly completed dam. The rebellion lasted seven months and ended in .. massive bloodshed at Birnin Tudu, the headquarters of the construction company. The ancient floodplain farming system was destroyed at great cost. The only winner in this farrago was the Italian company Fiat, which had built the dam and canals, and supplied most of the equipment from tractors and trucks to the advanced laser technology for levelling the fields (in the floodplain)." [74]

1.1.8.5.6.4.2: Worldwide.

It is believed that dams have created millions of economic refugees, "This would allow massive power generation without .. forcing the evacuation of millions of people .." [75]

1.1.8.5.6.5: Development and Development Refugees increase Siltation.

The deforestation of the land surrounding hydro-electric reservoirs carried out by loggers, developers or development refugees often causes soil erosion which increases the accumulation of silt behind dams further reducing aquatic Photosynthesis, "The irony is that the silt washed down from the deforested slopes of the river basin chokes dams, so that dams which bring deforestation are themselves incapacitated by it." [76] ; "Soil erosion increases dramatically when Forest cover is removed, particularly on steep slopes and in hill districts. Soil erosion has direct effects on hydrological cycles and watersheds, increasing the siltation of lakes and reservoirs and downstream flooding." [77] .."the adverse environmental effects of large hydro-projects have mostly been associated with their construction in populated areas. The resettlement of the displaced population results in increased population density in the surrounding areas, generally the higher slopes of the valley where agriculture is marginal. This in turn causes erosion and deforestation, which leads to sedimentation in the reservoir. For this reason the operational lifetime of large dams is frequently shorter than expected." [78]

1.1.8.5.6.6: The Defertilization of Downstream Land.

The silt transported by rivers is often deposited over floodplains as a result of flooding and this increases the fertility of the land. However, after dams have been constructed this sediment no longer flows downstream and this causes a reduction in the land's fertility and a decrease in Photosynthetic activity, "A dam has a limited life span, usually 50 to 200 years, because over time the reservoir fills in with silt until it cannot hold enough water to generate electricity. This trapped silt, which is rich in nutrients, is prevented from enriching lands downstream. For example the gradual depletion of agricultural productivity downstream from the aswan dam in egypt is well documented." [79] ; "In those river valleys where farmers rely on the annual flood to irrigate their crops and bring nutrient-rich silt to fertilize their land, dams can have disastrous consequences. Held back by the dam, neither the annual flood nor its precious silt reaches the floodplains downstream, jeopardizing the livelihoods of thousands of farmers." [80]

1.1.8.5.6.7: Dams change Algal Growth Downstream.

The change in the transportation of silt has another knock-on effect which damages Photosynthesis, "Dammed rivers can have far reaching effects on ecosystems way out to sea, say researchers in germany and romania. In the past 25 years, a dam on the river danube has caused shifts in the type of algae that live in the black sea - favouring a species which form toxic blooms that can kill other marine life. Tiny particles of sand washed down from rivers are the chief source of dissolved silicates in seawater. Silicates are essential nutrients for diatoms - single celled algae that bloom in enormous numbers at the sea surface in spring, providing a source of food that fuels the marine ecosystem. Diatoms use silicates to make their glassy 'tests' or shells. .. the iron gates dam has cut the flow of silicates into the black sea by two-thirds. There is also evidence to suggest that missing silicates have caused the shift in algal populations predicted by ecologists. There are now blooms of species of algae that do not need silicates, which were completely unknown before 1972. At the same time, blooms of dinoflagellates, which can be toxic, have increased 50% more than those of diatoms." [81] This may also have affected the rhine, mississippi, and the aswan dam.

1.1.8.5.6.8: Destroying Weeds to Prevent Turbines from Clogging.

The large amounts of silt pouring into hydro-electric reservoirs sometimes cause the opposite effect to that highlighted above - a vast increase in Photosynthesis. Drastic action then has to be taken to prevent this Phytomass from clogging up the turbines. If it cannot be done manually it has to be done by spraying the reservoir with herbicides, etc, "Dams flood forests. Dam reservoirs bring additional ecological problems by filling with water weeds which die and then decompose, using up oxygen and suffocating the fish. To keep down the weed, some lakes are sprayed with chemicals containing dioxin which is known to cause birth defects." [82]

Suriname.

Brokopando Dam.

"Hydroelectric dams in rainforest areas cause other problems in addition to the direct effect of destroying forest. Decomposition of vegetation in the large lake created by the Brokopando dam in Suriname produced .. hydrogen sulphide. During the decomposition the water became acidic, causing corrosion of the turbines. Later, weeds grew in the reservoir and had to be controlled by herbicide spraying." [83]

1.1.8.5.7: The Developments Triggered off by Hydro-Electric Power.

Just as solar/wind/wave energy triggers off property developments and industries which suffocate huge areas of land, diminishing its Photosynthetic capacity, so too does hep.

1.1.8.5.8: The Transmission of Electricity.

For the geophysiological damage caused by the transmission of electricity see below.

1.1.8.6: Conclusions.

1.1.8.6.1: Underpricing Hep Electricity Boosts Geophysiological Destruction.

Electricity from hep schemes is often sold at below cost price. The subsidized electricity from hep is one of the major obstacles to energy conservation, "When the Tucurui was completed, it sold electricity to Albras at roughly a third of the cost of its generation." [84]

1.1.8.6.2: In Harmony with Nature?

Hep is often alleged to be in keeping with nature because, unlike the use of fossil fuels and nuclear power, it seeks to harness nature's power without transforming or destroying it. Water goes in one end, generates electricity, and then comes out the other. But, as has been noted above, the building of dams has severe ecological repercussions. The upstream ecology is destroyed by hep reservoirs and the downstream ecology is damaged by the reduction in the flow of nutrients. These aspects of hep are clearly not in keeping with nature .. "the benefits of large dams and other water engineering projects are usually not as large as foreseen and their adverse effects have been gravely underestimated. These may include: an increase in national indebtedness; disruption of riverine and coastal fisheries; erosion of the river channel and the coastal zone; displacement of inhabitants from the reservoir site; spread of waterborne diseases; saline intrusion up the estuary; destruction of long established patterns of floodplain agriculture and livestock production; habitat degradation and natural diversity and reduced total flow because of increased evaporation from the reservoir and irrigated lands." [85] Even those green organizations, like ecoropa, who splash dams with positive concepts seem to recognize they cause damage, "Although non-polluting and renewable, hydro-electricity carries heavy ecological costs." [86]

1.1.8.6.3: In Harmony with the Earth?

As far as global burning is concerned, although hep schemes produce few Carbon emissions or other greenhouse gases during their operation they do cause a huge amount of pollution during their construction. They also cause a considerable amount of damage to the Earth's life support system. The geophysiological damage caused during the construction phase is less important than the damage caused by the developments which follow in the wake of a new hydro-electric scheme.

Gregg easterbrook believes the two la grande hep schemes in canada, part of the colossal james bay hydropower complex, were built with environmental considerations in mind, "In sum it is difficult to conceptualize a large power station having less impact on the ecology." [87] He then goes on to suggest that since the damage was nothing like as bad as that caused by the last ice age 10,000 years ago there is nothing to worry about, "Through glacial advances and retreats nature has made and unmade uncountable rivers, lakes and dams in what people now call quebec. Why is it strange for women and men to do the same, especially if they can learn to do it in ways calculated to minimize harm." [88] The vast scale of the changes that are being brought about by this hep scheme are nothing like as comprehensive as those which took place during the last ice age but, and this is critical, they will boost global temperatures at a time when global burning is destabilizing the climate.

1.1.8.6.4: Renewability and Sustainability.

Hep is commonly regarded as a renewable source of energy but, "Renewability does not in itself make an energy technology more socially and ecologically appropriate than one based on finite resources." [89] There are even doubts as to its sustainability. Firstly, the build up of siltation behind dams reduces the generation of electricity and, in some cases, leads to the abandonment of the dam. Secondly, a drought may cause a fall in river levels so there isn't enough water to drive the turbines.