If anyone's interested in rivers and dams, and some of history and influence they've had on the formation of the US (and vice versa), there's a great book called <i>The Source: How Rivers Made America and America Remade Its Rivers</i>. Not affiliated with the author in any way, but I picked it off a shelf last year and found it a really good read.<p>This kind of thing brings up a bit of mixed feelings for me. On one hand, it's indisputable that damming rivers has a negative impact on the ecology of those watersheds. On the other hand, in an era of climate change, it seems like trying to hold on to as much freshwater capacity as possible also seems like a prudent idea, and I'm not sure what the best way to reconcile the two would be.
A friends works as an ecologist and are a scientist at a university. Water Dams disrupt/destroy eco systems downstream. Hydro power is thus not fully green due to that. Water power has to be compared to The alternatives such as oil/coal. One should not view water power as fully “green” energy.<p>Fish species are for example disrupted by water dams.
See als <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_ladder" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_ladder</a> and similar initiatives to allow migratory species to pass dams.
Humans are putting ongoing pressure to all environments.<p>We need to stop with the bringing it back to how they were BS. It can't happen.<p>Environments need energy and water to thrive amoungst other things.<p>It's hard to see dams being bad overall. Yes it might harm certain things. But we need to start looking the bigger picture. Not little factoids like bringing back wolves.<p>I find India's push on johads perhaps a little off topic but perhaps not. Be need to start keeping fresh water on or in the land.<p><a href="http://www.ecotippingpoints.org/our-stories/indepth/india-rajasthan-rainwater-harvest-restoration-groundwater-johad.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.ecotippingpoints.org/our-stories/indepth/india-ra...</a>