Disadvantages of Dams

Dams are essential for storing and providing sufficient water to the population. Dams are required to fulfil water demand in agriculture, industries and domestic usage. Generating hydroelectric power is one of the most important purposes of building a dam. Other than fulfilling our daily needs, they are also important as a tourist spot and also provide a site for fishing, boating and other recreational activities. Dams play a significant role in reducing or preventing floods. Dams are a lifeline when there is water scarcity or in case of drought.

Also read: List of Largest Dams in India

Disadvantages of Building a Dam

There are numerous advantages of building a dam and that is the reason why a government invests so much money in the construction and maintenance of Dams. But there are certain disadvantages related to it. Some of the disadvantages are:

• • Building a dam is very expensive, and the government needs to ensure that strict guidelines are followed and a very high standard is maintained.
  • They must operate for many years in order to become profitable enough to compensate for the high building cost.
  • People residing in villages and towns in the nearby area, where there are chances of flooding, have to be relocated. They lose their businesses and farms.
  • Sometimes people are removed forcibly to set up hydro-power plants and it poses a serious ethical concern.
  • The building of large dams can cause serious changes to the earth’s surface and lead to geological damage. It can trigger frequent earthquakes, however, modern planning and design of dams have reduced the possibility of occurrence of certain disasters.

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