Question

What are the adverse effects of multi-purpose projects on the fertility of soil?

Answer 1

In recent years, multi-purpose projects and large dams have come under great scrutiny and opposition for a variety of reasons.

i) Regulating and damming of rivers affect their natural flow causing poor sediment flow and excessive sedimentation at the bottom of the reservoir, resulting in rockier stream beds and poorer habitats for the river's aquatic life.

ii) Dams also fragment rivers making it difficult for aquatic fauna to migrate, especially for spawning.

iii) The reservoirs that are created on the floodplains also submerge the existing vegetation and soil leading to its decomposition over a period of time.

iv) Irrigation has also changed the cropping pattern of many regions with farmers shifting to water intensive and commercial crops. This has great ecological consequences like salinisation of the soil.