Freshwater Issues: Infrastructure

Dammed, straightened, deepened, and cut off

For reasons of hydropower, river navigation, irrigation and flood protection, rivers have been dammed, straightened, deepened, and cut off from the natural floodplains. The water from an entire river basin is sometimes diverted to a neighbouring river basin.

Such massive engineering schemes cause irreparable ecological damage, by disrupting the natural flooding cycles, reducing flows, draining wetlands and inundating riparian habitats, and resulting in the destruction of species, the intensification of floods, and a threat to livelihoods in the long term.

Often such schemes fail to deliver the economic benefits promised at the outset.

Learn more about the impacts of:

• Dams
• Water transfers
• River navigation
• Flood Control