Planetizen. (2023, November 1). The Life and Death of American Dams. Retrieved on January 29th, from

https://www.planetizen.com/news/2023/11/126184-life-and-death-american-dams

 

Many of the current dams that have provided energy and usefulness for many years seem to be poorly maintained and issues that stem from that can possibly cause and are in danger of catastrophic failure. Many of these dams are not currently in the process of being demolished due to these issues. They don’t want these dams to get in that catastrophic state which would cause many issues for the environment around it as well as consequences for wildlife and humans. They were previously used for development in the Southwest, but now their utility seems to be more and more limited. It seemed that it was going to cause issues to wildlife and aquatic life such as the fish that pass through, and it was also wanted to be taken down by the Native American tribes that were there and the dams were damaging their cultures as well as the land around it. The power output from these dams has decreased slowly so that the lack and removal of power from these dams can be adapted to and replaced by another project or source of electricity. 

 

This article talks about the reasons why recently a lot of the dams have been taken down and demolished. This can relate to environmental science because of how we’ve talked about the damages that these large dams can cause both to the environment and the life around it like the fish trying to pass through. It also talks about how these dams can’t just be dangerous because of their possible large emissions but also due to how these dams failing could lead to large and dangerous consequences that can hurt a lot of people and a lot of land. It also says how they were slowly being put out of use and other sources of electricity were being used to counteract this loss of energy from these hydroelectric dams.