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Environmental Health Perspectives logoLink to Environmental Health Perspectives
. 1997 Oct;105(10):1050–1055. doi: 10.1289/ehp.971051050

Is it worth a dam?

S Joyce
PMCID: PMC1470397  PMID: 9349830

Abstract

Once a sign of modernization and growth, dams are often seen today as symbols of environmental and social devastation. Over 800,000 dams have been built worldwide to provide drinking water, flood control, hydropower, irrigation, navigation, and water storage. Dams do indeed provide these things,but at the cost of several adverse, unexpected effects: disruption of ecosystems, decline of fish stocks, forced human and animal resettlements, and diseases such as malaria, which are borne by vectors that thrive in quiet waters.

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