APES
Effects of Dams on Environment
Go to the website: http://www.dameffects.org/
Run the simulation and answer the following questions. Organize your answers the same way each section is written – Part/number/letter
YOU MUST WRITE YOUR ANSWERS USING COMPLETE SENTENCES!
Part One: Natural River
1. Describe the area that is shown before any dam is built. What interactions do you see?
2. Click on River Flows and read the information.
a. Explain why river variability is indispensable for the area. Provide examples.
3. Click on Sediment and Debris Transport and read the information.
a. Write a list of all the things you can find in a river.
b. All the “stuff” in a river provides a service in the ecosystem. Describe the services this “stuff” provides. Give examples.
4. Click on Recreation.
a. Define unimpaired recreation.
b. List 3 different recreational activities that a river can provide.
c. Explain why a “natural” recreation area like a wild river is appealing to many people.
5. Click on Riparian Areas
a. Define riparian area
b. Describe the biodiversity of these areas.
c. Describe the riparian area. Include specific examples of what is there and the service each provides.
Part Two: Click on Poorly Run Hydro
1. Describe the area that is shown after a poorly run hydroelectric dam is constructed.
a. What is different from now as compared with the Natural River?
2. Click on River Flows
a. Explain what is meant by “hydropower dams manipulate the natural river to generate power.”
b. Summarize what happens to the Tallapoosa River area below the dam
c. Explain why the Tallapoosa River changes every day.
d. What is “peaking operations”
e. What effect would these unnatural fluctuations have on the ecosystem of the river?
3. Click on Fish Passage
a. Why does all the river life split in two?
b. What effect does a dam have on fish that migrate?
c. Why would a dam decrease the genetic diversity of the resident fish?
d. What effect does decreasing the genetic diversity of the fish have on the population?
4. Click on Riparian Areas
a. What effect does the “peaking operations” have on the Riparian Areas above and below the dam?
b. What are “Bathtub Rings”?
c. What effect does the creation of “Bathtub Rings” have on the Riparian Area in the reservoir?
d. Why is there more erosion downstream after the dam is built?
5. Click on Sediment and Debris Transport
a. Why does a dam fill with sediment?
b. Where does the sediment go behind a dam?
c. Over time, what happens to the dam as it fills with sediment?
d. What effect does this buildup of sediment behind the dam have on the downstream side of the river?
6. Click on Water Quality
a. What are the two most common water quality violations from hydropower dams?
b. Explain how the reservoir can become oxygen depleted.
c. What can happen to the temperature of the water in the reservoir during the winter and the summer?
d. What effect does this temperature variation have on the amount of oxygen in the water?
e. What effect does the release of different amounts of water from the dam have on the temperature of the water downstream?
7. Click on Recreation
a. A hydropower dam’s number one job is to create electrical power. What effect does this have on the recreation of the reservoir?
b. Why would access to a hydropower reservoir be so difficult?
c. Suppose you were near a hydropower dam during peak electrical usage. What would begin to happen and how would the dam operator notify you?
8. Click on Remove Dam
a. Explain what is meant by “costs that outweigh its benefits”.
b. Explain what is meant by the statement, “rivers are resilient.”
c. Click on “remove the dam” below the photo of Marmot Dam. What happens to the area over time?
Part Three: Click on Well-Run Hydro
1. Look at the animation of a Well Run Hydropower dam and compare it with the Poorly-Run Hydro Dam.
a. What are the obvious differences between the two?
b. What are the obvious similarities between the two?
2. Click on River Flows
a. The reading states that a river is more than water. Explain what this means.
b. Why would it be important for a river to release the right amount of water at the right time?
c. What are the essential ecological pieces of river flow?
3. Click on Fish Passage
a. What does “Volitional” mean?
b. What is a “fish ladder”?
c. Besides a fish ladder, how else could fish get around the dam to move upstream?
d. What are some ways that fish are able to move downstream of the dam?
4. Click on Riparian Areas
a. Why would the dam operators want to maintain the water level of the reservoir?
b. How is development controlled along the shore of the reservoir?
c. What service does a wetland provide?
5. Click on Sediment and Debris Transport
a. Explain the concept of sediment and debris starvation downstream of the dam.
b. Describe how dam owners can mitigate the damage of sediment and debris starvation.
c. Explain how a dam could make existing pollution worse.
d. The result of the increase pollution could result in the biomagnification of specific pollutants. Explain how this could occur and what effect would this have on humans?
e. How could this pollution problem be solved?
6. Click on Recreation
a. What effect does raising and lowering reservoir levels slowly have on recreation below the dam?
b. What are some things that dam owners can do to improve the aesthetic impact of the dam area?
c. What does aesthetic mean?