what are beaver dams for?
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The simple answer is that beavers build dams to deepen watercourses, so that they can create “lodges” that can be better defended from modern predators including bears, wildcats, otters and other mammalian forebears with whom the beavers shared prehistory. It seems that deep water is particularly important to beavers.
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Hydroelectric Dams – The Good and Bad. Hydroelectric dams are among the greenest and most affordable electricity sources in the world—and by far the most widely used renewable energy sources—but they also take a heavy environmental toll in the form of compromised landscapes, ecosystems and fisheries.
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A dam built across a river often serves more than one purpose at a time and it is termed as a multipurpose project. It comes with some advantages at the same time some disadvantages. The advantages are flood control in flood-prone areas, irrigation facilities, hydroelectricity, check soil erosion etc.
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['Flood Control. Controlling flood is one of the most significant functions of the Three Gorges Dam, and flooding used to be a major problem for the seasonal Yangtze River. ... ', 'Power Generation. ... ', 'Cruise Ships Navigation. ... ', 'Water Pollution. ... ', 'Migration Problem. ... ', 'Environmental Problem.']
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Dams are important because they provide water for domestic, industry and irrigation purposes. Dams often also provide hydroelectric power production and river navigation. Domestic use includes everyday activities such as water for drinking, cooking, bathing, washing, and lawn and garden watering.
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A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by using the weight of the material alone to resist the horizontal pressure of water pushing against it. Gravity dams are designed so that each section of the dam is stable and independent of any other dam section.
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All beavers need water to survive. They live in or around freshwater ponds, lakes, rivers, marshes and swamps. American beavers live throughout North America, but stay clear of deserts and the far northern areas of Canada.
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['Dams are very expensive to construct and time consuming.', 'These projects initially devast human lives and biodiversity by inundating thousands of acres of forests and agricultural lands.', 'Deforestation takes place.', 'Increases risk of Earthquakes.', 'Block of fish migration.', 'Blocks sediments flow.', 'Upstream flooding.']
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Dams block the migration of fish, deplete rivers of oxygen, and interfere with the biological triggers that guide fish. They also reduce the ability of rivers to clean themselves.
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Dam Information A dam is defined as a barrier or structure across a stream, river or waterway to confine and then control the flow of water. Dams vary in size from small earth embankments, often for farm use, to high massive concrete structures generally used for water supply, hydropower and irrigation.
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A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aquaculture, and navigability.
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Key Words: Dam, environment, ecology, water resources. ... Dams have a great deal of positive and negative effects on the environment be- sides their benefits like controlling stream regimes, consequently preventing floods, obtaining domestic and irrigation water from the stored water and generating en- ergy.
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A dam also holds back sediments that would naturally replenish downstream ecosystems. ... Large dams have led to the extinction of many fish and other aquatic species, the disappearance of birds in floodplains, huge losses of forest, wetland and farmland, erosion of coastal deltas, and many other unmitigable impacts.
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The Three gorges dam was built across the Yangtze River to control the amount of water allowed through. This created a massive artificial lake which has become an international tourist attraction.
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The main objective for the dam is to supply water for the largest hydroelectric plant in the world and to help control the devastating floods that plague the lowlands downstream from the dam. The epic scale of the dam project is matched by the level of controversy it continues to generate.
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Dams. A dam is a structure built across a stream or river to hold water back. Dams can be used to store water, control flooding, and generate electricity.
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Dams are classified according to their structure, intended purpose or height. On the basis of structure and material used, dams are classified as: Timber dams. Embankment dams or masonry dams.