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Dam Debate

by Peter Reina, Journal of the International Water Assocation - 1 February 2001

Support for building big dams has been waning for a decade or two, with criticism from the growing number of single-issue opponents becoming more concerted in recent years. Their sometimes strident attacks on the social and environmental impacts of large dams received a form of official blessing this November, when the ad-hoc World Commission on Large Dams released its report in London, which made grim reading for champions of dam projects. Even the notion that, by tapping water power, dams reduce greenhouse gas emissions is challenged by WCD's report. Rotting vegetation in reservoirs creates its own emissions, WCD points out, citing one Brazilian project where a fossil-fuelled alternative would have been greener. Facts like these led to over 100 opposition groups from California to India welcoming the report, unusual since its main sponsor was the World Bank.

That WCD's report Dams and Development should 'vindicate' the environmentalists' position, as US-based international Rivers Network (IRN) claims, is not totally surprising. Large projects of any kind, especially dams, are widely viewed with growing suspicion. The World Bank itself is part of that trend. Welcoming the report, bank president James Wolfenson said only a tiny fraction of, his institution's lending went to large dams. The philosophy underpinning the report was already on the bank's agenda, he said. Whether fewer rivers will be dammed as a result of WCD's two-year effort, taking in reviews of 1251arge dams and nearly 1000 submissions, will depend on the quality of the projects being proposed, says Patrick McCully, of the IRN. 'If there are going to be more dams built ( the developers ) will have to prove they are beneficial; he says. None of the controversial proposed dams currently making the headlines would survive the new guideline, he believes.

Goran Lindahl, president and chief executive officer of the engineering giant ABB, agrees that the WCD raises the acceptance criteria for projects to new levels. He was one of the 11 independent international commissioners, led by South African government minister Kader Asmal, which produced the unanimous report. 'We have addressed more stakeholders than even before; he says. But he doubts that the volume of dam construction will fall as a result.

WCD sprang from a workshop on the growing concerns about large dams, sponsored by the World Bank and the Swiss-based World Conservation Union - IUCN, in 1997. Dam construction has displaced as many as 80 million people over the decades, and justification for such huge dislocation has been increasingly disputed, more and more through direct action. Developing internationally-acceptable criteria, guidelines and standards for planning, designing, appraising, building, operating, monitoring and decommissioning dams was WCD's main aim, when it launched into work in 1998. But it began by checking the track record of some of the 45,000 large dams in existence, and found results to be unimpressive. In this context, large is defined as being taller than 15m or as short as 5m, but impounding over 3Mm3 of water.

Dams produced the benefits intended, but their performance was generally disappointing both in terms of output and economic gain, according to WCD. For example, a quarter of the 29 water supply dams reviewed underperformed by 50% or more. And of the 30% that reached or bettered planned production targets, most were multipurpose projects, which is against the trend for other dam uses. Of all large dams, WCD counts 12% that were built purely for water supply, with nearly two thirds of them in North America and Europe.

On balance, ecosystem impacts of dam projects were more negative than positive. And, in many cases, dams led to significant and irreversible losses of species and ecosystems. Negative effects on people living in the catchments . and downstream were often neither adequately assessed nor accounted for. And dam construction costs were often greater than budgeted and delays were common. In dealing with its brief to suggest alternatives to dams, WCD is cursory. It produces some telling statistics, such as the fact that per capita water consumption in rich countries is up to 14 times greater than in the poor, where more than 1000 million people had less than 501/d in 1990 for drinking, sanitation, bathing and cooking. Otherwise the report glances over issues such demand-side management, leak control, water reuse, rain farming and the reduction of profligacy, where it applies.

But in considering future projects, WCD digs deeply in the fundamentals of development to form its extensive list of recommendations. 'The debate about dams is a debate about the very meaning, purpose and pathways for achieving development. Along with all development choices, decisions on dams and their alternatives must respond to a wide range of needs, expectations,objectives and constraints: says WCD. 'To resolve underlying conflicts about the effectiveness of dams and their alternatives, a broad consensus is needed:
One of WCD's starting points; and key to current rows over proposed dams in Turkey and India, is the treatment of communities affected by the projects. People whose well-being is at risk should be identified to negotiate the shape of the project and resolve suitable compensation, urges WCD. Now, 'these involuntary risk- bearers have little or no say in overall water and energy policy, in the choice of specific projects or in project design and implementation. The risks they face directly affect individual well-being, livelihoods, quality of life, even their spiritual world view and very survival:
Based on equity, efficiency, participatory decision -making, sustainability and accountability WCD's strategy could hardly be attacked, at least in its broad goals. The World Bank's president is a convert to its philosophy and the German government is said to be about to embrace it officially. But since the WCD was disbanded on the day of its publication, the report was left an orphan, without a champion, laments Maritta Koch -Weser, former director general of the World Conservation Union- IUCN. ‘I wish we could find a way of following it up: she says.

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