The socio-economic effects of Spring Grove Dam in the Midlands area
[Source: www.springgrovedam.co.za]
Table of Contents
Page
Introduction: Aims and Objectives 3
Location
Aim
Hypothesis
Factors of Investigation
Review of Literature 5
Data/Information Gathering and Presentation of Findings 7
Analysis, Interpretation and Discussion of Findings
Conclusion and Evaluation
Referencing
INTRODUCTION
Location and information about Spring Grove Dam:
Spring Grove Dam is situated in the Mooi River/Nottingham Road area in the Midlands about 2km south west of the Rosetta Village and is built to be used as a transfer scheme to transfer water between the Mooi and the Mgeni areas, as shown in Photograph 1. The function of the dam is to supply the demand of water from the Pietermaritzburg and Durban areas. Spring Grove Dam has been built as an extension to the other dams (Midmar, Umgeni River, Nagle Dam and Albert Falls) that have been built to supply the average 5 million people in the Pietermaritzburg and Durban areas with clean water. The aim of this dam is to pump water from the dam into other catchment areas and from there the water will be used for final use. The Mooi River area is the cheapest area to build another dam, hence the reason for the dam being situated here. Spring Grove Dam is said to hold 139,5 million m³ as the gross storage volume. The embankment type is ‘earthfill’ and a height of 11,5m. The dam height is 37m with a spillway height of 32m, a spillway length of 70m and a catchment area of 344km.
Photograph 1: The location of Spring Grove Dam
[Source: www.springgrovedam.co.za]
Aim: To prove that Spring Grove Dam will have a negative effect on the people living around...
... middle of paper ...
...een completed. The dam has had an impact on the residents of the Rosetta area as well as those in Durban as they are receiving the water supply. Durban is therefore benefitting as a water shortage has been forecasted for South Africa as a whole and they now have a currently secured water supply.
The residents living downstream are also effected by the dam as they now have a change in the flow of the river water, this change being a slowing in the flow rate. The natural flow of the river is said to not be handled correctly as yet. Many animals have also been effected as their once home and grazing land has now been moved due to the construction of Spring Grove Dam. Despite all the negative impacts the dam has had, the residents of the area feel that the project has been an overall asset to the area and positive to the community and to our country as a whole.
Furthermore, even though the Friend dam is the first primary purpose of it; it also follows a secondary purpose also. And that would be the Friend Power Authority which has 4 power plants. And within the plants it has turbines in it. What this turbine does it is that it generates water into the channel or tubes, and then it let it out into the four outlets which flows out into its benefits locations.
The South Fork Dam collapsed and unleashed 20 million tons of water from its reservoir. A wall of water, reaching up to 70 feet high, swept 14 miles down the Little Conemaugh River Valley, carrying away steel mills, houses, livestock and people. At 4:07 p.m., the floodwaters rushed into the industrial city of Johnstown, crushing houses and downtown businesses in a whirlpool that lasted 10 minutes. (New York Times, 1889).
Policies are often put in place without regards for the effect it will have on other areas, people, or wildlife. Several examples of these unintended consequences are shown in the documentary Salmon: Running the Gauntlet, which explains the effects that human activity, dams, and attempts to repopulate the salmon species have been implemented and failed. With proper evaluation at the onset of a major project, these severe consequences may be avoided.
This Paper will describe and analyze three articles pertaining to the ongoing debate for and against Glen Canyon Dam. Two of these articles were found in the 1999 edition of A Sense of Place, and the third was downloaded off a site on the Internet (http://www.glencanyon.net/club.htm). These articles wi...
Of central interest to the “Taylor machine” is the Willet Dam Project, a bill which masquerades as a means by which to promote local agricultural interests but in reality only seeks to generate ill...
Most of the rivers are the one being used by large communities like drinking water supply and for the farmers in their produce. The State of Department put together a commission of knowledgeable people and carried out an investigation about the risk and consequences of this project. Some of the conclusion about the spills were, for example, that: “A million of gallons of tar soil war poured into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan… 40 miles of this river still are contaminated to this day”. Another example of spills affecting communities, is the one in 2013, caused by a twenty foot crack in a pipeline, causing a huge spill of oil, damaging the residential neighborhoods and the Lake Conway in Arkansas. This spills and oil “accidents” are affecting not only the lives of people but also the wildlife, the ecosystems and the quality of air and water
Based on the events that lead to the devastating floods in Queensland and the eventual case that was brought against the engineers of the dam, there have been views from both sides of the divide as to whether or not the actions taken by the engineers were actually ethical or otherwise. We have explored this avenue and have found that both sides of the divide have good reasons to justify their actions. Firstly, we shall explore the avenue that the engineers decisions were appropriate and ethical. It can be said that the engineers did employ act utilitarianism in their decisions and actions, hence causing these decisions to be ethically correct. Act utilitarianism is essentially doing the right thing, which would benefit the majority of people, based on the situation that is currently taking place. One of the reasons that explains why the actions taken could be considered as ethically fine, was that if the dam was not opened, there would have been no other way to solve the increasing water levels in the dam. If no action was taken, there could have been seriously devastating effects, like the dam wall eroding due to water spilling over the dam wall, thus weakening the structure, or a loss of water flow control. Professor Hubert Chanson, a professor in hydraulic engineering in the University of Queensland, mentioned that the Wivenhoe Dam was actually designed as an embankment dam, hence it should not be overtopped, that is water should not be allowed to flow over the limits of the dam (Andersen 2011). Despite there being a secondary spillway, however it is recommended that spillway is not put to use, as the use of that spillway would mean that there would be a surge of water leaving the dam, and a loss of control of the water flow, w...
The Inga 3 Project is a Dam building venture in the Congo. The idea was to build hydropower plants to extend energy across the globe. The original idea was to provide free or inexpensive energy and jobs to underdeveloped areas. This would be the third dam in the region. Inga 1 was completed in 1972 and Inga 2 was completed in 1982 and were a part of the Inga-Shaba project.
Houston, home to two major water reservoirs, now grapples with the task of safely releasing water from these dams. Because of Harvey, they are at a dangerously high level that poses many safety concerns. If the water continues to rise, the reservoirs could break, and release a tidal wave of water into the already flooded city. However, some residents don’t agree with the releasing of water, even in controlled portions, because it adds to the flooding. “The Addicks and Barker dams hold back the reservoirs’ collective 410,000 acre-feet of water and if the dams fail, half the city could be underwater” (Planas, Satlin, et al, 2). The release of water could be a major threat to nearby homes as well while causing more flooding on the major roads, perpetuating the issue of transportation. The Army Corps of Engineers ultimately decided that waiting and praying that the reservoirs didn’t fail would be a poor decision, and came out with a statement saying they would be releasing rationed portions of water. The overflowing of the reservoirs and the possible increase of flooding is a direct impact of Harvey on Houston, and this continues to perpetuate issues they will face in the months to
Beyond all of Abbey's personal feelings and emotional memories, let us not forget about what these dams and reservoirs are providing us with-power. Electricity is extremely important to everyone. It is the reason for seemingly everything people consider vital to their lives; cars, computers, TV, running water through the faucet, everything. It is not something we can just forget about because of an author's emotional attachment to a certain strip of land sacrificed to make thousands of other people happy sitting safe in their home with electricity.
Wuerthner, George. North Idaho's Lake Country. Helena, MT: American & World Geographic Pub., 1995. Print.
Conflict between residents in northern Nevada and SNWA has risen (Brean, 2015). In 2012 the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced its support of SNWA wanting to build a pipeline from rural Nevada to Las Vegas, rural Nevada being primarily in the northern portion of the state (Larsen et al., 2015). Residents including farmers who depend on water for their crops argue that redirecting water supplies would harm the environment and wildlife that inhabit northern Nevada (Brean, 2015). There is also an issue of oversubscription, this is due to the Colorado River not only supplying water to Nevada but neighboring states which include “Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah” (Wockner, 2014). Both Arizona and California are expecting water shortages in the future as they too depend on the Colorado River (Wockner, 2014).
Pottinger, Lori. "Environmental Impacts of Large Dams: African Examples." International Rivers. N.p., 1 Oct. 1996. Web. 04 May 2014.
Observation Well: The readings of the 4-Observation wells are below the water level of the dam. OW8 and OW4 are located at the dam toe showing that the water levels are close to the tailwater level. For OW3 located at the middle level of the Saddle dam, show that the water level is close to the water level of the dam. Lastly, OW5 which is located far from the main dam, shows that the water level is below the water level of the dam. In addition, based on the alarm levels established through historical data (Damwatch database,2015), readings are within the allowable.
Diversion dams are mainly built to lessen the effects of floods and to trap sediment.3 Overflow dams are designed to carry water which flow over thier crests, because of this they must be made of materials which do not erode. Non- overflow dams are built not to be overtopped, and they may include earth or rock in their body. Often, two types of these dams are combined to form a composite structure consisting of for example an overflow concrete gravity dam, the water that overflows into dikes of earthfill construction.4 A dam's primary function is to trap water for irrigation. Dams help to decrease the severity of droughts, increase agricultural production, and create new lands for agricultural use.