2,000 Dams Have Come Down, and not a New One Built in 43 Years

   With a tear, I read how more than 2,000 dams have been removed, 65 in last year, alone. Some, perhaps, needed to come down. The wishes of the native Americans deserve to be a large factor in such decisions. And, if it is the only way to save an endangered species, that also should be a large concern.

   But, I do not like to see the dams disappear. I have come to appreciate them.

  So, 2,000 dams have been removed, 65 in the past year, alone. How does that compare to how many new dams have built?

   There hasn't been a new one for about 43 years. Speaking of droughts, how's that for a drought?

   But, construction of a decades-in-the-planning dam in the Sacramento Valley is to start in 2024 and be completed by 2030, providing water to 24 million people and propping up agriculture in the Central Valley. In an age of fear that water could dry up, wisely saving water behind dams is ever-so important. 

   But, it comes with a fear, itself. When droughts reach their worst, even the reservoirs dry up.

   Sites Reservoir will not be much for producing electricity, though it will be a source during peak usages. Overall, the dam is expected to be a consumer of power. 

   There are more than 90,000 dams in the U.S. Word is that a major reason none have been built in recent decades is that all the potential sites have been used.

   I believe we should scour the country in search for overlooked sites -- and that includes revisiting the sites of some of the 2,000 dams that have been torn down. 

(Index -- Climate change info)