Water Resources: Hydraulics and Hydrology
comments on the hydraulic design. For dam projects, the hydraulic design usually would
be the same as for dam projects with no environmental problems. But in some cases, the
spillway size or height of dam may need to be altered so that too much water would not
be released to cause downstream flooding, and environmentalists would say "That's not
good for the environment.
I experienced that problem while serving on the consulting board for two Saskatchewan
Power Corporation dams [Nipawin and Saskatchewan Forks Dams]. The dams were
designed without any regard for possible downstream environmental problems. There
were some environmentalists downstream, farmers particularly, who opposed construction
of the dams. They said it would change the flow of the water in the river, which would
damage the environment. During Provincial elections, some politicians thought they could
gain many votes by backing the environmentalists.
The problem was the
environmentalists, erroneously, thought that construction of the dams with large spillways
and outlet works would create larger downstream floods than would occur under natural
conditions with no dams. I explained that the proposed dams would reduce the size of
downstream floods.
Finally, it was decided to make an environmental impact survey. It was found that a rare
species of fish existed in the river downstream of the dams. A large flood might make
those fish become extinct. Also, there was a special kind of flower that could be
completely destroyed. Those environmental effects were judged to be insignificant, and
the dams were constructed.
So it wasn't too much.
A:
No, it wasn't too much. I got the impression that environmentalist use any argument to
defend their priorities.
Or to stop you from doing what the Corps wanted to do or whoever the developer was of
the project then?
Yes. If the environmental problems were significant enough, they could have prevented
the construction of the dams or required them to be redesigned.
The two in Saskatchewan?
A:
Saskatchewan, yes.
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