The Environmental Impacts of Large Dams Land and water are ecologically linked in a natural system called a watershed. From the smallest droplet to the mightiest river, water works to shape the land, taking with it sediment and dissolved materials that drain to watercourses and, in most cases, eventually to the sea. So is the river a product of the land it inhabits--the type of rock and soil, the shape of the land, and the …showed first 75 words of 1180 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1180 total…centers around finding "fresh markets" to exploit and new ways to sell dams to a skeptical public. The new South Africa has the opportunity to devise a water policy that builds on what the world has learned in the past fifty years of unchecked river development, and that involves civil society in the decision-making process. In the longterm, such an approach is the only one that doesn't diminish one of Africa's most treasured resources--its rivers.