“Are dams against the order of nature, imposing more costs than they do benefits? Views differ across the spectrum. But some are willing to accede to the usefulness of smaller dams being built to meet localised demands. SARAH SABARATNAM reports.

Winds blowing, rivers flowing.
Birds chirping. animals slurping
From the river. Big gulps
Quench their thirst.
The water glistens in the sun.
Twigs breaking. people raking
Leaves falling. dams stalling.
A wall is there, stopping
And holding
The river from flowing
And going to its home.

Rachel Priety. age 16,
Harry S. Truman High School, Michigan.
(Source: World River's Review)

From India's Sardar Sarovar project to China's Three Gorges Dam, large barriers built to hold back water are, over the years, drawing more and more protests. “There was a time when Big Dams moved men to poetry. Not any longer: writes Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy. In her essay For the Common Good in the Indian-based Frontline magazine. Discussing the Sardar Sarovar dam which she visited, Roy contends, “The fact that they do more harm than good is no longer just conjecture. Big Dams are obsolete. They're uncool. They're undemocratic…” It seems people are now more concerned about the value and complexity of our river systems and how they are disrupted by a dam and its reservoir, than its (the dam's) benefits. Further, many believe that there are more sustainable alternatives to large dams (a large dam is usually defined as being at least 15 metres tall). “More and more people are opposing dams,” says Patrick McCully, campaigns director for the International Rivers Network, “because they have realised that viable alternatives exist.”

Before we look into those alternatives, however, let us look at why dams ever evolved in the first place. Why do we need dams? Although Malaysia is blessed with abundant rainfall, and 97 per cent of our drinking water is sourced from rivers, we still need dams, say proponents, because our rain is seasonal. Director for the water supply division of the Public Works Department, Low Chee Par, says, “Our rainfall is uneven in time and space. If there is no dam, when it rains heavily, the water runs off to the sea and is wasted or may cause flooding. When there is a drought, there is not enough water.” As such, he says, we need dams to collect excess water during the rainy season to release water for supply and irrigation during dry spells, and to control flooding. In Malaysia we have 63 dams (see table) for various uses: water supply, irrigation, silt retention, flood mitigation and for generating hydropower.”

“Selangor Waterworks Department deputy director V. Subramaniam says dams help meet the increasing demand for water. “It is something you cannot do away with. A developing country Will have a high demand for water. We have to cater for that demand.” If adequate water supply is not ensured, he says, especially in rapidly developing areas like the Klang Valley, disruption could occur. “In a developed area, if there is no continuous supply of water, life can be miserable. It's close to a nightmare, going by the last water crisis. We want to make sure there is no shortage in the future.” Also, dam proponents see it as a quick-fix solution to an impending problem. “When you build a dam,” says Datuk Syed Muhammad Shahabudin, president of the National Water Association, “you get the results in five years. You have the solution right away. Whereas cutting down on wastage and replacing pipes - miles and miles of them - cannot happen overnight. It will take 10 to 15 years. It needs proper planning and an educated public. It augurs well for the future, but it is expensive and it takes time.

Down with dams? Dam opponents however believe that large dams do more harm than good and that there are better and cheaper ways of supplying water. One of the biggest concerns of the international movement against large dams is that they displace large communities. In Brazil, at least a quarter of a million people have been displaced by dams. In Guatemala in 1982, 369 Mayan Indians. mainly women and children, were tortured, shot, stabbed and bludgeoned to death in punishment for their community demanding proper compensation for the loss of their homes to the Chixoy dam (source: International Rivers Network). In Malaysia, Colin Nicholas from the Centre for Orang Asli Concerns affirms that none of the Orang Asli communities displaced by dams in seven areas in the country have been adequately compensated. “The Orang Asli affected by the Temenggor Dam are still, after 18 years, waiting to be compensated. The Temuans from Sungai Batu who were moved for the Batu Dam still have not received the RM500 compensation they were each promised for their huts.” he said at a Press Conference to announce the launch of S.O.S. Selangor, a coalition of 29 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) opposed to the building of the Sungai Selangor Dam. In the case of the Selangor Dam project that might soon be underway, that Nicholas says although the Temuans of Gerachi and Pertak will receive land as compensation, there will be a 70 percent loss of what they now have.

Another concern about dams is that they have a definite life-span. “Dams will dry up one day through sedimentation, says Dr Chan Ngai Weng, president of Water Watch Penang (WWP), possibly the only water NGO in Malaysia. Meena Raman from the Consumer's Association of Penang states, “Dams will have to be decommissioned after some time because they will be silted up, due to soil erosion and sedimentation in the catchment area. They will over time, become large silt traps that will have to be dismantled, almost an impossible thing to do.” Subramaniam however points out that if the catchment areas are properly protected by the various authorities against logging and development, there will be no definite lifespan. However, going by the Malaysian experience, as in the cases of the catchment areas of Sungai Langat and Sungai Semenyih in Selangor; Buklt Tunggal in Malacca and also Cameron Highlands (to mention just a few), protection has not been forthcoming, not only from logging and development but also serious pollution.

Large dams also cause irreversible damage to the environment. “WWP has never been in favour of large dams as they can be destructive not only to the environment but also water catchments,” says Chan. “The floodplain soils which reservoirs inundate provide the world's most fertile farmlands, their marshes and forests the most diverse wildlife habitats,” says McCully. According to the International River Network, dams are the main reason why more than one-fifth of the world's freshwater fish are now either endangered or extinct. Raman concurs that dams are harmful because of the “destruction to biodiversity like natural forests and wildlife, loss of fisheries, decreased amounts of water in rivers downstream and thus a reduction of fertility of farmlands and forests due to loss of natural fertilisers and irrigation in seasonal floods and so on.”

Dam opponents also refute the claim that dams help to prevent floods, McCully says. “Dams seem in fact to have worsened flood damage. One example is on the lower Parana and Uruguay Rivers in Argentina and Uruguay where the destructiveness of flooding seems to have increased greatly since the building of Itaipu on the Parana and Salto Grande on the Uruguay.”

Other reasons to oppose dams: they cause water-logging, salinity and spread diseases. There is also mounting evidence by scientists to link big dams to earthquakes. Dams also break, the last being in 1975 when a series of dams burst in thc Henan province of China, killing 230,000 people.

Are there alternatives to dams?

Dam opponents insist that there are better, cleaner, cheaper and safer alternatives to water supply. Both CAP and WWF suggest smaller dams. “Much smaller dams and reservoirs which are closer to where the demands are and do not involve major destruction of the environment and the displacement of people is a way to tap water from the rivers, says Raman. Chan agrees. “WWP feels that we will still need some new but small dams which are more like reservoirs. These are not as destructive as large dams and can be built fairly quickly.” Chan however stresses the need for sustainable water policies, demand management and conservation of water catchments to complement small dams. Syed Muhammad also admits that “you can build less dams, or delay building dams, if we manage demand, distribute the location of industries which use a lot of water, and conserve water.” Raman stresses the importance of protecting our forests, because without forests there will be no rain. “The first thing to ensure is for States to protect and conserve their forests and gazette them as permanent forests for water catchment purposes. Then comes highland conservation.” Other alternatives as suggested by McCully are to use underground storage: localised schemes like rooftop storage and small scale tanks to collect rainwater; reducing waste and making existing systems and water usage efficient.

Other issues

Dam opponents feel that only until the States have shown that they have enough concern and political will to protect our forests and water catchment areas and have explored other possibilities, can the need for dams be fully justified. Says Raman. “There is definitely not much being done in addressing the demand-side management.” “There are no serious water conservation campaigns in the country,” says Dr Kua Kia Soong of Suaram. However in conclusion, as Subramaniam says, “You cannot just rule out dams. We need water.” But perhaps instead of building large dams, the Government will consider looking into the alternatives as a more viable and long term approach to solving our water woes. The use of smaller dams and conservation efforts cannot be ruled out, since they are more sound environmentally, economically and socially. As Philip Williams, president of International Rivers Network, writes. “It is possible to start planning now for more sophisticated long-term and sustainable river management. The starting point of such planning would be to fully compare the economic, social and ecological costs and benefits of managing a river in a more natural way, one which meets the needs of the larger community, with the costs over time of building, maintaining, repairing and replacing obsolete large dams.” (World Rivers Review, Volume 12, Number 4.)”

(Sumber: Sarah Sabaratnam @ New Straits Times, 27 July 1999: |"Putting dams in their proper place"; |"Rethink dam plan").