*Potamologists - Those who study the science of our river channels and impacts of river infrastructure (dams, levees, bridges, etc.) (civil engineering) The systematic study of the factors affecting river channels to provide the basis for predictions of the effects of proposed engineering works on channel characteristics. - Posted by Jasmine Graf, NWNL Associate Director
http://youtu.be/oAxVrUV9tbs A Cascade of Development on the Omo River by International Rivers, with photos by Alison M. Jones, 2014 (11:19). This film outlines how Ethiopia’s new Gibe Dams will cause a 70% water-level reduction over the next 3 years - and thus drastically impact Ethiopia’s Omo River, its Lake Turkana terminus in Kenya, and ½ … Continue reading Ethiopia: Dams threaten Indigenous communities, Omo Valley, Lake Turkana
The Columbia is one of the most hydro-dammed river basins in the world with some dams now over 70 years old. These dams change downstream water flows, and stop fish migrations. They are also buckling under decades of accumulated polluted sediment. The pressure is on for decommissioning many of these older dams, and 2 large … Continue reading Columbia River is one of the most hydro-dammed rivers in the world
Southwest Ethiopia is arid; but monsoon rains in Omo River highlands have sustained generations of indigenous people downstream. Over many millennia, stable cultural systems have emerged from patterns of interaction with the perennial Omo River. Here, Nyangatom men are fiercely proud; Karo children are playful and creative; Hamar women are strong; swaddled Mursi babies are loved; … Continue reading Can this baby hold onto its culture?
… The international attention on the effects of building the Belo Monte Dam in Brazil’s Amazon is just one example of extended coverage we are starting to offer. The impacts surrounding the Belo Monte Dam are comparable to those of two NWNL case-study watersheds. Displacement caused by dams was experienced by British Canadians, First Nations and US communities in the Columbia River Basin, and may be forced on the half-million pastoralists in Ethiopia and Kenya hoping to stop construction of the Gibe Dams on the Omo River.…
NWNL will end its White Nile River Basin expedition in Jinga on Lake Victoria, the head of the Victoria Nile. With the guidance of a member of the National Association of Professional Engineers, NWNL will photograph fishing on Lake Victoria, the Bujagali and Owen Falls dams, and a local resettlement village created for those who had to be moved out of the Bujagali Reservoir. Discussions will focus on the processes followed (or not followed) in constructing these hydro dams and on other Nile River Basin projects …
This morning I will begin NWNL’s focus on the impacts of disease, human settlement and infrastructure here at the source of the Nile. Watershed issues NWNL is studying here include: The headwaters face deforestation, dams and increasing settlement; pollution and invasive species threaten the livelihoods of 30 million lakeshore inhabitants; and increases in floods and droughts are greatly impacting this watershed.
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