Environmental Impacts
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- And by making it more Susquehanna specific.
The dams have a positive impact on the environment. They slow water, trapping silt and pollutants. Conowingo Dam is credited with preventing much of the silt from Pennsylvania from reaching the Chesapeake Bay. The dam spillways can add oxygen to the water. The down stream side of dams is favored by aquatic birds, possibly because the fish that pass through the dam are a bit stunned. Conowingo Dam is noted for its Bald Eagles. Hydroelectric power is considered an environmentally friendly method of power generation.
The dams also make a negative impact on the environment. They raise the water level, altering the riparian environment. The upstream pools can become environmentally unsound below the surface, especially during summer. They block migratory fish, such as the American shad. The dams from York Haven down to the Chesapeake all have fish ladders or lifts to mitigate this.
Read more about this topic: List Of Dams And Reservoirs Of The Susquehanna River
Famous quotes containing the word impacts:
“We are no longer in a state of growth; we are in a state of excess. We are living in a society of excrescence.... The boil is growing out of control, recklessly at cross purposes with itself, its impacts multiplying as the causes disintegrate.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)