dams

Flooding 101: Everything You Need to Know

Flooding 101: Everything You Need to Know

Quick Key Facts What Is ‘Flooding’? Flooding occurs when water submerges land that is typically dry. That water can come from a variety of sources, such as rainfall, a storm surge or high tide, a river overflowing its banks, a dam bursting or snow or ice melting. Some types of flooding can be beneficial for […]

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    Dams and Climate Change Threaten American Rivers

    Dams and Climate Change Threaten American Rivers

    Climate change, activities that contribute to it, and dams pose grave threats to America’s rivers, according to American Rivers. The annual report ranks the county’s 10 rivers most endangered by human activity that also have a critical decision point coming in the next year that could change the river’s fate. Four dams are choking the […]

    Migrant Workers Are Among the Most Vulnerable to Himalayan Disasters

    Migrant Workers Are Among the Most Vulnerable to Himalayan Disasters

    By Rishika Pardikar Search operations are still underway to find those declared missing following the Uttarakhand disaster on 7 February 2021. “As of now [18 March], we have found 74 bodies and 130 people are still missing,” said Swati S. Bhadauria, district magistrate in Chamoli, Uttarakhand, India. Chamoli is the district where a hanging, ice-capped […]

    Removing Dams Could Save Atlantic Salmon From Extinction

    Removing Dams Could Save Atlantic Salmon From Extinction

    By Tara Lohan Atlantic salmon have a challenging life history — and those that hail from U.S. waters have seen things get increasingly difficult in the past 300 years. Dubbed the “king of fish,” Atlantic salmon once numbered in the hundreds of thousands in the United States and ranged up and down most of New […]

    5 Things to Know About the Fate of Wild Salmon

    5 Things to Know About the Fate of Wild Salmon

    By Tara Lohan It’s not too hard to find salmon on a menu in the United States, but that seeming abundance — much of it fueled by overseas fish farms — overshadows a grim reality on the ground. Many of our wild salmon, outside Alaska, are on the ropes — and have been for decades. […]

    Amazon Rainforest Is Probably Contributing to Climate Crisis, Study Finds

    Amazon Rainforest Is Probably Contributing to Climate Crisis, Study Finds

    The Amazon rainforest likely emits more greenhouse gases than it absorbs, a first-of-its-kind study has found. The study, published in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change on Thursday, is the first to consider emissions other than carbon dioxide, such as methane from floods and cattle, and black carbon from forest-clearing fires. “Cutting the forest is […]

    Heavier Precipitation Is Straining U.S. Dams and Levees

    Heavier Precipitation Is Straining U.S. Dams and Levees

    By Jeff Masters The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave America’s infrastructure a C- grade in its quadrennial assessment issued March 3. ASCE gave the nation’s flood control infrastructure – dams and levees – a D grade. This is a highly concerning assessment, given that climate change is increasingly stressing dams and levees as […]