Editor:
Your excellent article [Sat. Dec. 28th, 1996, pp. A1-2] on the state of the Aral Sea underlines the real effects of dams in Asia: destroyed fisheries, lost jobs, and illness. But it leaves out some important information.
The Aral tragedy isn't just a legacy of Soviet overdevelopment. Scientists specializing in dam impacts have long recognized the harms caused by unrestrained river "development". But the Soviet government was deaf to their timely warnings.
Boudreaux claims there is no way to rehabilitate the Aral. He is wrong. The USA pioneered large-scale dams - they still lead state-of-the-art water development technologies. And they're decommissioning many dams to save their flagging salmon and sturgeon stocks! This is because of pressure put on the government by out-of-work fishermen. Countries such as Australia are following suit. Why not Uzbekistan, with UN help?
The problem isn't limited to Uzbekistan. Plenty of scientists including Americans James Chambers and Michael Rozengurt have tracked this global problem. Damaged inland and coastal fisheries show up from the Nile to the USA and all around the world - anywhere there are too many dams. Over 50% of native races of Pacific salmon are extinct because of overdamming of the Colorado River system.
Rozengurt and his collegues found the beginnings of similar problems in the San Francisco delta. They have shown it is invariably disasterous to withhold more than one quarter of freshwater flowing to any body of water - freshwater from rivers is what drives aquatic systems. Holding back or displacing more than 25% of freshwater deprives the fish habitat of oxygen and vital nutrients and resources. Result? The lake or estuary slowly dies. And with it the fish and the jobs.
Does it have to happen elsewhere? If short-sighted developers have their way it will. Despite overwhelming evidence, dam proponents are repeating the deadly mistake of the Soviet government - ignoring years of respected research. Asian dams continue to proliferate. The Mekong and Three Gorges projects are examples. And Canadian dam builders are right in there looking for short-term jobs at the long-term expense of poor Asians.
The Mekong and Yangstze systems support and feed millions of Asians. Science shows the planned projects will ruin the naturally productive and lucrative river systems of the Mekong Basin and the Yangtze River system. Witholding more than 25% of the flow of the Mekong and Yangtze Rivers will condemn Asians in these areas to starvation and war. Planners in Asia need to rethink the use of water diversion schemes to maintain the adequate 75% flow of freshwater to fish habitat.
By supporting the flooding of precious arable land and productive rivers Canadian governments are stealing Asia's food and jobs, hijacking its future, and eroding the foundation of their economy - the resource base. All for a few quick jobs for hydroelectric engineers. In so doing we are silently condeming Asian peoples to the horrors of Uzbekistan and the Aral Sea. For a country that prides itself on boosting civil rights that's damned hypocritical.
Isn't it wiser and more economical to invest in world's food future by protecting the health of existing productive fisheries and farmlands of the mekong and Yangtze tributaries? By writing your MP calling on our government to repeal funding and support for the Three Gorges Project and the Mekong Basin Projects you can help avert a expensive disaster. Before it's too late.
Dianne Murray, Coordinator, Dam-Reservoir Working Group* OPIRG-Carleton, 326 Unicentre, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON http://www.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca/dams * dianne@sandelman.ocunix.on.ca (613) 729-5409 [h] (613) 788-2797*For three years our online clearinghouse on the Web, the Dam-Reservoir Information and Impact Archive, has made reliable information on the true impacts of dams available to the public, the press and researchers.