Water Wheel July/Aug 2021: Water Resource Management

Abstract

More than 60% of the world’s original dam water storage is likely to be lost within just three decades due to the growing accumulation of mud, sand and fine silt pouring into dams across the globe. That was the warning sounded by top hydrologists during the recent National Siltation (NatSilt) Symposium hosted by the WRC. “We currently lose more storage than we build, and climate change will reduce water yields further due to increased sediment loads,” said World Bank independent consultant, Dr Nikolaos Efthymiou, pointing to the threat of more severe storms and hotter temperatures that are expected to accelerate the erosion of soils in many parts of the world. Efthymiou said the heyday of dam building was between 1960 and 1990, with most dams being built in the 1970s. This meant that the majority of the world’s dams were about 50 years old, and the building of new dams had slowed significantly because of economic factors and a shortage of suitable locations.

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