Hydroelectric Power
Bad Choice for Energy
Impacts on Economy
If we decide that hydroelectricity should be our main source of power, here is what would happen to the economy. Our economy is based off of resources, right? Dams block up running water, creating a reservoir that floods land. Our resources grow where a reservoir could be. Floods can pick up sediment important for development of ecosystems. Floods also destroy resources important to the economy.
Social Impacts
Dams cause high water levels. Should a person go swimming in the reservoir, they could drown. In the process of creating the dam, people could lose their lives to building it. After it is built, those workers are out of work. Dams take away more jobs than they create. Dams can cause species of fish to go extinct, and this takes away food sources.
Three Gorges Dam in China
Hydro NO!
Environmental Impacts
This is perhaps the worst subject of them all. Hydroelectric dams cause so many problems concerning the environment. Land can be lost to dams. Dams prevent salmon from swimming upstream, and they could die. Unseasonal flooding can kill plants and animals. Necessary minerals for ecosystem development are trapped in the reservoir and can't be carried down stream. A dam can also alter a river's natural flow, causing some areas to not get the amount of water they need.
References
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-hydroelectricity-power.htm
http://www.internationalrivers.org/environmental-impacts-of-dams
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/hydroelectric-power-facts-about-hydroelectric-energy.html
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroelectricity#Disadvantages
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7046-hydroelectric-powers-dirty-secret-revealed.html