Dams & reservoirs are made in order to help control the flow of water from one area to the next. There are many different types of them to learn about. A dam is often the term used to refer to a small barrier that doesn’t allow water to go through without approval. The term reservoir is used to refer to larger areas that are often used for recreation as well. Most people use the two terms interchangeably and that is understandable.

Dams can be made by man, naturally in place, or made by beavers. Those that are made by man are strategically put into place. The area has been carefully surveyed in order to find out how they can help. An area of rocks or other materials that have been put into place by nature can also serve as a type of dam. Beaver work hard to make them in order to have a place to live, to gather food, and to protect themselves from predators.

Reservoirs allow for man made lakes to be made on both sides of it. These are often very wide construction sites that can take years to build. There are controls that allow the flow of water to be controlled from one side to the next. This prevents flooding from taking place. It also allows the rivers on both sides of it to continue being able to be used for boating activities.

Many reservoirs also serve as a place to make electricity. Approximately 25% of what is used around the world is made from these reservoirs. That is quite a substantial amount of electricity and so less of our natural resources are being used up for it. Since this is the electronic age, the amount of electricity being used continues to dramatically increase.

Dams & reservoirs may be interesting to look at but the all serve a purpose. There is a great deal of planning that goes into the design and development of them. They have to be carefully maintained too so that there aren’t problems with the water getting to where it needs to be. The ability to hold water back is also important so that too much of it doesn’t to a certain location.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 1st, 2008 at 12:24 am and is filed under Dams & Reservoirs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.