What will be the implication of using river waters for power generation on water quality of major rivers?
Nuclear and thermal plants use nearby water bodies for condenser cooling, which can be a source of thermal pollution. Sometimes river waters are diverted to create local reservoirs for rinsing chemical effluents while handling fuel for thermal plants. About hydropower, there is a widespread belief that it is a clean and environmentally safe method of producing electricity. This is certainly misplaced. It may be clean, but cannot be termed environmentally safe. Hydropower projects do have many environmental impacts, even though it is not often treated like other impacts mentioned in the case of nuclear or thermal plants. Large dams can have impacts on a watershed and alter the amount and quality of water in the river downstream of the dam. We have seen this impact on fresh water fish populations. The other problem is silting of dams. Silt, which is normally carried downstream, can be trapped and deposited on the bed of the reservoir. This can slowly fill up the reservoir and decrease th
