Week 8: Scenario Three
Scenario #3
Construction Project
A large and rapidly developing country has experienced significant population growth in the last decade with projections that the growth will continue at an alarming rate. With this new population, the demand for electricity has also increased and the nation will not be able to sustain the population’s demand for electricity if it continues to grow at the current rate. In response to this data, the government of the country is in the process of designing a large dam which will provide enough renewable energy to sustain the population well into the future. The government is reviewing the many benefits and consequences of building the dam.
First, if the dam is created it will displace more than 1.25 million people from their homes and farm land. The reservoir behind the dam will eventually destroy several historical monuments and flood many archaeological sites. The dam could potentially create more water pollution upstream by slowing the flow of the river disrupting the river’s normal capacity to flush pollutants downstream. The threat of pollution results in the government spending money they normally would not have to invest in cleaning operations. Also, the dam has the possibility to harm or even destroy many of the river’s wildlife species.
On the other hand, the dam helps meet 11% of the country’s energy needs by creating clean and renewable energy. Because of the dam, the country will be able to reduce fossil fuel consumption and the energy that it takes to mine and transport the fossil fuels. This in turn will also reduce the amount of air pollutants expelled into the atmosphere by burning the fossil fuels. The threat of seasonal floods, which threatens millions of homes, would be reduced because of the dam’s ability to maintain constant water flow. The dam would also help upstream navigation, which would improve commerce and stimulate economic activities. Finally, because of its massive size, the dam would create tourism, and all of the economic benefits that would ensue.
Knowing this information what should the government do?
2 Responses 
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We think the positive effects of this situation outweigh the negative effects. The electricity and money the dam would bring, would be more important than the people that are going to be displaced. They would not be displaced to an undesirable location. Not building the dam would stop their population growth, because they would not have enough electricity. It would be a insufferable loss for an important gain.
Though the dam seems like it would provide many benefits to the country, I feel that the government should not build it because of the many negative effects it could have. One of the large factors that swayed me toward not building it was the displacement of 1.25 million people. If they did build it where would these people live? That is a lot of people to be relocating. The long term pollution effects the dam would have on the country would only cause the government to spend more money. If this is the case, I feel the government should analyze the money that it might be spending for pollution clean up and look at alternative sources of electricity. The dam would be helpful in the way that it would stimulate economic activity in the country and control flooding, but the government could come up with other ways to trigger these benefits. I think that exploring more options to help out the country would be more beneficial than building the dam.