Risks of the reservoir

1995/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ingurumena

The project to build two large reservoirs is already underway in the course of the Narmanda River in India. At the end of the work, 160,000 people and hundreds of animal species will be left homeless. In fact, reservoirs are going to break the ecological balance and habitat of the entire region and biologists say that the species that are about to disappear will disappear.

The richness of this region is enormous. In addition to the animal, medicinal plants are found everywhere. An average of 369 species of plants considered as protectors have been counted in the flood zone of the reservoir. Of these, it is estimated that 31 are not found anywhere else in the world. Next to the plants will also be lost their knowledge, since without writing them anywhere they have been passed from generation to generation.

The Narmanda River will lose many of its regular tenants. Since the marsh works began, many species have had to leave. Although so far they have been threatened by pollution, rampant fishing and the arrival of new species, the reservoir has become a new enemy for the fish of the Narmanda River.