Word: silting
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...nation's emerging engineering prowess, the Three Gorges Dam has already faced a host of problems. An estimated 1.4 million residents have been displaced by the 640-km-long reservoir forming behind it, which also flooded several important archaeological sites. And some hydrologists say that by trapping silt the dam could actually make downstream riverbanks more vulnerable to flooding...
...have already been built in Yunnan. Given that half the Mekong basin's water comes directly from China during the dry season, scientists worry that Xiaowan will act as a spigot that controls the destiny of millions of people in five countries. Environmental groups estimate that 35% of the silt that's needed to fertilize floodplains down south may be obstructed by the dam - distressing news for a region that depends on the Mekong for 80% of its protein needs and, in the lower river basin, rice production...
...Orleans means putting more of everything between the city and the sea. Planners have three main ways to do that: 1 ENHANCE BARRIER ISLANDS Katrina devastated the already withered outer defenses. As the islands shrink, waves reach farther inland 2 RESTORE WETLANDS Walls and channels along the rivers prevent silt from replenishing marshy areas, which can sponge up floodwaters 3 BUILD FLOODGATES AND LEVEES An inner line of gates like this one in the Netherlands could protect the city from storm surges
...After the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, the river, which flows near the reactor, became radioactive. With toxic silt still flowing downstream in the Pripyat, which is some 441 miles long, a dam on the left bank has been the only effective countermeasure, and dredging remains dangerous...
...kills the wetlands that do survive, as salt water intrudes deeper and deeper inland, killing vegetation that helps hold the soil together. The elimination of natural flooding also causes barrier islands, which line the Gulf and protect the coast, to shrink. The Mississippi in its naturally flowing state spilled silt into an intricate delta, spreading sediment east and west and fortifying the islands. Walled and dredged all the way to the Gulf, the river now dumps that silt right over the edge of the continental shelf. Geologists report that the Chandeleur Islands--a healthy necklace of sandy barriers about...