Dams are just another way to commoditize water and displace the poor while bringing pollution and environmental devastation. In the case of the Polihali Dam that is part of the Lesotho project, about 20,000 people have been displaced from their homes after their land was submerged to make way for the dams. If you read the article it claims the reason for this is to "ensure the water security of the country's richest province Gauteng."
So in order to supply water to the "richest" province where obviously conservation is not required nor dealing with overpopulation, they take it from the poor in Lesotho by diverting water from their mountain homes. And then on top of this, blame farmers for taking the water and wasting it? Perhaps if these poor farmers had the tools necessary to irrigate crops in ways that would conserve water (drip irrigation) they could share it.
I never understood what gave any government the right to think it could simply take water from the poor simply to send it down to the richest area that will get richer off of selling it. It seems to me for the money they will spend building this dam it could have gone to better use in conservation education and effective irrigation instead of kickbacks and bribes. This seems to be a common tale in the world of dam building and it is a tale that has also led to the destruction of beautiful places in our world and the lives of those that were abruptly and in many instances unfairly changed by those with greed as their true motive.
Will this be the fate of our world landscape? Monstrous dams and desalination plants dotting the beautiful landscapes all because humans do not have the moral will to conserve water with governments looking to make profit from it? And of course, who suffers most from this? The poor.
So in order to supply water to the "richest" province where obviously conservation is not required nor dealing with overpopulation, they take it from the poor in Lesotho by diverting water from their mountain homes. And then on top of this, blame farmers for taking the water and wasting it? Perhaps if these poor farmers had the tools necessary to irrigate crops in ways that would conserve water (drip irrigation) they could share it.
I never understood what gave any government the right to think it could simply take water from the poor simply to send it down to the richest area that will get richer off of selling it. It seems to me for the money they will spend building this dam it could have gone to better use in conservation education and effective irrigation instead of kickbacks and bribes. This seems to be a common tale in the world of dam building and it is a tale that has also led to the destruction of beautiful places in our world and the lives of those that were abruptly and in many instances unfairly changed by those with greed as their true motive.
Will this be the fate of our world landscape? Monstrous dams and desalination plants dotting the beautiful landscapes all because humans do not have the moral will to conserve water with governments looking to make profit from it? And of course, who suffers most from this? The poor.
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