What is a potential disadvantage of generating electricity from flowing water (hydropower)?

• A. creates reservoirs
• B. only suitable for industrial use
• C. reduced carbon dioxide emission
• D. ecosystem damage and loss of land

Answer: (D)

Hydropower depends on dams and reservoirs to capture the energy of flowing water. Creating those reservoirs often floods large areas, which can destroy or dramatically alter ecosystems and erase land that communities depend on. This flooding can displace people, disrupt habitats for plants and animals, block fish migration, and change how sediments move through rivers. Because of these broad ecological and social impacts, ecosystem damage and loss of land is the strongest way to describe a disadvantage of generating electricity from flowing water. While building reservoirs is a characteristic of hydro projects and not a standalone drawback on its own, and hydropower does typically produce less CO2 during operation (a benefit), the main downside centers on the environmental and land-use consequences.