There are benefits and downsides to damming rivers.
After 48 hours of frantic effort, Brazilian rescue workers have called off their search for survivors at a collapsed dam in Minas Gerais state.
AP Photo/Leo Correa
Nearly 1,800 Brazilian dams are at risk of failure, according to the government. Fixing them is expensive – but ignoring aging dams can have considerable social, economic and environmental costs.
Munduruku tribal people are demanding that Brazil’s government respect their land rights.
AP Photo/Eraldo Peres
Brazil's new president could clear the way for plans to develop remote areas around the Tapajos River basin over the objections of the indigenous people who live there.
A gold tailings dam under construction in South Africa.
Author supplied
Standing 240m tall, the Statue of Unity celebrates India's development. But jarringly, it towers over a divisive and environmentally damaging dam project.
Bloede Dam (ca. 2016) near Ilchester, Maryland.
Matthew Baker/UMBC
With water storages running low, residents of Cape Town get drinking water in the early morning from a mountain spring collection point.
Nic Bothma/EPA
The situation in Perth in particular has some parallels to that of Cape Town, but Australian cities responded to the last big drought by investing in much bigger water supply and storage capacity.
Hydropower plays a massive role electrifying many countries.
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Constructing large dams can provide much needed electricity for Myanmar. But this can also threaten the livelihoods of millions.
As many people have had to wade through floodwaters, they need to be aware of the risk of infection and disease from contaminated waters.
AP Photo/David J. Phillip
As Houston continues to rescue residents whose homes were ruined, it also begins to deal with issues related to contaminated floodwaters and overflowing reservoirs. It won't be easy.
Heavy storms in February caused parts of a California highway to give way.
Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo
If the river islands are bombed away and if the riverscape is engineered into something more like a large artificial canal, then endangered species face extinction.
A degraded wetland in the Pilot Wilderness area, Kosciuszko National Park, is subject to increasing numbers of feral horses.
Graeme Worboys collection
Old and degraded infrastructure costs the United States money and puts lives at risk. A civil engineer describes some innovative ways to measure risks and prioritize repairs.