Balancing Dams, Desalination, and Sustainable Water Use

Dams and reservoirs are built to capture and store runoff for irrigation, electricity,

recreation, and flood control. While they increase reliable water supplies, they also displace

people, disrupt ecosystems, trap sediment, endanger species, and destroy estuaries.

The Colorado River delta collapsed after extensive damming, and the Oroville

Dam spillway failure showed how extreme weather can overwhelm dam systems. Climate change reduces

mountain snowpack, limiting downstream water supplies and hydropower. Freshwater supplies

can also be increased through desalination using distillation or reverse osmosis, but this process

is expensive, energy intensive, and produces salty wastewater. Water transfers