Environment, Electricity generation, Saline levels
Dam the Red Sea! No, literally…
Much of the world’s focus at the moment is pointed directly towards the environment. Everyone (well, mostly) wants to help keep our planet from dying a horrible polluted death. So when you get a solution that is also a hazard, what happens next? The Red Sea is an inlet of the Indian Ocean, sitting between Africa and Asia. It encounters the Indian Ocean through the Bab el Mandeb sound and the Gulf of Aden, and eventually leads through north to the Suez Canal.
Roelof Dirk Schuiling of Utrecht University in the Netherlands and his colleagues have proposed what could be both an environmental success and disaster, all in one neat package.
Their plan is to dam the Red Sea, at the Indian Ocean entrance. By damming the entrance to the sea at the Bab-al-Mandab Strait, the high evaporation in the area would allow the subsequent flow of water through the dam to generate electricity.
The proposed dam would have the potential to generate a whopping 50GW of power. 50GW equates to two thirds of Britain’s entire energy consumption bill. No doubt this would be of great benefit to the region, especially considering their growing energy demands.
But what damage would be done to the environment?
Due to the increased evaporation, and the lack of mixing with the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea’s saline levels would jump dramatically. As water is evaporated, the salt is left behind. With large quantities of water disappearing but leaving the salt behind, the damage done to coral reefs, crabs, fish and other organisms that are not adapted to the higher salinity would be tremendous.
The dam would also lower the Red Sea by about 2.1 meters per year (6.8 feet per year), and “consequently, coastal wetlands, mangroves and coral reefs would begin to dry out and die almost as soon as the [dam] closes,” the authors wrote in the latest issue of the International Journal of Global Environmental Issues.
Possibly most dramatic is the impact such a dam would have on world sea levels. If the Red Sea were to be dammed, the authors of the study note that because the ocean water isn’t flowing in to the Red Sea, world sea levels would rise by about 12 cm over 50 years. This would reach a maximum of 30 cm after 310 years.
Granted, this is only a problem if measures are not taken globally to combat the rise of greenhouse gas emissions. The dam would actually help to slow sea level rise by reducing emission, if it was part of a large scheme.
This problem is one that our planet will continue to face as well. Populations continue to grow, and thus increased energy consumption is a natural (or not so natural) byproduct. Without advocating a worldwide cut on procreation, at what point does the human species become nothing more than a planetary menace? And have we already reached such a point?
The question lies before us then; do we sacrifice our environment for our own futures, while at the same time, sacrificing the futures of those that come after us?
Joshua Hill, a Geek’s-Geek from Melbourne, Australia, Josh is an aspiring author with dreams of publishing his epic fantasy, currently in the works, sometime in the next 5 years. A techie, nerd, sci-fi nut and bookworm.
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