Earth be dammed

Journalist Jacques Leslie argues that a century of recklessly building dams has put the planet in peril.

By Ira Boudway

Sep 23, 2005 | On a list of possible emblems for the 20th century, journalist Jacques Leslie would put the Hoover Dam near the top. Since its dedication in 1935, as Leslie notes in the prologue to his new book, "Deep Water: The Epic Struggle Over Dams, Displaced People, and the Environment," the Hoover has served as the archetype for the more than 45,000 large dams constructed around the globe. "The world's dams," he writes, "have shifted so much weight that geophysicists believe they have slightly altered the speed of the earth's rotation, the tilt of its axis, and the shape of its gravitational field." Spread through 140 countries, these dams generate a fifth of the world's electricity supply and make possible a sixth of its agricultural production. They have also displaced millions of people, depleted thriving fisheries, and caused the degradation of entire riparian and wetland ecosystems. The modern dam, in short, has come to signify both the majesty and folly of our age's drive to conquer nature -- a duality that Leslie captures masterfully in "Deep Water."

A former war correspondent, Leslie first wrote about water five years ago in Harper's. In reporting for that piece -- an account of conflicts being triggered as the earth's growing population scrambles to secure fresh water -- Leslie became convinced that more needed to be said. The struggle for water, he believes, will play a central role in shaping the 21st century, and dams lie at the crux. So Leslie set out to fully investigate dams and the controversies that come with them -- "to see dams whole and in doing so to glimpse the fate of the earth."

No investigation of dams goes far without encountering the work of the World Bank. For Leslie, the bank -- the world's largest dam financier -- would unwittingly provide the structure for "Deep Water." In 1997, responding to mounting complaints from indigenous peoples and environmental advocates, the bank created the World Commission on Dams to assess the performance of large dams and create guidelines for future projects. At the time, few believed that the 12 members of the commission -- four each from categories designated "prodam," "mixed" and "antidam" -- would be able to reach a consensus. But in 2000 the commission released a final report bearing all 12 signatures. Large dams, the commission found, rarely perform to expectation and routinely cause unaccounted harm. A measure of the true profitability of dams, it concluded, remains elusive. The bank, in a stunning show of arrogance, refused to endorse the report and its set of 26 guidelines. In "Deep Water," Leslie travels to three continents to profile the life and work of one commissioner from each of the three categories. The result, as promised, is a startling peek at the world our descendants will inherit.

Just before floodwaters began to breach the levees in New Orleans, Leslie spoke with Salon from his office in Mill Valley, Calif., about about dams, global development, and threats to the lasting health of the planet.

I'm curious about the World Commission on Dams. We came so close, it seems, to the system working for once. What remains of its legacy?

It's now five years since the commission released its report, and it is still referred to as a best-practice document. There are quite a few countries that are studying it and trying to follow its guidelines, but the unhesitating endorsements have been relatively few. So it's still out there. It hasn't disappeared the way many commissions have as soon as they produce their report. But it's not being followed either.

Why do you think the World Bank walked away? Were they just surprised that the commission came up with a report that had teeth?

Yeah, I think that the bank took a gamble and lost. They never really believed that the commission would produce a very tough report. As late as 18 months before it came out, the bank's senior advisor John Briscoe told me that he was very impressed with the commission's seriousness of purpose and that he was very much looking forward to the report and very confident that it would be valuable. And yet once it came out, the bank just walked away.

Before we go further, would you briefly describe the three main subjects of your book?

The first is Medha Paktar, who is generally considered the world's foremost anti-dam activist. She's a woman in India who has gone on hunger strikes and tried to drown herself in rising reservoir waters several times to protest a dam on the Narmada River in western India and twice came within inches of succeeding. Once the water had reached above her neck and the Indian police came and pulled her and her followers out because they didn't want to deal with the embarrassment of her death. The first third of "Deep Water" involves going to see her when she was preparing to make another attempt, which didn't happen because the monsoon failed. The following year she tried again and when the water got about high enough to drown her, her own followers pulled her out. Once that happened she realized she had to abandon that tactic. But I do think there's a part of her that really does want to die for the cause and may still find a way.

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