InTeGrate Modules and Courses >Water Science and Society > Student Materials > Module 5: Dam It All! > Bringing Down the Dams > Esthetic Improvements
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These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
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These student materials complement the Water Science and Society Instructor Materials. If you would like your students to have access to the student materials, we suggest you either point them at the Student Version which omits the framing pages with information designed for faculty (and this box). Or you can download these pages in several formats that you can include in your course website or local Learning Managment System. Learn more about using, modifying, and sharing InTeGrate teaching materials.
Initial Publication Date: March 31, 2017

Esthetic Improvements

Arguments have also presented for esthetic improvements as the result of dam removal. An example of this approach is the argument for removal of Hetch Hetchy (O'Shaughnessy) Dam on the Tuolomne River in the Sierra Nevada Mts. of California (Restore Hetch Hetchy). This dam and its reservoir flooded a canyon much like Yosemite just to its south beginning in 1923, even though Hetch Hetchy was included in Yosemite National Park in 1890 by President W.H. Harrison. President Wilson, in 1913, signed the Raker Act that allowed San Francisco to dam the valley. Proponents of this dam removal argue for ecological improvements as well as access to once-spectacular scenery eliminated as the result of the water project. Hetch Hetchy provides some 20 percent of hydroelectric power generation to San Franscisco as well as significant water supplies. Nonetheless, proponents of the dam removal argue that impacts on water or electrical power availability would be minor (Hetch Hetchy Today).

These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
Explore the Collection »