Mention the advantages and disadvantages of multi-purpose projects.

Multipurpose River valley projects are those large-scale projects in which usually big dams are constructed across the rivers to store excess river water and is used to fulfill a variety of purposes. The following are the advantages and disadvantages of multi-purpose projects.

Advantages:

a. Multipurpose projects help in the storage of fresh water.

b. The stored water is used for irrigation.

c. Electricity can be generated using this stored water.

d. Fish breeding sites can be developed in these projects.

e. These projects are meant to control floods.

f. These projects can also be used for tourism and recreational activities.

Disadvantages:

a. Forests need to be cleared for constructing multi-purpose projects.

b. Farmers tend to over-irrigate their fields the result of which is soil erosion.

c. Mass movements like Narmada Bachao Andolan and Tehri Dam movement etc., stand in the way of these projects.

d. The natural flow of water gets obstructed because of the dams and sediments gets deposited at the base of the dam, and hence there is a substantial reduction in the storage level of these dams. Thus, these dams are in a way responsible for floods.

Thus, these multi-purpose projects have their own merits and demerits.