While researching about the possible environmental pollution that may result from hydropower plants, an article managed to catch my eye. It was “Thermal Pollution Caused by Hydropower Plants” by Alaeddin Bobat. The first thought that comes to mind was, huh? Got such a thing as thermal pollution meh? Before reading that article, I had never known that thermal pollution is in fact a type of environmental pollution.
According to Bobat (2015), thermal pollution can be defined as “the change in the water temperatures of lakes, rivers, and oceans caused by man-made structures or industries”. When the temperature increases in these water bodies, it may inevitably detriment the ecosystem and aquatic life living there. Not only that, the production of waste heat is common during the generation of hydropower electricity. Thus, in order to keep the temperature low during the use of the power plants, they are often built close to water bodies because of the constant supply of cool water.
With even a marginal increase of water temperature, aquatic species that are more sensitive may die whereas species that are more adaptable and less sensitive to water temperature change will thrive in that condition (Menon, Singh & Kumar, 2000). This can be linked to how the pollution can affect different species differently, depending on their sensitivity to the polluted environment. For instance, cold water fish, as its name suggests, is more sensitive, thus the natural stocks of cold water fish may reduce significantly because of the warm heat produced by the hydropower power plants near the water bodies (Bobat, 2015). Besides that, the increase in water temperature can also make the organisms living in these water bodies to be more vulnerable to diseases and also result in algae blooms because of the large bacteria and plant growth (Bobat, 2015).
Even though hydropower power plants often cause thermal pollution to nearby water bodies, the thermal pollution impact is not as significant as compared to fossil fuel and nuclear power plants since the change in water temperature is not as high (Bobat, 2015).
Although I have mentioned earlier that thermal pollution may detriment the ecosystem and organisms living in the waters, it can also extend fishing seasons as well (Bobat, 2015). Therefore, though hydropower power plants can cause thermal pollution in the water bodies which may negatively impact the aquatic organisms and the ecosystem, the impact may be more muted since the increase in water temperature is not as drastic as compared to typical fossil fuel and nuclear power plants.
References
Bobat, A. (2015). Thermal pollution caused by hydropower plants. Energy systems and management, pp. 19-32. Springer: Cham.
Menon, A. G. K., Singh, H. R., & Kumar, N. (2000). Present eco-status of cold water fish and fisheries. Coldwater fish and fisheries, pp. 1–36. New Delhi: Narendra Publishing House.