China Daily / Reuters
Visitors look at water gushing from the section of the Xiaolangdi Reservoir on the Yellow River during a sand-washing operation in Jiyuan, Henan province July 5, 2011. The operation was conducted to clear out silt deposits in the water, China Daily said.
Jorge Uzon / AP
In this photo taken May 4, 2011, Rozendo Sanchez, left, saddles his horse next to Nelson Gallardo, in Los Nadis, Aysen region, in Chile's northern Patagonia. Their families are two of the at least three dozen living where the multinational consortium, HidroAysen has proposed to build five hydroelectric megadams in this remote Patagonian region. If the proposal is accepted, one of the dams will flood most of Los Nadis, requiring the relocation of its residents. In the next few days, the region's Commision for Environmental Evaluation will meet to determine whether or not HidroAysen has met the environmental standards required by Chilean law for the project to proceed.
Jorge Uzon / AP
In this photo taken May 4, 2011, Elisabeth Schindele, left, a German married to Chilean Rozendo Sanchez, collects plants with her daughter Lorena Sanchez Schindele in the home she shares with her husband and two children in Los Nadis, Aysen region, in Chile's northern Patagonia. The family is one of the at least three dozen living where the multinational consortium, HidroAysen has proposed to build five hydroelectric megadams in this remote Patagonian region.
Jorge Uzon / AP
In this photo taken May 4, 2011, Nelson Gallardo, left, and Rozendo Sanchez, ride on their horses as they herd cattle to the market, in Los Nadis, Aysen region, in Chile's northern Patagonia.
Jorge Uzon / AP
This photo taken Jan. 20, 2008 show a view of the confluence of the Baker and Chacabuco rivers on the outskirst of Cochrane, Aysen region, in Chile's northern Patagonia.
Francesco Degasperi / AFP - Getty Images
Conservationists protest against the project to build several hydroelectric power stations in the Chilean Patagonia, in Coihaique, Aisen, Chile on May 9, 2011. A USD 3.2 billion hydroelectric project billed as key to satisfying Chile's growing energy needs faces a major hurdle Monday as an environmental panel decides whether or not to give it the green light.
Here's more about this story.
Here's a wikipedia article on the tribe, the dam project, and a story about the controversy.
Eraldo Peres / AP
A member of the Kaiapo tribe holds a poster showing a picture of Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff during a protest by indigenous communities against the construction of Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in front the National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday Feb. 8, 2011. A Brazilian environmental agency has given approval for initial work to begin on a massive hydroelectric dam planned for the heart of the Amazon jungle. The 11,000-megawatt project to dam the Xingu River, which feeds the Amazon, would be the third-largest such hydroelectric project in the world. The poster reads "Stop Belo Monte" and the number 604,317 refers to the number of people they say have signed a petition against the project." (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
EVARISTO SA / AFP - Getty Images
Natives from the Caiapo's tribe take part in a protest in front of the National Congress in Brasilia against the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in the Amazonian Xingu River on February 08, 2011.
Eraldo Peres / AP
Kaiapo Indian Chief Raony has his face painted with traditional markings during a protest against the construction of Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday Feb. 8, 2011. A Brazilian environmental agency has given approval for initial work to begin on a massive hydroelectric dam planned for the heart of the Amazon jungle. The 11,000-megawatt project to dam the Xingu River, which feeds the Amazon, would be the third-largest such hydroelectric project in the world. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
The Niagara Falls public library has this information:
From June to November 1969 the American Falls were dewatered. This action cut back the normal flow of 60,000 gallons a second to almost nothing. Most of the diverted water was either sent over the Horseshoe Falls or diverted to the Robert Moses generating plant's upriver intakes. The action enabled Canadian and US power companies and the US Army Corps of Engineers to do on-the-spot inspections and aerial photographs of the river bed's rock formation. This was all part of a plan to reduce erosion to the Falls.
Must have been an amazing sight to see. I've posted some pictures of the falls as they normally run just for comparison.
Barcroft Media via Fame Pictures
In 1969 the falls went quiet as the Niagara river was temporarily diverted. The dam can be seen in the upper right.
Barcroft Media via Fame Pictures
Niagara falls without water as seen in 1969.
Kike Calvo / AP file
The falls as they normally run, as seen in June, 2009. A natural phenomenon, Niagara Falls sees between four and six millions cubic feet of water go over its crest every minute. The Falls are 188 feet high, with the deepest section of the Niagara River just at their base-going down 170 feet.
Barcroft Media via Fame Pictures
While the water was diverted, large amounts of fallen rock could be seen at the base of the falls.
AP file
Thousands of tons of ice choke the Niagara River below Niagara Falls as the breakup from Lake Erie moves downriver on April 22, 1966. American Falls is on the left, Horseshoe Falls at top center in this view from prospect point on the American side of the river.
Julie Jacobson/AP
Hoover Dam is framed in the newly completed by-pass bridge spanning the Colorado River Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010, near Boulder City, Nev. The bridge was dedicated on Thursday and open to the public Saturday.
As if the Hoover Dam isn't enough of an engineering marvel, the new bypass bridge soaring over the Colorado River is the longest bridge built with concrete arches in the western hemisphere.
The 1,900-foot engineering wonder perched 890 feet above the Colorado River is expected to drastically cut travel time along the main route between Las Vegas and Phoenix, as motorists will no longer have to make their way across the dam's winding two-lane road at a snail's pace.
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