Dams can be huge boons to local economies, and are a landmark of human engineering and achievement; however, they do carry serious consequences to the natural environment. They lead to sediment buildup, which hurts the flow of nutrients downstream, ruins the natural riverscape, and can cause the area behind the dam to become more shallow.

Dams carry numerous drawbacks, but one benefit of dams that they do not increase air pollution. Hydroelectric power is considered to be one of the cleanest forms of energy.