ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a summary of some key technical references related to the environmental impacts resulting from these four additional categories of water resources projects. Irrigation projects have been developed throughout the world in semi-arid and arid regions. Major flow-altering projects include those which are designed to change normal river flow patterns via the use of storm surge barriers, reversal of the direction of flow, or inter-basin water transfers. Relative to flow reversal projects, proposals are being considered in the Soviet Union for transferring waters from northward-flowing rivers to the south. Artificial islands represent one category of land creation projects. Shoreline projects can include breakwaters, jetties, groins, bulkheads, and many others. Water resources development and control have been an integral part of China's agriculture for centuries. Many water resource development projects in tropical areas have had the unintended consequence of markedly increasing the prevalence of schistosomiasis in the local population.
