'Hydro' means 'water'.
As a child in Scotland, I remember visiting a hydro-electric power station, where a dam had been
built across a river, with the dammed water used to generate electric power.
As a slightly older child, I used to routinely watch a BBC2 test television broadcast which was all
about the building of the Kariba dam for a similar purpose, with huge environmental and social con-
sequences. Many other such dams have been build since, including, for example, the Aswan dam.
Often such projects attract criticism because of the effects on the environment as well as on people.
