[A reservoir is a man-made lake created when a river is constructed with a dam to serve one or more purposes, such as generating hydroelectric power generation, providing a water supply for drinking, irrigation and flood protection] (www.eea.europa.eu). The effects of watersheds on the environment have been controversial since their introduction. While water reservoirs can create many sought-after improvements for a society, they can have a detrimental impact on natural habitats and generate a variety of environmental complications. The debate over whether water reservoirs are truly beneficial or harmful to human populations is ongoing as new projects such as the Three Gorges project in China conclude. In the following essay I will provide a critical review of the various negatives that come with creating a water tank. The creation of a water reservoir will have a significant impact on the natural habitats that existed before its construction. The surroundings around the dam will be flooded and reclaimed as part of the newly created reservoir. Runoff from the initial tank fill will cause existing plant life to die and decay. For the first few years, stabilization will take place, where decaying plant life will release an abundance of carbon into the atmosphere. Additionally, the decomposition of plant material that settles at the bottom of the tank will produce and release large quantities of methane. A weakness of the argument that a water tank is environmentally friendly. Not only do local plant and animal life suffer from this loss of land, but the river itself is being affected by vaporization. A water tank creates a larger surface area whereby more water is evaporated and runs out of… the center of the paper… producing a pollution factor comparable to that of an oil-fired power plant. Works Cited http://dams.org/http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7046http://www.cdc.gov/hab/cyanobacteria/facts.htmhttp://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ HAC/pha/DonnaReservoir/DonnaReservoirPublicCommentPHA06302010 .pdfhttp://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/european-waters/reservoirs-and-damshttp://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7046http://www. internationalrivers.org/en/node /1636http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:Jkl8Z9b7mFYJ:rdgs.dk/djg/pdfs/103/1/09.pdf+flood+recession+cropping+ reservoir&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid =ADGEESjo6QDhkvxWgGiBUo92nXL0IwSNtOE_8trCQT_BL5cyXA07KOy-lWH0oV1GNfDtvFH8eYFSww2TwOR2S-ExPDaiUAwpjnLrp1BR00lZKejjXiVrCo8Ee4i9yo9 OLSWjFISQ0gGz&sig=AHIEtbR opK9vzHwGeWcwyFlZ-WIkBylIvA (flood-recession clipping)http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/schistosomiasis/disease.html