NCERT Solutions for Class 5th The World Around Us Chapter 2 Dams — In-text Question
Book page 26 Updated on2026-09-19
Q1.
But have you ever wondered what happens to me when a dam is built? What happens to the forests, animals and the people living near me?
Answer
When a dam is built, the river is stopped and a huge lake forms behind the wall. The land that goes under that lake is lost — forests, animal homes and villages together. The people who lived there have to leave their homes and shift somewhere else.
Here is what happens, in order.
A giant wall — the dam — is built right across the river.
The water cannot go forward, so it collects behind the wall in a big water body called a reservoir.
The reservoir keeps filling and spreads sideways over the land beside the river.
Forest, fields and villages on that land go under water.
Below the dam the river becomes thin and weak, because most of her water is being held back.
Who or what
What happens to them
The river
Her flow is blocked. Below the dam she carries much less water than before.
The forests
Large stretches of forest go under the reservoir and are lost.
The animals
They lose their home and their feeding grounds, and have to move away. Fish can no longer swim up and down past the wall.
The people
Their houses, fields and villages are flooded. Many families have to leave and settle elsewhere, away from the place they know.
The people far away
They gain — they get stored water for drinking and farming even in the dry season, and electricity.
Side view of a dam: a full reservoir on one side, a thin river on the other.
Why a dam is both good and hard: The same wall does two opposite things at once. It saves water for the dry season and makes electricity — that helps thousands of people. But it also drowns land that belonged to forests, animals and villagers. That is why the river says the water in your tap has come to you through “many sacrifices”, and why wasting it is wrong.