Short answers, pulled from the story.
The world's first hydroelectric power scheme operated in 1878 when William Armstrong lit a single arc lamp at Cragside in Northumberland, England. This facility used water to generate electricity for just one light bulb.
Global installed hydropower capacity reached almost 1,400 gigawatts by 2023. This figure represents the highest output among all renewable energy technologies and generated 4,289 terawatt-hours globally that year.
Seventy percent of eels passing a turbine perish immediately due to the mechanical hazards of the equipment. Damming also interrupts river flows and harms local ecosystems while killing large portions of fauna.
The World Commission on Dams estimated that 40 to 80 million people were physically displaced worldwide by 2000. Large-scale projects submerge villages and farmland, destroying livelihoods and forcing relocation from planned reservoir areas.
The Banqiao Dam failure occurred during Typhoon Nina in 1975 in Southern China. The disaster killed 26,000 people directly and another 145,000 died from epidemics following the flood.