The middle and lower reaches of the Shinano River were dammed lakes!

　The past month has seen no rain at all and a series of extremely hot days.　

I went to see if there would be a big island in the Shinano River where I used to swim as a child, but to my surprise, the water level was so full that there was not even a shadow of an island. The water volume of the waterway in the rice paddies is also secured without any problem.
It seems that the river has been dammed by closing the sluice gate downstream.
Over the past 50 years, the Echigo Plain has become flood and drought resistant. (Some say that since they are done shovelling taxpayers’ money into roads, the rivers are next…)

　Flood control is a technology that humans have struggled with since the beginning of time, and the German Museum has a great many exhibits on flood control technology. The Shinano River is probably also controlled by the Okawazu and Sekiya diversion bypasses and the sluice gates in the most remote places. I am a little worried about whether agriculture can continue to consume vast amounts of fossil energy in the future.

　Now it will be necessary for humans to return to an environment where aquatic animals can live?

In the old days, in the summer, the water level would drop and an island would form in the middle of the river. We used to swim to this island and play baseball here.　Now there is not even a shadow of an island and the water level is full.

The river bottom is constantly dredged with a dredge, and the river’s capacities have been raised to the point where it looks like a lake.