Is this argument strong or weak?

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Is this argument strong or weak?

by jitsy » Thu Jul 25, 2013 11:06 am
Is the following argument strong or weak? This is from the PowerScore CR Bible and I am not convinced with the OA. Please help.

Damming the Merv River would provide irrigation for the dry land in its upstream areas; unfortunately, a dam would reduce agricultural productivity in the fertile land downstream by reducing the availability and quality of water there. The productivity loss in the downstream area would be greater than the productivity gain upstream, so building a dam would yield no overall gain in agricultural productivity in the region as a whole.

OA: Strong[/spoiler]
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by Jim@StratusPrep » Fri Jul 26, 2013 4:26 am
What is your issue with the argument? With a net loss, the argument of no overall gain is true.
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by jitsy » Fri Jul 26, 2013 4:39 am
Well, in general, there can always be points u can raise unless there clearly is nothing you can question. Here, there could be a third region, midstream, which the author might have skipped. The crop downstream could be replaced by a new crop which does not need as much water. Not sure when these objections would NOT make sense. Pls also help me, in a general way in tackling such questions. Thank you v much.
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