Three Gorges Dam

[bhchao]

The Three Gorges Dam will be visible from the moon (from what I heard) once it is completed in 2009. It will generate 1/9 of China's power. However its ability to meet China's energy needs remains in question. Only time will tell whether the project was really worth the investment and all the environmental consequences. If the completed dam is able to meet China's energy needs in the future, then all the money poured into the project will be worth it, and the environmental side effects offset. If not, then the dam will be remembered in history as the biggest man-made disaster.

Over a million people already have been displaced from their villages since the dam began construction. Burial grounds and ancient temples are currently in the process of being submerged, and one of China's most spectacular scenery, the area within the Three Gorges vicinity, will be irrepairably damaged. Opponents argue that the dam will endanger species such as the Yangtze River dolphin by destroying the surrounding ecosystem. Many also say that hydroelectric dams are an outdated obsolete thing of the past, and therefore unsuitable for meeting today and the future's energy needs. Sooner or later cheaper sources of energy will become available. Another argument is that the dam will increase water pollution.

Supporters of the dam say that hydroelectric power is much cleaner than coal and safer than nuclear power. They argue that the Three Gorges scenery will not change much, and villagers are simply being relocated to higher elevations. The power generated from its twenty-six 700-megawatt turbine generators will equal the energy produced by 18 nuclear plants, or the burning of 40 million tons of coal. The power generated by the dam will be sent through transmission lines to eastern and central China to alleviate energy shortages there.

Do you think the Three Gorges Dam will be a success or a complete disaster?

[md1101]

hmm cant believe this post got no replies.

the dam is set to produce about 3% of China's power now as opposed to 1/9th. sedimentation near the base of the dam due to silt build up will also cause problems (lowering the dam capacity cancelling out some of the potential to prevent floods in the area as well as lower power output). also in order to produce the large amounts of power they want the dam will be consistently filled quite high which again limits its ability to contain flood waters. the structural integrity is also in question as a lot of companies who were awarded contracts to build the dam embezzled funds saved on using cheaper materials. in the year 2000 a large crack was appearing on the wall and parts of it had to be knocked down and rebuilt. all the while the official cost has remained at US $25 billion. conservative estimates put the cost at more likely to have ballooned to US $100 billion.

Some believe the same power production could have easily been achieved by building a series of smaller dams which would have significantly reduced the environmental impact.

so this plus what bhchao said.. i cant say i support the project.

[bhchao]

I think any discussion today on the Three Gorges Dam is anticlimactic

What's done is done, and it's already finished. A focus should be to limit the environmental damage caused by the finished dam, and fix the system itself that transmits electricity to households and businesses by making it more efficient.

Maybe allowing market forces or deregulation to penetrate the electricity industry?

[studentyoung]

The Three Gorges Dam will be visible from the moon (from what I heard) once it is completed in 2009. It will generate 1/9 of China's power. However its ability to meet China's energy needs remains in question.

That’s why I always feel so scared at the mere thought of it.

First, no one can guarantee that this dam will not be a copy cat of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt, especially no effective measures have been taken to ease the conditions of disforestation and water and soil loss in upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

Second, the dam can become the most vulnerable and fatal military target If our leaders want to get more electricity, it is also OK to build four or five not so gigantic hydropower stations on some other non-main channels (非主航道)，in order to scatter risks.

I tend to believe some late Chinese scholar’s words, which said the Three Gorges Dam would be forced to explode by our government one day.

Thanks!

[Language Guy]

Much like China's former population policy, I have to applaud the Chinese simply out of the ability to go ahead with such a huge undertaking.

The construction of this dam was not only a huge experiment in science, but social science as well.

I believe that this shows that the Chinese are willing to leave a little tradition and history behind in the face of technology and progress, which isn't wholly a bad thing. (except for the displaced people...)

[gougou]

Interesting article in the FT about surprisingly outspoken criticism of the dam's environmental effects.

The money quote comes from Wang Xiaofeng, director of the State Council Three Gorges Construction Committee: “We cannot exchange environmental destruction for short-term economic gain.” A very keen observer indeed.

[muyongshi]

Kind of late now to really be saying anything isn't it?

[md1101]

its never too late. it is possible to learn from the past!

[gato]

A detailed Wall Street Journal article on environmental problems at the Three Gorges (an English version of the article is available on the site by clicking on ”英“). http://chinese.wsj.com/gb/20070829/chw110745.asp?source=channel

Three Gorges Dam Exacts Its Toll (English and Chinese)

2007年08月31日14:43

http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2007-09/25/content_6791711.htm

我国正视三峡工程生态环境诸多问题

国务院三峡工程建设委员会办公室主任汪啸风透露，温家宝总理在今年国务院１８２次常务会议上，讨论解决三峡工程一些重大问题时认为首要的问题是生态环境问题。

[Luobot]

Interesting article in the FT about surprisingly outspoken criticism of the dam's environmental effects.

In addition to the environmental issues, The FT article was especially interesting for its pinhole peek into internal Chinese politics:

“The unusual [official self-] criticism of such a symbolic project could be politically motivated in the lead-up to the 17th Communist Party Congress, a five-yearly event in which senior officials jockey for power before the top ranks of the party are decided…. The dam was the brainchild of Mao Zedong but construction began under the government of former President Jiang Zemin….” So Zemin might be the real target, if this is politically motivated, as he “still exercises residual influence in the current government even three years after he relinquished his last official post.” Another possible target: “Former Premier Li Peng, the man widely believed to be responsible for sending in troops to quell the 1989 Tiananmen Square student movement, is the official most closely associated with the Three Gorges project.”

In addition to the usual (but well disguised) infighting for power and influence, I think we can assume that current officials who can distance themselves from this project are positioning themselves on the right side of a populist issue in the face of what is now recognized as a looming environmental nightmare about to come true. There may even be round-ups of corrupt officials and businessmen somewhere down the line so that the goat can be sacrificed to save the party.

[gato]

See these articles on the usual weather patterns in the last few years in the Chongqing area near the Three Gorges dam.

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5094

Chongqing Drought Raises Climate Change Worries

Zuo Xuan – May 29, 2007 – 5:00am

Last year, China’s southwestern city of Chongqing, located along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, suffered from its worst drought in half a century.

Many meteorologists dismiss this argument as groundless, and instead attribute Chongqing’s drought to global climate change, which they say has nothing to do with the dam. Dong Wenjie, director of the China Meteorological Administration’s National Climate Center, told Chinese media that the unusual drought in Chongqing and Sichuan in the summer of 2006 was just “one of the many footnotes” to indicate an increase in abnormal climatic occurrences related to global warming.

Dong associated the heat and drought with the subtropical high in the western Pacific, which has had a greater-than-usual impact in China’s north and west, and with the aberrantly high pressure from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the west of the Sichuan Basin. Because of these two factors, he said, precipitation that should have landed in Chongqing was forced to turn east and north, causing greater rainfall in Beijing and other areas in northern and northeastern China.

http://english.people.com.cn/200410/14/eng20041014_160200.html

Sichuan-Chongqing flooding unrelated to Three Gorges water storage

The heavy losses caused by the recent floods in southwest China's Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality have attracted wide attention at home and from abroad. It is held that the huge amount of water storage in the Three Gorges reservoir has caused continual downpour in the Sichuan-Chongqing region. To counter this rumor, this correspondent from People's Daily had an exclusive interview with several experts with the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, the Ministry of Water Resources and China Meteorological Administration.