Yang: 【6】Three Gorges Dam and Lower Yangtzee Recent Droughts

CNN: Trouble for the Three Gorges Dam

    

Even the dam’s ability to regulate the notoriously changeable flow of the 3,900-mile-long Yangtze, one of China’s two major rivers, has been called into question. Faced with a historic drought 2011's spring, cities downstream of the dam have been unable to accommodate oceangoing vessels that usually visit their ports, and about 400,000 residents of Hubei Province lost access to drinking water this month. Although no link has been proved, critics say the dam has changed regional water tables, contributing to the shortage.

 Jonathan Watts wrote in The Guardian: “The drought in the spring of 2011 had a profound impact on the middle stretches of the Yangtze. This has left 1,392 reservoirs in Hubei with only "dead water." Chinese media reported this month that the Yangtze water levels near Wuhan hit their lowest point since the dam went into operation in 2003. Long stretches have apparently been closed to water traffic after hundreds of boats ran aground in the shallows.” “There have been claims that the Three Gorges plant has exacerbated the problem by holding back water for electricity generation, but operators claim they have alleviated the problem by releasing 400m cubic meters of water from the reservoir. As a result the levels have fallen below 156 meters — the amount needed for optimum power generation.” [Source: Jonathan Watts, The Guardian, May 20, 2011]

 The dam had lowered the water in two nearby lakes. Worsening matters, the drought has pitted China’s need for water and its need for energy; this is the time annually when China’s hydropower usually ramps up. Instead, the government has been releasing water from dams, dropping water levels and weakening its power generation ability. At Three Gorges Dam — the world’s largest hydroelectric plant — the government has increased the water being released, from 7,000 cubic meters per second on May 7 to 11,000 cubic meters recently, drastically dropping the dam’s water levels.

Reference:

"All About the Three Gorges Dam." Sherwood Institute

            <http://www.sherwoodinstitute.org/all-about-the-three-gorges-dam/>.

"ASIANOW - Asiaweek." ASIANOW - Asiaweek

            <http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/96/0719/ed2.html>.

"Chinese Dam Projects Criticized for Their Human Cost." International Rivers <http://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/chinese-dam-projects-criticized-for-their-human-cost-2978>.

"SPECIAL SERIES; China - Three Gorges Dam - Choking on Growth, Part IV." The New York Times. The New York Times, 19 Nov. 2007 <http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/11/19/world/asia/choking_on_growth_4.html>.