Three Gorges Dam on Yangtze River

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Three Gorges Dam on Yangtze River
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• DAMS AND HYDRO POWER IN CHINA
• China gets 5 percent of it energy and 20
  percent of its electricity from hydro energy.
  China already has many dams and has plans to
  build lots more. Share of the worlds dams 1)
  China (45 percent) 2) the United States (14
  percent) 3) India (9 percent) 4) Japan (6
  percent) Other countries (26 percent).
• China boasts nearly half of the worlds 50,000
  large damsthree times more than the United
  States and construction continues.
• Twenty major dams punctuate the Yellow River and
  another 18 are scheduled to be built by 2030.

Sanmenxia
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Today, China has more than 20,000 dams over 49
feet high the most of any
country in the world.

• The worlds three largest dams
• Three Gorges (China) 18,200 megawatts
• Itaipu, Brazil and Paraguay 12,600 megawatts
• Grand Coulee Dam (U.S., Washington State)
• 10,000 megawatts

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Reasons to Build Dam

• Improve navigation along the Yangtze River. Major
  Highway for movement of coal, other goods and
  people
• Prevent seasonal flooding which used to cause
  loss of life and property along river.
• Provide hydroelectric power desperately needed
  energy for growing population
• Reduce dependence on coal with environmental and
  health and safety issues

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Idea was first proposed in 1919

• Sun Yat Sen first proposed building a dam
• on the Yangtze (Chang Jiang).
• The idea was shelved due to unfavorable
• political and economic conditions.

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History

• 1919- The Three Gorges projects was first
  mentioned
• Work was halted and restarted many times
• December 14, 1993 US Bureau of Reclamation
  terminated the agreement for technical services
• Due to economic and environmental impacts

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Three Gorges Dam

• In 1994, the Chinese government began
  construction on the Three Gorges Dam.
• At 1.4 miles long and 630 feet high (roughly the
  height of a 50-story building), it is the world's
  largest dam.
• It produced a giant lake, or reservoir, 350 miles
  long and holds more than a trillion gallons of
  water.

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General Facts

• Took 17 Years to complete
• Cost about 59 billion
• Worlds largest hydroelectric project
• Generates 22.5 gigawatts of power
• Enough to power Pakistan or Switzerland

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Three Gorges Dam Facts

• The resulting 400 mile long reservoir will supply
  enough water to generate 84 billion
  kilowatts-per-hour of electricity.
• The dam wall is made of concrete and is about
  2,309 metres (7,575 ft) long, and 101 metres
  (331 ft) high.
• The wall is 115 metres (377.3 ft) thick on the
  bottom and 40 metres (131.2 ft) thick on top.
• The project used 27,200,000 cubic metres of
  concrete, 463,000 tonnes of steel, enough to
  build 63 Eiffel Towers, and moved about
  102,600,000 cubic metres of earth.

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Size

• Largest construction project since the Great Wall
• A 610-ft. wall will run
• about 1.3 miles from
• bank to bank
• Major source of electrical power for China
• Produces 18,000 megawatts the equivalent to
  about 15 20 nuclear power plants or 10 big
  coal-fired power stations burning 50 million tons
  of coal.

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Satellite View of Three Gorges Dam at Yangtze
River using Google Earth Data
View of the largest hydroelectric dam in the
world.Three Gorges Dam crossing Yangtze River at
Sandouping, Yichang, Hubei province, China.
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Conflicting Goals and Problems

• Flooding, Dam-Building, and Related Issues
• Chinas Yangtze River is an important resource
  (3rd largest volume)
• The Three Gorges Controversy
• Chinese government wants to dam the Yangtze
  (Chang Jiang) River with the largest
  hydroelectric dam in the world
• Purpose control floods generate electricity
• Problems Will jeopardize animal species, flood a
  major scenic attraction, and displace up to 2
  million people

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As the dam fills and the valley is flooded, towns
and villages like this on the hillside are at
risk of being destroyed. Where do people from
these places go?
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The city of Wuchan will be flooded to the red
arrow line when the reservoir is completely
filled. The water level will be elevated
574 ft. above Yangtze River surface.
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• Ship lock consist of 5 locks each
• 918 ft. long
• 35 ft. wide
• With a water depth of 16.4 ft.

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Towns and villages have had to be destroyed to
build the dam.
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Building the dam how has the dam affected these
people?
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This is what the dam looks like now.
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Flooded Towns being replaced by new apartments
above the 175 m water level
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Collecting garbage from the flooded cities
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Displaced people are moved up the slopes or sent
to other areas of China. Families separatedNew
bridges replace submerged onesNew building often
on old landslip areas due to shortage of flat
land for building
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Reservoir Induced Landslides caused by buildup of
groundwater inside sediments along side of Gorge.
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Three Gates Gorge Dam
Note High Silt Load of River
Note Re-emergence of agricultural land due to
silting in of reservoir.
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Positives/Benefits of Dam
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Positives Flooding Control

• The Three Gorges reservoir acts as a buffer and
  can lessen the risk of floods.

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Positives Flooding Control

• Massive floods have killed many people
• 1931 145,000 people killed
• 1935 142,000 people killed
• 1954 30,000 people killed, one million lost
  homes

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Positives Flooding Control

• By storing waters that would have causes floods,
  the long-term benefits are endless.
• This massive effort will allow the government to
  control the river's chronic flooding, which
  caused more than 2,000 deaths in 1998 and left
  nearly 14 million people homeless.
• Improved flood protection along the Yangtze
  River
• To control flooding downstream on the East China
  Plain.
• Every so often these plains are devastated by a
  major flood where a thousand people die, a
  million lose their homes and 5 million have to be
  rescued.
• The government built dozens of sewage and garbage
  treatment plants.
• Since, 1951 run-off in the Yangtze Basin has
  decreased by over one third.

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Positives Flooding Control

• In 1998 flooding in the area expected to be
  controlled by the dam resulted in 4,000 dead, 14
  million left homeless and 24 billion in economic
  loss.
• Historically, the people living along the Yangtze
  have suffered tremendous losses due to flooding
• In 1954, 30, 000 more died in the floods or from
  diseases brought on by the flooding and 19
  million people were affected directly or
  indirectly and part of the railway could not
  function for 100 days
• Lessen the frequency of large floods from once in
  10 years to once in 100 years.

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Positives Flooding Control

• In 1998, a flood caused billions of dollars in
  damages, killed 1, 500 people, and flooded 2,000
  square kilometers of farmland, and affected about
  200 million people
• 1998 flood resulted total loss of about 25
  billion Euros
• In 1931, 145,000 people drowned and over 300,000
  hectares of farmland was flooded

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Positives Water Shortage Issue

• It will produce a giant lake, or reservoir, 350
  miles long and hold more than a trillion gallons
  of water.
• The reservoir will increase water availability
• There will be more water available for
  irrigation, industrial uses, and human
  consumption in the Yangtze River Basin and in
  water-deficient northern China to about 400
  million people

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Positives New Tourism

• In addition, ocean vessels will be able to travel
  farther inland, which will boost trade and
  tourism, and hydroelectric power from the dam
  will generate inexpensive electricity, thereby
  cutting greenhouse gas emissions and the use of
  coal and fossil fuels.
• Reservoir will boost tourism because tourists can
  reach natural views and vistas by the locks that
  they were not able to do before

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Positives Navigation and More Trade

• To move water to the arid north.
• To improve shipping so the ocean-going ships can
  reach Chongqing.
• By building the dam, it increases the depth of
  the Yangtze River and would allow ships to travel
  6000 kilometers farther upstream
• River shipping through central Yangtze estimated
  to increase from 10 million to 50 million tons a
  yr., with transportation costs cut by 30-37

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Positives Navigation and More Trade

• In 2006, 50 million more tons of cargo moved
  through the system up from 18 million tons before
  the dam was built
• In 2007, the 50 million was exceeded
• Shipping costs should drop by 35 to 37
• The ship locks system is the largest in the world
  and will allow larger ships to travel carrying
  more cargo
• The navigation locks allow 10,000 ton ships to
  travel the river, where before ships carrying
  only 1,500 tons were limited.

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Positives Power Source

• It would supply much needed electrical power for
  development.
• Once operational, the dam will produce the energy
  of 15 nuclear power plants.
• The electricity generated by the Three Gorges Dam
  will reportedly illuminates half of China
• Its 26 700-megawatt turbine generators have a
  productions capacity equal to the energy produced
  by 18 nuclear plants or the burning of 40 million
  tons of coal.
• Will provide energy to 60 million residents
  currently without power.
• Hydroelectric is cleaner than coal burning and
  nuclear waste.
• Ozone protected from greenhouse gas emissions.
• The dams total electric generating power will
  ultimately be 22, 500 megawatts, enough to power
  millions of homes and provide a large portion of
  Chinas energy needs.
• The worlds largest hydropower project and most
  notorious dam.
• When complete, the project will generate one
  ninths of Chinas power.
• It is the worlds biggest man-made produce of
  electricity from renewable energy.
• Hydropower is the centerpiece of one of Chinas
  praised green initiatives.
• Dams are much cleaner producers of electricity.

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Positives Power Source

• The Three Gorges Dam is to be an anchor in a
  string of hydropower megabases planned for the
  middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River.
• By 2020, China wants to nearly triple its
  hydroelectric power.
• Hydropower is one of Chinas richest and least
  tapped energy resources.
• Presently, China only uses about ¼ of its
  hydropower potential.

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Positives Power Source

• To ease its addiction to coal which accounts for
  67 of Chinas energy supply and pollutes
  horribly, China wants 15 of the countrys energy
  consumption to come from renewable resources by
  2020.
• Presently, it is about 7.5.

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Positives Power Source

• It is believed if the Three Gorges Dam produced
  electricity at full capacity it would prevent the
  Chinese people from
• Burning more than 50 million tons of coal a year
• Producing more than 100 million tons of carbon
  dioxide
• Producing more than 1.2 to 2 million tons of
  sulfur dioxide
• Producing more than 10,000 tons of carbon
  monoxide
• All contributing to the air pollution problems in
  China

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Positives Revenue Generated

• Dams are a huge business in China
• China has acquired the know-how to build large
  hydropower schemes, and has begun exporting
  similar projects around the world
• Giant utilities that build them are funded with
  government and private investment money
• When the corporation building the Three Gorges
  Dam publicly listed in 2003, on the stock market,
  their share prices surged by 45 and the company
  raised nearly 1.2 billion dollars in one day

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Negatives of Dam
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Negatives Resettlement Issues
Roughly 70 percent of the countrys 10.2 million
"reservoir relocatees" were still living in
"extreme poverty after the resettlement.
http//www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/china.50/asian.su
perpower/three.gorges/
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Negatives Resettlement Issues

• Chinas highest state body warned that the Three
  Gorges Project has caused some urgent problems
  in terms of environmental protection, the
  prevention of geological hazards and the welfare
  of the relocated communities.
• Some villagers in Fengjie Country were relocated
  to a new village site less than a mile away but
  were not given enough compensation to get new
  housing
• Ms. Han said We only have 10,000 yuan or 1300
  and with such a small amount of money, I cant
  even build a first floor.

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Negative-Resettlement Issues

• Originally required 1.3 million people in a 405
  square mile area
• Over ten towns will have to be flooded to build
  the dam and people will have to move.
• The government says 1.3million people, others say
  up to 3 million.
• As of 2007, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao the dam has
  displaced more than 23 million people
• 20,000 people have just been relocated for the
  second time due to this project
• Originally resettled in 1998 to Huangtupo
• Relocated again in August 22, 2012

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Negatives Resettlement Issues

• Number of Displaced or Resettled People Varies
  1.3 million, 4 million, or now the total over all
  the years of 40-80 million
• 43 of the people are farmers and there was not
  enough good farmland to give to them to
  compensate for their losses
• Flooded 13 cities, 140 towns, and 1, 350 villages
• Homes, factories, farms, fisheries, and ancient
  temples lost now under water
• Some of the people are given financial
  compensation and moving expenses.
• Others are given either new farm land or new
  factory jobs.
• Much of the new farm land is barely usable and is
  located on steep inclines requiring excess
  precipitation.
• Critique of the resettlement plans is prohibited
  in the media.

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Negatives Resettlement Issues

• Most of the promises to provide land to farmers
  and jobs to displaced city residents have not
  been met
• When given land, the plots were small and barren
• Many have been sent to live in urban slums
  without money, jobs, or houses
• Another 530,000 people will have to be relocated
  by 2020 in order to relieve pressure on the
  fragile reservoir slopes

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Negatives Resettlement Issues

• Studies show that the regions population density
  is almost twice the national average.
• The resettled farmers are in villages with too
  many farmers perched on steep slopes and sharing
  too little land

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Negatives Cost to Taxpayers

• Since 1951, the run-off of the Yangtze Basin has
  decreased by one-third.
• Droughts have prevented the Three Gorges Dam to
  generate electricity at full capacity.
• Not reaping the benefits form the cost of
  building the dam
• In 1992, the dam was to cost about 9 billion
  dollars.
• However, this number increased to about 37.2
  billion dollars.
• Dai Qing, a critic of the project, not estimates
  that the final cost will be about 88 billion
  dollars.

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Negatives Cost to Taxpayers

• Not only is this project supposed to take more
  than a dozen years to complete, its cost will
  range in between 17 billion and 100 billion.
• China will spend about 40 billion yuan to build
  at least 150 sewage treatment plants and 170
  urban garbage disposal plants due to the dam

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Negatives Loss of Historical Sites and Treasures

• Money that was to be allotted to underground
  archaeology has not come through
• Robberies are a problem at there is no security
  or surveillance of sites
• Artifacts of dubious origins have begun to
  surface on the market like a Han Dynasty bronze
  spirit tree that sold for 2 million Euros in 1998

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Negatives Loss of Historical Sites

• Destroyed 1300 archeological sites.
• Flooded many historical sites.
• Reduced tourism.

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Negatives Landslides

• Number of hazards had risen 70 since water
  levels in the reservoir reached 175 meters
• This very likely means landslides are becoming a
  large concern
• Water is added or taken out of the reservoir
  depending on the season
• This has caused the banks to soften, making
  landslides very likely

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Negative Landslides

• Landslides killed at least 48 people in 2007
  across this area
• Landslides can also wipe out houses very easily
• The shore of the reservoir has already collapsed
  in nearly 100 places by the end of 2009

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Negatives Landslides

• The upward migration of farmers has led to
  deforestation that has lead to soil erosion and
  destabilized hillsides.
• Construction crews are reinforcing crumbling
  hillsides above the reservoir with concrete
• In the village of Pinaggo, when it rains, the
  soil starts flooding downhill.
• In Fengjie County, officials have designated more
  than 800 disaster-prone zone araes
• Several thousands of people have had to be
  relocated

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Negatives Landslides

• In Jianmin Village, the mountain began to buckle
  as a landslide swept it
• 20 homes were demolished
• The people living in those homes five months
  later were living in a tent fending off rats and
  with nothing
• To block cold air, they pin down the tent flaps
  with rocks
• They are too poor to buy an apartment in the city
  or to build a new home on higher ground
• The local government gave the tents to live in
  and villagers donated clothes

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Negatives Earthquake Tremors

• The Three Gorges Dam sits on two major earthquake
  fault lines.
• In 2006 over seven months, scientists recorded
  822 tremors around the reservoir
• Reservoirs are know to have triggered earthquakes
  all over the world.
• While the dam is built to withstand a strong
  earthquake, the houses, schools, and buildings
  along the river are not and millions are in
  danger.

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Negatives Earthquake Tremors

• A tremor shook Pinggao like jelly leaving cracks
  in several farmhouses.
• When the rainfall is heavy, due to the structural
  weaknesses created by the tremors, the houses
  sway and the roofs collapse

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Negatives Weather Patterns

• Has changed weather patterns
• Rainfall has decreased near the damn and
  increased in the nearby mountains
• Temperatures have dropped in the mountains by 1.2
  degrees Fahrenheit
• Attempts to increase the water level 175 meters
  in the fall of 2009 resulted in drought
  conditions downstream
• Crops failed and freighters were stranded in mud

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Negative Pollution

• The water is going to pollute the human waste is
  not being treated, the industrial waste is not
  being treated.
• Could possibly be an open sewer the length of
  Lake Superior
• The river will not be able to flush the pollution
  down because it will be a still body of water.

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Negative Pollution

• In September 2007, government officials admitted
  that if preventive measures are not taken, there
  could be an environmental collapse.
• Pollution from industry, agriculture, and
  households is causing frequent algae blooms in
  the reservoir.
• The government built dozens of garbage and sewer
  treatment plants but most of them are not in
  operation because the local governments do not
  have the money to operate them.

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Negative Polluted Water

• Factories, mines and waste dumps were submerged
  in this water
• Increasing urban growth along the reservoir
  caused waste water discharge to double
• Waters are brown
• Over 265 billion gallons of raw sewage are dumped
  into the Yangtze annually.
• Currently the river flushes this downstream and
  out into the ocean.
• Upon completion of the Three Gorges project, the
  sewage will back up in the reservoir.
• Water flow has slowed down
• Makes its ability to purify itself deteriorate

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Negative Polluted Water

• The city of Chongqing releases nearly one billion
  tons of untreated wastewater into the Three
  Gorges reservoir each year because the government
  did not finish building and running the promised
  sewage and garbage plants

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Negatives Wildlife

• The coastline will be eroded.
• The altered ecosystem will further endanger many
  species.
• The river, no longer free flowing, will become
  very polluted once the toxins and pollutants are
  slowly released from the cities.
• 14,500 hectares of agricultural land will be
  lost.
• The dam will act as a barrier causing the flow of
  sediments to slow and downstream fisheries and
  agriculture will be deprived of much need
  nutrients
• Ecological impact endangered species will be
  affected the giant panda, Yangtze dolphin,
  Chinese alligator, Chinese sturgeon, Chinese
  tiger, and Siberian crane.
• Interrupted the fish migration
• Altered the rivers chemical balance,
  temperature, and velocity
• The dam has driven the Chinese river dolphin to
  extinction
• More species now endangered (Chinese and river
  sturgeon, and the Chinese Paddlefish )

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Negatives Wildlife

• The dam has driven the famous Chinese River
  Dolphin to extinction.
• Populations of sturgeon, river sturgeon, and
  Chinese paddlefish have become endangered.
• Commercial fisheries in the Yangtze River and off
  the rivers mouth in the East China Sea have
  declined sharply.
• The dam blocks migration of fish and access to
  spawning grounds
• 27 of all of Chinas endangered freshwater fish
  are in the Yangtze River basin
• A 2003 study identified at least six species of
  fish at high risk of complete extinction
• Another 14 species are endangered
• Another 24 species are close to be on the
  endangered list
• Commercial harvest of four species of carp are
  well below pre-dam levels

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Negatives Silt Issue

• Critics claim The Yangtze will add 530 million
  tons of silt into the reservoir on average per
  year and it will soon be useless in preventing
  floods.
• Because of the buildup of silt load in the
  reservoir, the Yangtze River now flows faster
  downstream and is eroding the levees.
• It has reversed the dams flood control benefits.
• The silt is being withheld from downstream areas.
• After the dam was completed, the sediment load at
  the rivers mouth dropped form 1/3 its previous
  level.
• Due to this, four square kilometers of coastal
  wetlands are being eroded each year.
• Seawater is intruding up the Yangtze and
  destroying arable land and threatening drinking
  water supplies.

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Negatives Silt Issue

• Silt accumulation has steadily reduced the
  capacity of other Chinese dams to store water and
  reduce electrical generation
• Planners of the Three Gorges Dam estimated that
  sedimentation could become a problem upstream in
  the city of Chongqing within 20 years

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Negatives Erosion

• The Yangtze River deposits its silt into the
  Three Gorges reservoir now it flows faster
  downstream eroding the levees in the Yangtze
  Valley.
• The Three Gorges reservoir levels fluctuate
  between 145 and 175 meters, this destabilizes the
  slopes of the Yangtze Valley creating a serious
  risk for landslides and erosion.
• Erosion affects more that half of the reservoir
  area and 178 kilometers of riverbanks are in
  jeopardy or collapsing.

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Negatives Political Corruption

• Widely believed that contractors won bids through
  bribery.
• Many of the materials used in construction are
  below standards to lower overall costs.
• Head of the Three Gorges Dam Economic Corp. sold
  jobs in the company, took out loans for the
  project and disappeared with the money in May
  2000.
• Resettlement officials were caught embezzling
  funds from the Resettlement Program in January
  2000.
• 12 of the resettlement budget has been embezzled
  

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Negatives Political Corruption

• A displaced resident told the Financial Times,
  Our lives have been ruined by the dam while the
  big officials got their fruit and filled their
  wallet.
• The Chinese government has had to prosecute
  hundreds of government officials for corruption
  and embezzlement.
• 300 government officials have been found guilty

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Negatives Government Corruption and Not
Keeping Promises

• China has created stronger environmental
  protection laws and regulations, however policies
  lack a clear public participation procedure.
• Fines for violating environmental laws low and
  not enforced.
• Despite the experience when creating the Three
  Gorges Project China still wants to increase its
  hydropower capacity. This could demonstrate
  disastrous for Chinas major rivers the Upper
  Yangtze, Lancang (Mekong), and the Nu (Salween).

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Negative Government Crackdown on Protests

• 100,000 people protested the Pubugou Dam Project
  in the Sichuan Province and the riot police were
  called in and brutally crushed the protest
• The leader of the protest was executed for his
  role in the death of a policeman.

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What would these people think about the Three
Gorges Dam?

• Government Official---You represent the interests
  of the Chinese government with its economic
  growth and power source issues your main focus.
• Environmentalist---You are concerned about the
  ecological impact the dam has on China.
• Farmer--- You live near the banks of the Yangtze
  because you take the water from the river to
  flood your rice fields.
• Business Owner Specializing in Trade---You own a
  shop on the banks of the Yangtze. You provide
  the local village with general goods that people
  cannot grow or produce themselves. Yours is the
  only shop in the village.
• Tourism Director---You work with the government
  and an international travel organization called
  Trafalgar Tours. You wonder if the dam will be
  good or bad for tourism.
• Shipping Corporation--- You are the head of a
  major shipping business in China that handles the
  transportation of manufactured goods produced in
  China within the country and abroad.