Essay on Three Gorges Dam
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As of 2012, the Three Gorges Dam is the world’s biggest power station by installed capacity, rated at 22,500 MW. This huge structure is situated across the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, China. This has led to a record production of 101.6 terawatt-hours in 2018 alone from the dam. On the flip side, though, these mega-projects often create records in not-so-great departments, too-for instance, people displaced around 1.3 million, significant ecological changes include risk of landslides increased and towns flooded, includes about 13 cities, 140 towns, and 1350 villages. Its effectiveness has also been questioned many, and its project faced much controversy from those within and outside the country
Three Gorges Dam
In 1919, the first idea of a dam was drawn by Sun Yat-sen in a book called The International Development of China. In his book, he outlined a possible proposal to have a dam be built downstream the Three Gorges with a producing capability of 30 million horses power 22 GW. However, due to social and economic factors that took place, such as the Chinese Civil War and all the economic problems which accompanied the communist takeover, it took time before it was given its final execution. The actual construction for the project finally started on December 14, 1994. In 2006, the body was completed and the power plant of the dam project was finished and in operation since July 4, 2012. The last big piece of the project, the ship lift, came to completion in 2015. The purpose of the dam is to be able to make the Yangtze River useable by shipping and at the same time create electricity. This saves space for flood storage and reduces the chances of floods downstream that might affect millions of people. The Chinese government views this project as a monumental social and economic achievement in implementing state-of-the-art large turbines to attain the goal of limiting greenhouse gas emissions. The estimated cost of the project was about 180 billion yuan ($22.5 billion). By the end of 2008, however, that cost rocketed to 148.365 billion yuan: 64.613 billion yuan spent for the construction of the railway; 68.557 billion yuan was used to relocate the affected residents and 15.195 billion yuan in financing.
Three Gorges Dam: Environmental Impact
The submergence of hundreds of factories, mines, and waste dumps, together with the presence of huge industrial centres upstream, is contributing to some of the profound environmental impacts of the project.
Emissions: According to the National Development and Reform Commission of China, an estimate of 366 grams of coal would produce 1 kWh of electricity during 2006. Power production from 2003 to 2007 was equal to that of 84 million tonnes of standard coal.
Erosion and sedimentation: About 80% of the land is facing erosion in that area at current levels, and it resulted in depositing about 40 million tons of sediment into the Yangtze annually. Although the flow is slower above the dam, much of this sediment will settle there instead of flowing downstream; hence there will be less sediment downstream. The lack of silt downstream causes an effect of the tendency for downstream riverbanks developing vulnerability to flood, benthic sediment buildup causing biological damage, and reduces aquatic biodiversity.
Landslides: Erosion in the reservoir-induced rising water leads to frequent major landslides that cause noticeable disturbance in the reservoir surface, including two incidents in May 2009. Somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 cubic meters (26,000 and 65,000 cu yd) of material plunged into the flooded Wuxia Gorge of the Wu River, and there were significant landslides in the first four months of 2010-97 to be exact.
Waste Management: Over one billion tons of wastewater were discharged yearly to Yangtze River, which was more than likely to be swept away on the grounds of the creation of the reservoir. This has been making the water appear polluted, stagnant, and murky. According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, About 32 landfills were added, which could handle 7,664.5 tonnes of solid waste every day.
Forest cover: The study by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that the Asia-Pacific region would have gained about 6 000 km2 (2,300 sq mi) of the forest by 2008. It is a dramatic change from the 13,000 km2 (5,000 sq mi) net loss of forest each year in the 1990s. It was possible mainly due to China’s massive reforestation effort, taken into consideration after the 1998 Yangtze River floods.
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Wildlife: The region was rich in biodiversity; it is a home for 6,388 species of plants that belong to 238 families and 1508 genera. 57 percent of these plant species are endangered. Surrounding the Three Gorges Dam, forested area in the region declined from 20% in 1950 to less than 10% through 2002. The region also provides habitat to hundreds of terrestrial and freshwater animal species. The changes caused by the dams are more extreme for freshwater fish, as those fish rely more heavily on temperature and flow regime. Many other fish are also injured by the turbine blades of the hydroelectric plants. Since the Yangtze River basin is a home for 361 various fish species and also accounts for 25% of all endangered freshwater fish species in China, it is especially destructive for the ecosystem of the region. Other aquatic species have become threatened as well, especially the baiji, or Chinese river dolphin, which is now extinct. Similarly, Chinese paddlefish is also thought to go extinct because of the dam. Terrestrial impact: NASA in 2010 reported that a shift of the water mass stored by the dams might be strong enough to lengthen the day of earth about 0.06 microseconds could, furthermore change Earth’s shape.
Flooding control is a big problem for the seasonal river of Yangtze, but it also works as one of the essential functions of the dam.
Millions of people are living downstream of the dam, and some large cities, like Wuhan, Nanjing, and Shanghai, are found right next to the river. China’s most important industrial area has been built up alongside the river, and much farmland is also there. In 1998, a similar flood within the same region had damaged the area with billions of dollars in losses. It affected more than 2.3 million people. In addition, 1,526 people died. In July 2020, the Three Gorges Dam opened three floodgates as its water levels rose over 50 feet above the flood zone amid countrywide widespread flooding. Heavy rainfall brought by the monsoon had flooded the Yangtze River within the last week of the month. It was reportedly the worst since 1998, killing more than 2,000 people and destroying nearly 3 million homes. Its average rainfall in this season was about 12% higher compared to the previous monsoon. Direct economic losses are estimated to be more than 49 billion yuan ($7 billion), while nearly 1.8 million people have been evacuated so far, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management. Neighboring India has not been spared either from mudslides and flooding with thousands of submerged houses in central Assam after Bramhaputra, Asia’s one of the biggest rivers, burst its banks.
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10 Сool facts about Three Gorges Dam
| Fact # | Detail |
|---|---|
| 1 | The Three Gorges Dam is the world’s biggest hydroelectric facility by total capacity, 22,500 MW. |
| 2 | The dam on the Yangtze River in China is 2,335 meters long and 185 meters high. |
| 3 | It was one of the most important and complicated engineering projects in China; it started in 1994 and finished in 2006. |
| 4 | It is called three gorges reservoir and is extended for 600 km in length, having the flood storage capacity of 22 billion cubic meters. |
| 5 | To increase capacity of Yangtze River Shipping and to avoid the possibility of floods downstream. |
| 6 | A lot of the environmental impacts was due to it, which makes more than 1.3 million people relocated and changes ecologically. |
| 7 | This involves 32 major turbines and two small generators and is indeed a large-scale renewable energy plant. |
| 8 | The very dam construction has engaged hot controversy with respect to the negative impacts about both the environment and the people that reside along waterways. |
| 9 | While doing so would at least render China less coal dependent and help reduce the carbon emission level at the same time. |
| 10 | Three Gorges is also integral to plans for developing China’s inland waterways for international trade and transport. |
Conclusion
Though Three Gorges is the world’s largest hydro scheme, its problems are in no way unique.
All over the world large dams are causing social and environmental devastation while viable alternatives are being actively ignored. While presently, matters are not in favor in China owing to this prevailing pandemic scenario, the deluge is estimated to threaten pieces of Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Anhui, and Jiangsu provinces. Heavy mountain rainfall will possibly pour in in the parts of Sichuan and Guizhou provinces-no, all these incidents must have the aftermath on the potency of this dam;. Failure at the dam would worsen and account for the loss of even more innocent lives.
Why is the Three Gorges Dam Built?
The dam would produce electricity and control flooding besides improving river navigation.
How Much does the Project cost?
Initially estimated as $22.5 billion rose to over 30 billion because of infrastructure relocation costs.
What Concerns Does One Have with Ecology?
Major concerns persist regarding erosion, sediment buildup, water pollution, and the eventual extinction of several species, for example, that of the Chinese river dolphin.
Is the dam preventing all floods?
What about the success of Three Gorges?
It is a partial success in that it produces clean energy and aids navigation, while causing serious social and ecological problems.
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