The Three Gorges Dam along the Yangtze River

Today, China is a leading producer in hydroelectricity.
One of the most controversial hydropower dam in the world is the
Three Gorges Project (TGP) along the Yangtze River in China
.

The dam is situated in Sandouping of Yichang City, Hubei Province. The USD 27.2 billion Three Gorges Project Dam is the largest water conservancy project ever built in China and in the world, with an installed capacity of 22.5 gigawatts. A large percentage of China's renewable energy is provided by this controversial Dam project. The Three Gorges Dam has been named among the world's top 10 renewable energy projects by the globally renowned science magazine Scientific American in July 2009

The Three Gorges Dam for Hydropower in China: China-hiking.com (Photo origin: Xinhuanet)

On May 20, 2006, China completed construction of the world's largest and most powerful hydro-electric project the Three Gorges Project, 3 years ahead of schedule. The construction of a dam along the Yangtze River has long been in the minds of the Chinese even before the idea was first proposed in 1919. The primary objective is for harnessing and developing the Yangtze with comprehensive benefits mainly in flood control, power generation and navigation improvement.

Historically, the population in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River suffered tremendous losses in human lives and property due to the Yangtze flooding. In 1931 alone, as a result of flooding, 333 thousand hectares of cultivated land were stricken, 145 thousand people were drowned. In 1998 the flood caused 4,150 lives, and damage worth USD 38 billion.

After several generations’ conceiving and decades-long exploration, design, scientific research and justification, the feasibility plan for the TGP construction was finally consummated, and in 1993, the TGP entered into its implementation period from the justification period, amidst worldwide controversy outcries, objections and resentments despite its noble objective.

The Three Gorges Dam in China is both a marvel of engineering and the greatest challenge its designers have ever faced. Towering 610 feet high, extending nearly 400 miles upstream and stretching 1.3 miles wide, the dam contains twice the amount of concrete of the Itaipu project in Brazil, which now recedes to be the world's second largest. The Three Gorges project has been engineered to store over 5 trillion gallons of water and to withstand an earthquake of 7.0 on the Richter scale. The reservoir will allow 10,000-ton freighters to navigate between Shanghai and Chongqing. The annual one-way navigation capacity of the Yangtze at the dam will be upgraded from 10 Mt to 50 Mt.

(Overview of the Double Way and 5-Level Ship Lock: CTGPC)

The Three Gorges Project serves multi-functions in:

Flood control to tame some of the River's deadliest floods causing huge loss of life and properties every few years. Floods brought by the Yangzi River, almost once in every ten years, in their enormous devastations, having claimed more than 1 million lives in the past 100 years. With the normal pool level at 175m, the total storage capacity of the reservoir at 39.3 billion m³ and the effective flood control storage capacity of the reservoir at 22.15 billion m³, the dam will reduce frequency of flood from the present once in every ten years to hundred years interval.

Hydro-power generation to provide much-needed electrical power to fuel the country’s economic boom. The total installed capacity of the TGP is 18.2 GW capable of generating an output of 47 billion kWh. It has the energy capacity of 15 nuclear power plants

Navigation improvement, enabling 10,000-ton ocean-going freighters to sail directly into inland China for six months annually, increasing commercial shipping access to China's interior.

Improving downstream water quality during the dry season. Having control over floods will ease the salt water intrusion in the estuary region.

Promoting downstream aquatic farming.

China’s Three Gorges Dam helps alleviate severe flooding (July 2010) in central China.

The Three Gorges Dam on Yangtze River helped to buffer the worst floods in decades as it blocked more than 40% of upstream water from the swollen Yangtze River.

In 2010, China experienced frequent incidences of torrential rains across the country. Unusually heavy rains had caused extensive flooding, numerous lives, damaged houses and buildings, reduced crop outputs, displaced millions of people and resulted in USD billions of economic losses. The Three Gorges Dam in July helped alleviate what might have been a worse repeat of the 1998 flood which killed 4150 people in China.

It accomplished this much needed task by containing the raging water from the upper reach of Yangtze River, swollen from torrential rains, rambling down with a ferocious speed of 70,000 m³ a second. This was 20,000 m³ a second higher than the worst flood of China, the 1998 mega floods. The rains had raised the level of the Three Gorges Reservoir by 4m (13ft) overnight, just 20m below its maximum capacity. Water was then released at a safe level downstream.

(Pic shows the sluicing of flood waters at the Three Gorges Dam in Yichang, central China's Hubei Province, July 19, 2010)

Torrential rains continued and on July 28 2010, the Dam passed yet another challenge after it was able to withstand another raging water from the upper Yangtze River. Highest flow rate that hit the Dam this time was 56,000 m³ per second. Water level in the reservoir rose to 158 m, just 17 m below its maximum capacity of 175 m.

So far, floods in 2010 in China has resulted in economic losses of USD 22 billion and affected 120 million people. More than 1,000 people have died or disappeared, the highest death toll since the 1998 flooding.

One of the Gorges along the Yangtze River: Wind Box Gorge (Photo origin: Xinhuanet)

Navigation and Tourism Attraction from the Three Gorges Hydropower Dam -
Three Gorges Cruise Photo origin: Xinhuanet

About the Three Gorges Project:
(Source: Xinhuanet )

Years	Project expected to take 17 years; completion expected in 2009 but was completed in 2006.
Workers	An estimated 250,000 workers are involved in the project.
Inundate	The Three Gorges Reservoir will inundate 632 sq kilometers of land.
Resettlement	12 cities had been built and 1.2 million people were resettled.
Hydropower	The project with 26 hydropower turbines is capable of producing 18.2 MW, up to one-ninth of China's power output.
Size	The dam is 185-meter-high and 2,309-meter-long
Concrete	The amount of concrete totals 26.43 million cubic meters, twice that of the Itaipu project in Brazil.
Navigation benefits	The project enables 10,000-ton towboats to sail up-stream as far as Chongqing. The Yangtze navigation capacity is thus increased from 10 million to 50 million tons a year with the cost lowered by 35%-37%.
Tourism potential	A sustainable tourism plan, including infrastructure construction, has been compiled by the Chongqing City municipal on the upper reach of the Yangtze. It is estimated to attract 23.8 million tourists and rake in a total revenue of US$2.4 billion in 2010.

Floods of Yangtze River

Year	Area Inundated	Deaths and Economic Loss
1931	130 000 km², 3.39 Mha farmland , 1.8 million houses	28.5 million people affected 145 000 death, economic loss of 1.345 billion Rmb
1935	89 000 km² 1.51 Mha farmland	10 million people affected, 142 000 deaths, economic loss of 355 million Rmb
1949	1.81 Mha farmland,	8.1 million people affected 5 699 deaths
1954	3.18 Mha farmland 4.27 million houses	19 million people affected 33 169 deaths
1998	239,000 ha farmland	6.7 million people including hundreds of thousands of soldiers took part in the flood mitigation fight. 18 million people affected 4 150 deaths Economic loss of USD 38 billion.

Critics on the construction of the Three Gorges Project

To critics worldwide, it is a social and environmental disaster. They question whether both effects of flood control and power generation can be achieved at the same time as each requires low and high water level respectively; suggest that both could be achieved by faster, less expensive means in place of dam construction. They doubt whether the human and cultural losses are worth the project benefits. When the dam becomes operational, over a million people will have been relocated, over a thousand archeological sites will be submerged beneath the reservoir, and endangered species may be driven to extinction.

"The world's largest—had the potential of becoming one of China's biggest environmental nightmares, triggering landslides, altering entire ecosystems and causing other serious environmental problems—and, by extension, endangering the millions who live in its shadow:"

This is my opinion, but WHO am I? Nobody, so, don't take to heart if you disagree.

Harnessing Liability from Nature into Assets for Man (The TGP way)

First of all, we have to really look at the Yangtze River with which the Chinese have been living since early Chinese civilization. It is their mother river, which they love and respect for the means of livelihood and natural habitat provided by it. But, though they hate to say it aloud, it has also been their endless source of hardship and sufferings: frequent flooding causing damages of agricultural products, properties, lands and above all, hardship and countless lives.

The main consideration behind the construction of this dam, is the numerous valuable lives lost in every flood. The August 1998 flood of the Yangtze River, caused 4,000 lives, and 24 billion dollars worth of damage. It may have been weighed many times before the final and difficult decision was made, placing human lives above all other important issues, like natural habitats, farmland, historic sites, culture and relocation.

Then comes the subsequently important issues of energy to help China solve 1/9 of its energy need.
The US$ 24-billion project is a major source of reliable, cheap, clean and renewable power which is much needed in China. The project has a generating capacity of 18.2 GW, equivalent to 1/9 of China's power output. Gift of nature should be tapped, not to be left idle.
The hydro-plant is said to be able to reduce about 50 million tons of raw coal to be burnt annually which might produce about 100 million tons of carbon dioxide, 1.2 million tons of sulphur dioxide, 10 thousand tons of carbon monoxide, 370 000 tons of nitrogen oxides, and huge amount of wastes.

Loss of culture heritage needs the least worry from outsiders, as China is a country richest in culture preservation. No effort would have been spared to ensure maximum salvage of culture preservation and minimum loss of heritage along the affected areas. Moreover, river floods are the ones that have all along been destroying cities and cultural sites.

In the processes of development and modernization, haven't we been tearing down old buildings and structures, haven't we been changing our lifestyle for better comfort? Are not these constituting loss of our (previous) culture?

Archeological and endangered species losses could not be the primary concern to millions of people who have been living under hardship conditions. The relocation was clearly a positive move with new cities having modern plumbing and using coal gas for heating and cooking, electricity and water facilities, minus the fear factor.

What is wrong for China to stop the massive flooding, for generating a cleaner energy to reduce emissions! Use other options? Has not China been venturing into other options too?!

Are not the so called environmentalists placing wrong emphasis? No doubt, the heritage and the endangered species are our very concern. But which is of utmost importance: To avert the possible loss of millions of lives, in addition to having an added facility to generate cleaner hydroelectricity for GHG reductions; OR heritage and endangered species? I already answered it. So what is yours? (Comment posted on China Big Push for R.Energy)

01/08/2008 Tom Lin, NY
(Great Wall Across the Yangtze- Talkback: Pbs.org)
..... Doesn't the Hoover dam block the Colorado River from flowing naturally through the Grand Canyon? Furthermore, the Earth loses eleven species every day. This rate has more or less been the same throughout the history of the earth. Humans develop a more emotional bond with animals kept in captivity. Would anyone care if the near-extinct red-spotted Swann beetle went extinct tomorrow? No, because nobody has ever heard of it. Cultures have been living in obscure sections of the rain forests for thousands of years, and every so often an errant archaeologist stumbles across one. He proclaims that culture and its objects priceless. The point that I have been trying to communicate throughout this piece is that the Earth simply has too many treasures to offer. And the treasures in the Yangtze River are simply some of them....

7/29/05 Mark St. Leger, Lake Elmo, Minnesota
(Great Wall Across the Yangtze- Talkback: Pbs.org)

Modernization is more important than preservation of antiquities. This happens in every city in America, as city fathers exert eminent domain for the greater good, taking farmlands and buildings, tearing down antiquated buildings for modern business, and so called urban renewal. Only time will tell if the dam does provide energy for the long term, or will it silt in like the Aswan Dam. Only time will tell if this is ten year or twenty year fix, or one of longer standing. China is moving forward for better or worse. History will be the judge of its consequences.

David M. Clemen 08/07/08: Sciam.com

Three Gorges does have some ecological problems associated with it as stated in your article. However, the dam was built as a "flood control" structure (the electrical power generation is an ancillary benefit) because over 300,000 people have died in Yangtze River floods in the 20th century (156,000 in 1840; 142,000 in 1935; over 33,000 in 1954; and most recently over 3,000 in 1998). Naturally, when you build a large dam with its associated large reservoir, there will be ecological problems that were not previously existent; and these must be handled. However, the logic dictates that you build the dam to save the thousands of human lives. Then you must address the ecological problems that were unforeseen prior to the construction of the dam. Hydropower electrical production is much more efficient than wind energy (85% overall efficiency vs. wind energy's 40% overall efficiency). Hydropower also

produces the lowest cost electricity among the various renewables

provides reservoirs for drinking water, irrigation, etc.

has long life facilities (75 to 100 years) when compared to wind (20 years) and solar

has lower maintenance costs than wind by a factor of 10

and enables the entire electricity network to be more efficient and reliable because it has readily available power on a continual basis (This is to be contrasted with the intermittent power of wind and solar)

In summary, the dam was required to avoid the loss of human life due to the frequent flooding 
of the Yangtze River; and the saving of human lives on such a large scale is imperative.

The ecological problems created have to be addressed.  
The electrical power generation is a large ancillary benefit.

Regardless of the differing perspectives, everyone agrees that the Three Gorges Dam is an incredible undertaking. Like China's Great Wall, it will be one of the few man-made structures visible from space.

The impacts on the environment and the benefit of this dam have to be monitored for the next 20 years at least to make a conclusion.

By 2006, the second largest hydroelectric power plant in the world is Itaipu Dam, a project jointly developed by Brazil and Paraguay. With a capacity of 12.6 GW. It produced 26% of the total energy demand of Brazil in 1997and 79% of Paraguay.