The Chinese are Very Quietly celebrating the final completion of Three Gorges Dam.
They are not making a big deal of it, as they did when the Three Gorges Dam was just beginning to be built. They are not proud of it, as they were.
My Three Gorges Dam research
Link to article about the final water level rise behind the dam
From article:
BEIJING - Fifteen years after dynamite blasts first shattered the peace of China's breathtaking Three Gorges, the Three Gorges Dam - the pride of China's engineering progress - is nearing completion. But the cannonade of criticism bombarding the world's largest and costliest dam in history is far from over.
In a matter of days the water level in the reservoir on the Yangtze River will reach its final height of 175 meters. With every meter of water filling the concrete coffer the swell of domestic opposition has increased and the voices of its international critics have grown louder.
Unlike 12 years ago, when Beijing staged elaborate celebrations to mark the diversion of the Yangtze on the spot of the future dam, this time around officials and engineers are marking the completion of the dam in a low-profile manner.
No longer a thing of dreams but a reality, the Three Gorges Dam has a capacity of 18,000 megawatts of electricity. But in the process of its construction 1,350 villages were submerged and 1.3 million people displaced from their homes.
The hidden costs of the dam are only now beginning to emerge. Blocking the river flow has changed the ecosystem of the Yangtze to a degree that rare river species of dolphin and sturgeon are now facing extinction. The commercial fisheries in the Yangtze and off the river's mouth in the East China Sea have declined sharply. Other disastrous side effects have included the pollution of freshwater supplies, deadly landslides and an increased risk of earthquakes.
In September 2007, government officials admitted that "if preventive measures are not taken, there could be an environmental collapse".
Watch for news and Earthquakes around the Three Gorges Dam, please see my research on it, to understand why I say that.
No comments:
Post a Comment