Xinhua
May 3, 2000

China spends 10 million yuan (US$1.3 million) a year to prevent floating garbage from piling up behind the Three Gorges dam, project officials say.

China has to spend 10 million yuan (1.3 million U.S. dollars) annually to prevent upstream garbage floats from piling up at the mammoth Three Gorges Dam, so as to ensure safe operation of the world’s largest water control project.

According to officials with the China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation, the garbage floats from the upstream of the Three Gorges reservoir amount to 100,000-200, 000 cubic meters annually at the Dam, most of which accumulate in flooding seasons.

"Reservoirs worldwide are being more or less beset by floats. The Three Gorges reservoir is no exception, as it intercepts floats from upstream while it holds water," said Hu Xing’e, who is in charge of reservoir business in the China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation.

The corporation has spent more than 20 million yuan (2.5 million U.S.dollars) on building a garbage-clearing vessel, so far the largest of its kind in China, the officials said.

Garbage floats collected will be sorted out and then be buried or fired, the officials added.

The corporation has entrusted governments of central China’s Hubei province and southwestern Chongqing municipality, which are situated near the Three Gorges dam site, to help clear up garbage floats in the upstream of Yangtze’s tributaries. And the corporation itself takes charge of garbage clearing in the mainstream of the Yangtze River.

According to rough statistics made by the China Yangtze River Three Gorges Project Development Corporation, the corporation has, since the Three Gorges project began store water and generate electricity three years ago, skimmed and collected nearly 200,000 cubic meters of garbage floats.

Besides, the corporation has entrusted the Yangtze River Hydrological Bureau Three Gorges Branch to scrutinize ingredients, quantity, sources, distribution and way of moving of the garbage floats. Effective measures will be worked out on the basis of data gathered by the hydrological bureau to protect the environment of the dam site.

The hydrological bureau’s Three Gorges branch has launched 10 fixed monitoring stations in the dam area to conduct regular monitoring every day. It also cruises the dam area for garbage examination once a month.

Launched in 1993,the 180-billion-yuan (22.5 billion U.S.dollars) Three Gorges project, including a 185-meter-high dam and 26 generators on both banks of the Yangtze River, is being built in three phases on the middle reach of China’s longest river. It is scheduled for completion in 2009 and by then, it will be able to generate 84.7 billion kwh of electricity a year.

The Three Gorges, which consist of Qutang, Wuxia and Xiling Gorges, extend for 200 km on the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze. They have become a popular world-class tourist destination noted for beautiful natural landscapes and a great number of historical and cultural relics.

An ancient legend says the Three Gorges were cut by Dayu, a legendary flood control hero, when he was combating the floodwater. This section of the Yangtze has a narrow river course that abounds in hydroelectric resources.

Apart from generating electricity, the Three Gorges Project is also designed to harness flooding and benefit shipping.

In preparation for a planned rise of the Three Gorges reservoir ‘s water level from 135 meters to 156 meters above the sea level after the coming flood season, earlier this year China launched a massive clean-up in the area to be submerged. The move involved two cities, 13 counties or districts, 126 townships and 432 industrial and mining enterprises. covering a total residential area of 10.3 million square meters and 2,826 hectares of farmland and forests.

Septic tanks, methane-generating pits, manure pits and public squat toilets were the main targets of the clean-up.

The purpose of the effort is to ensure water held in the reservoir is clear and hygienic, according to officials with the State Council Three Gorges Project Construction Committee.

A total of 1.13 million people have been relocated to make way for the gigantic water control project.