One of China’s top engineers, who is a senior member of the inspection team monitoring construction of the Three Gorges dam, has issued a strongly worded warning to his profession not to deny the downsides of water projects, or neglect to address the harmful impacts when they occur.

Pan Jiazheng, a member of the prestigious Chinese Academy of Sciences and former vice-director of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told an audience at Beijing’s Qinghua University that engineers who help create water disasters “will be condemned by history as the guilty parties.”

Feasibility studies traditionally have focused on the positive aspects of a project, while glossing over the negative ones, said Mr. Pan, who was one of the chief designers of the Three Gorges dam.

“It appears that we lack the confidence to deal with the impacts, especially the adverse ones that occur after a project’s completion,” he said.

Mistakes have been made with water projects that have been impossible to remedy, he said, adding that “nature took its revenge on our human errors.”

“Why don’t we create the new category of ‘water calamities,’ meaning water disasters caused by human activities,” he suggested.

As for Three Gorges, he maintained that the project will bring flood-control benefits, but “is also likely to give rise to new and unexpected problems, such as deepening of the riverbed below the dam caused by ‘scouring’ [erosion] and alterations in the river regime.”

Mr. Pan told fellow members of the Three Gorges inspection team in November that the 39 billion cubic metres of water to be stored in the reservoir behind the dam and natural forces such as floods, earthquakes and landslides will be the project’s “real examiners” and that they will show no mercy.

“They are ready to take their revenge and exploit any mistakes and misjudgments that we make in design, construction, manufacturing and installation, as well as project management,” he said.

For the text of his remarks, see Candid remarks on ‘water calamities’