River-related news from the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, held earlier this month in Beijing.

Cai Qihua: ‘I’d like to talk about the silt in the Three Gorges reservoir’

Cai Qihua

Cai Qihua, director of the Changjiang (Yangtze) Water Resources Commission and a delegate to the National People’s Congress, has called on the government to pay more attention to the safety of areas below the Three Gorges dam, and to invest more money in related research. Ms. Cai told the recent NPC meeting that the Three Gorges project has played an important role in providing electricity and controlling floods in the downstream region.

“But I’d like to talk about the silt in the Three Gorges reservoir,” Ms. Cai said.

“According to data from our monitoring stations along the river, from 2003 (when the reservoir was filled to 135 metres above sea level) and 2006 (when it was filled to 156 metres), as much as 470 million tonnes of sediment was deposited in the reservoir, about 60 per cent of the total silt load carried by the river from upstream. The silt deposited in the reservoir is still small compared with the total capacity of the reservoir,” she added.

“However, the water discharged from the reservoir now carries less silt [and thus flows more quickly], scouring the banks of the river below the dam more powerfully.

“A 500-kilometre-long section of the river between Zhicheng in Hubei province and Jiujiang in Jiangxi province has been scoured all along its banks, to an average depth of one to two metres,” she said.

“As a result, existing structures on both sides of the river have been damaged, posing a major threat to the safety of the dikes and embankments along the river.”

Ms. Cai suggested ways to deal with the problem: First, establish an early warning system by setting up more monitoring stations along the river below the dam, and reduce risks by introducing emergency measures; and second, treat the scouring issue in the Jingjiang River [the section of the Yangtze between Zhicheng and Chenglingji] as a priority issue in state plans so the problem can be addressed as soon as possible.

Source: Xinhua, March 8, 2007

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Cao Wenxuan: ‘Building dams in the rare fish conservation zone is illegal’

Cao Wenxuan

Cao Wenxuan, 73, a senior researcher at the Institute of Hydrobiology in Wuhan, Hubei province, and member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has refused to participate in an environmental-impact study for a dam proposed for the Hejiang and Leibo National Yangtze Rare Fish Reserve Zone on the Jinsha River, the main channel of the upper Yangtze.

Professor Cao told the Science and Technology Daily of his displeasure with the plan to build a cascade of dams, including Xiluodu and Xiangjiaba, on the Jinsha River upstream of Three Gorges.

He said he and his team had worked hard to define the conservation zone in order to protect rare fish species in that section of the river. They had spent dozens of years on various research projects before drawing up the boundaries of the zone, and the State Council, fortunately, had then approved the proposal to set aside a rare fish reserve zone.

However, in a surprise move, the Three Gorges Project Corp. later asked the State Council to redraw the boundaries so it could build dams in the heart of the conservation zone. The State Council agreed to the request in April 2005, relocating the zone to an area downstream of Xiangjiaba, and clearing the way for the dams to be built.

While attending the National People’s Congress meeting in Beijing earlier this month, Prof. Cao was invited to lead an EIA study for a proposed new dam in the redrawn conservation zone. But he refused, and told Science and Technology Daily: “Building hydro dams in the reserve zone is illegal, so why would we even do an EIA study? I definitely will not take part!”

The dam is planned for the conservation area’s redesignated Experimental zone. If the hydropower project goes ahead, 98 per cent of the Buffer zone will be flooded for the dam reservoir, and breeding and feeding conditions will no longer be suitable for the rare fish.

Construction of the dam would fragment the Core zone, Buffer zone and Experimental zone, which would become dysfunctional as a result. One-quarter of the total area of the reserve zone would be lost.

Prof. Cao pointed out that Section 3, Article 17 of the Environmental Protection Act, which came into force in December 1989, stipulates that no industrial enterprises or infrastructure projects likely to cause environmental damage can be built in scenic spots, nature reserves or other special areas designated by the central or provincial governments.

Building the dam within the redrawn boundaries of the reserve zone would be in clear violation of the law, he said, and so he can’t understand why he was asked to take part in an EIA study for a project that should never have been planned in the first place.

Prof. Cao told the Science and Technology Daily that the rare fish conservation zone should not be allowed to shrink any further because its dimensions are too small for the fish even now.

Source: Science and Technology Daily (Keji ribao), Mar 14, 2007

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See also: New Yangtze dams spell disaster for fish

 

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Six CPPCC members urge fewer dams

Six members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, China’s top non-Communist advisory body, have called for hydropower development on the country’s rivers to be reined in.

Liu Dehong, Yang Zunwei, Lu Renda, Zhang Zhikai, Zhu Tao and Li Xiaodong made the call at the recent meeting in Beijing of the CPPCC, arguing that the exploitation of hydropower resources should be carefully controlled to protect the river valleys and “maintain a harmonious relationship between people and the environment.”

Several dozen dams are under construction on the Jialing, Jinsha, Dadu, Wu and Min rivers in the upper reaches of the Yangtze. The projects will hold back an enormous volume of water, and lead to a shortage of water in the Three Gorges reservoir and in the middle and lower reaches of the river below the dam, the delegates warned.

The construction of an excessive number of dams on Yangtze tributaries will flood farmland and forests, and make environmental problems much worse, they said.

“Building too many dams also causes water quality to deteriorate, as a river’s ability to deal with pollutants is reduced. This poses a threat to the drinking water that people living in the valley depend upon,” the delegates told the conference.

Source: Xinhua, March 11, 2007

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Translation by Three Gorges Probe