Agence France Presse
November 27, 2007

Maoping, China: Residents in the Three Gorges dam reservoir area fear an increased risk of harm to the environment as a result of the dam’s impacts. One of the biggest concerns currently is that the reservoir’s seasonal water fluctuations have unsettled the delicate geology of the area and that this may escalate the risk of landslides and other dangers.

Patricia Adams of Probe International says that “an extraordinary amount of damage” has already been done “not only to property but to the irreplaceable network of human and economic relations” that make up the region.

AFP interviews residents of Maoping whose concrete houses just a few kilometres from the Three Gorges dam have been damaged by a series of tremors that began last year when the dam went into operation. Three Gorges officials, meanwhile, are downplaying the geological and environmental threats linked to operation of the world’s largest hydro dam. The head of the office responsible for building Three Gorges, Wang Xiaofeng, was among the officials to warn of the project’s dangers in September, but he recently briefed Xinhua and other reporters in Beijing, downplaying those concerns.