The Minjiang is a tributary of the Yangtze River. “We’re ready to go to the earthquake affected areas. The Ministry of Water may summon us at any time,” Li Lei, professor at the Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, said to a China Business News reporter.
The National Development and Reform Commission has revealed the destruction caused to water facilities by the earthquake. By 5pm, May 13, safety problems had been discovered at 391 reservoirs, including two big ones, 28 medium ones and 361 small ones, in Sichuan and other four provinces.

The quake and its aftershocks were strong enough to cause damage to the foundation and body of the dams and reduce their bearing capacity. “Judging from the number of the dams destroyed, the damage is very serious,” said Professor Li Lei.

Sichuan has about 7,000 dams in its system, 70% of which were built in 1950s or 1960s, which now needs to be consolidated.

The 340 km upstream of the Minjiang rises in northwest Sichuan Province and flows down to Dujiangyan, a city close to the epicenter. The river runs between mountains along the transitional area between the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and the Sichuan Basin.
Han Zhengjiang, Vice-Director of the Chongqing Water Bureau, said at the press briefing yesterday that as of 9am, May 13, 19 reservoirs and 125 cisterns were in danger.
The Ministry of Water quickly established an earthquake headquarters and has sent workgroups and experts directly to the affected areas. A Sichuan Water Conservancy Station issued an urgent alert on the security of water conservancy projects on May 13 after the earthquake.

With its plentiful rivers, Sichuan (which in Mandarin means “four rivers”) has a slew of hydropower stations. The drainage basins of the Jinsha, Yalong and Dadu Rivers are all important hydropower bases. At the end of 2007, the capacity of Sichuan hydropower stations amounted to 18.8 million kw, about 62% of Sichuan total electricity production capacity, and 13% of China’s hydropower capacity. In 2007 hydropower stations generated about 63% of Sichuan’s total generated power, a highest such percentage in China.

On May 13, several dams holding reservoirs upstream of Wenchuan were in extreme danger, and the dam in front of the Tulong Reservoir on the Minjiang could have collapsed at any time. Had this happened, several hydropower stations downstream would have been in peril.

That danger has been relieved by reducing the reservoir’s water level. Other reservoir dams have also been affected by the earthquakes, but due to low water levels, they are now relatively safe.

“We’re very concerned about reservoirs, especially the big ones,” said Hu Xianming, an expert on earthquake and reservoir.

A survivor in Wenchuan said, “During the earthquake, I saw the Zipingpu Reservoir water level leap, and villages in the mountains disappeared in the debris flow in a second. It was terrible.”

A Ministry of Water spokesman said the earthquake cracked the fish-gate of the hydro project in Dujianyan, and a backup generator room had collapsed, but this did not affect the safe operation of the project.

The Ministry of Water has made plans to ensure the safety of the Zipingpu Dam, Dujiangyan City, and the Chengdu Plain. “We have gotten though the drainage channel of the Zipingpu Reservoir to reduce the water level. Now the water is draining at 700 cubic meters a second.

The Minjiang water system is rich in power resources. There are 396 hydropower stations in this area, with the total installed capacity of 112×105 kW, and the annual power generation of 46.89×109 kWh.

There several fault zones in the Aba area. These fault zones affect the geological development and crustal stability of the area.

Chai Hejun, a researcher in Chongqing Transportation Research and Design Institute has investigated the Minjiang upstream many times. He says special attention must be paid to the situation of upstream waters “The earthquake created blockages that will form many new lakes and streams. When water accumulates these may collapse and greatly threaten downstream people and hydro projects,” said Chai Hejun.

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