21st Century Business Herald

May 16, 2008

The 21st Century Business Herald reported yesterday that the Zipingpu dam on the Min River sustained damages, and that water from the reservoir is being released.

The Zipingpu dam’s release rate is normally 900 metres per second, but it is currently flowing with a runoff of 700 cubic metres due to earthquake damage. A team of experts from the Ministry of Water Resources has examined Zipingpu and confirmed that it is stable.

Jiao Yong, vice minister of the Ministry of Water Resources, told reporters at Zipingpu that there are no safety problems at the Three Gorges dam, that Three Gorges was not responsible for the earthquake, and that so far, no experts have been sent to the Three Gorges dam site.

According to He Biao, head of the Emergency Office of Aba Prefecture of Sichuan Province, the Tianlonghu (Tulong) dam is in danger of collapsing. This would cause serious problems for dam projects downstream—Tianlonghu is the dam located furthest upstream on the Min River.

CCTV (Central China Television) also reported yesterday that Zhang Ping, the general manager of Sichuan Hydro Power Corp of Huaneng Group, has confirmed that the Taipingyi power station in Yingxiu Town of Wenchuan County (the epicentre), also on the Min River, is in critical condition with a possibility of collapsing as the water level rises behind it.

In total, there are nine hydro dams built or under construction in the upper reaches of the Min River, including Zipingpu and Tianlonghu. With a generating capacity of 180,000 kw, the Tianlonghu was put into operation in 2004.

According to Fan Xiao, a geologist with the Sichuan Bureau of Geology, “As many as ten hydro dams were planned in the upper reaches of the Min, with the final dam, Guanyingyan, to be built upstream from the Tianlonghu dam.”

As early as 2003, when authorities were planning to build the cascade of dams, Fan Xiao voiced his concern about seismic issues because the Min Valley is an earthquake-prone area, but the authorities ignored his input.

As historic records showed, an earthquake with magnitude 7.5 occurred in the Diexi area in 1933, blocking the Min River and forming two lakes in the upstream area as a result. One of them is the Tianlonghu (Sky Dragon Lake) where the power station was built.

Fan Xiao is very concerned about the consequences of a dam collapse. “There would be a chain-reaction if anything went wrong with the Tianlonghu,” Fan Xiao said.

Translated by Three Gorges Probe