(February 15, 2006) Blocking off the Three Gorges dam diversion channel, due to take place in November this year, will pose major technical challenges, the Xinhua news agency reports.

Yichang – The open-cut water channel which was used for carrying vessels after the Yangtze River was dammed in 1997 for the Three Gorges Project will be blocked off later this year, sources said at a meeting held Thursday in Yichang. The 3,700-meter long and 350-meter wide water channel, which is known as “the man-made Yangtze” and opened to vessels in October 1997, is to be dammed in November 2002 to enable the construction of a 900-meter long dam and workshops on the south shore of the world largest powerstation. The 1,600-meter long dam and workshops on the north-shore powerstation were built in 1997 in an area encircled by two blockage cofferdams. Wang Jiazhu, a Three Gorges expert, said that the plan is to block off 1,000-cubic-meters of river water per second and the damming falls amounting to four meters. This is bigger than the 1997 blockage, posing big technical challenges to professionals. The slippery surface of the concrete on the bottom of the water channel will make it very difficult for anything to take root in the channel. Sources say that different blockage models have been designed, various works conducted to prepare for a successful blockage.

Xinhua news agency, February 15, 2006