(April 18, 2012) The risk of disastrous landslides and bank collapses around the Three Gorges Dam reservoir prompts more upheaval for reservoir residents. A recent report by the environmental group Probe International sheds light on the risk of cascading failures of dams built in seismically active areas, as is the case with the entire upper Yangtze.
Fifty years on: a former Chinese official who opposed Three Gorges Dam speaks out
(April 13, 2012) Li Rui, a former vice minister for China’s Water Resources and Electric Power Ministry, describes the political machinations that moved the super-dam project forward and the ‘miserable repercussions’ of […]
China’s north-south water diversion project to climb over 200 billion yuan
China’s plan to invest more than 64 billion yuan ($10.13 billion) in the country’s South-to-North Water Diversion Project this year, will push the total investment to date over the 200 billion yuan mark (more than $30 billion).
Geology expert Yang Yong on the challenges facing China’s most controversial dam projects
(January 5, 2012) Yang Yong on the future of river management in China and the issues currently facing the country’s more controversial dam projects.
Money can’t solve China’s water woes
(October 21, 2011) China’s officials have admitted that the nation’s water supplies are dangerously polluted, and pledged to spend four trillion yuan on water conservation projects over the next decade. But money isn’t the problem; despite hundreds of billions of yuan already spent, pollution is only getting worse.
China’s urban groundwater: in a bad way
(October 20, 2011) A report released Wednesday by the Ministry of Land and Resources showed that the quality of over half of the underground water in China’s urban areas was classified as bad in 2010.
Worries about water quality at source of diversion
(October 18, 2011) From next year on, water quality will become a form of criteria used to evaluate the performance of local officials in Xichuan county of central China’s Henan province. The whole range of ecological indices to be adopted for official evaluation include the quality of water entering Xichuan, the establishment of tree plantations, the control of soil erosion and treatment of garbage and waste water, as well as the number of polluting enterprises that have been shut down.
Beijing’s water regulations
(October 18, 2011) The Miyun Reservoir happens to be the major water supply for Beijing and the county is an important ecological shield. To protect the ecology of the area, no major industrial projects have been allowed in and around the Miyun area. In addition, farmers who live upstream from the reservoir are not allowed to use chemicals and fertilizers in crop production. So says China Daily.
China’s golf mania grows
(October 6, 2011) Golf, the “green opium”, is getting more and more popular in China as a symbol of wealth. New courses continue to be built, despite an official ban, exacerbating China’s urban water shortages.
China’s biggest relocation project yet: GlobalPost
A massive forced relocation is underway in Shaanxi: 3 million residents – double the number displaced by the Three Gorges Dam – will be moved from mountains and farming villages, in part, to make way for China’s South-North Water Diversion Project, reports Kathleen E. McLaughlin at GlobalPost. Migrants don’t even get full compensation for their lost homes. Instead, they’re only given about 10% of the cost – and forced to make up the rest by taking out government loans.
Water shortage in Chinese cities – what the public thinks
(September 5, 2011) City-dwellers in China say they have an urban water crisis with shortages and pollution posing the gravest threats, a new survey reveals.
China’s deadly dam fever
(August 31, 2011) Financial rewards for bypassing dam safety procedures have
created an unrestrained dam-building boom in China that is threatening lives and the
environment.
The Yangtze runs dry
(August 18, 2011) “The Yangtze River will run dry” because engineers have gone wild, building so many dams that the amount of water needed to fill all the reservoirs along the Yangtze would exceed the flow of the river. So says “A Mighty River Runs Dry,” a new study by geologist Fan Xiao of the Sichuan Geology and Mineral Bureau in China. Because there isn’t enough water in the Yangtze to fill all the dams to their designed capacity during the impoundment period each year, “an enormous waste of money” will result, with potentially staggering losses to China’s economy, 40 per cent of which comes from agriculture, fishing, industry and shipping along the Yangtze.
Not enough water in China to divert northward – Chinese scientists
(July 18, 2011) In a remarkably candid piece, the Communist Party mouthpiece, Global Times, quotes critics saying there isn’t enough water in China’s rivers to divert north under the government’s South-North Water Transfer scheme.
Plan for China’s Water Crisis Spurs Concern
(July 4, 2011) DANJIANGKOU, China — North China is dying. A chronic drought is ravaging farmland. The Gobi Desert is inching south. The Yellow River, the so-called birthplace of Chinese civilization, is so polluted it can no longer supply drinking water.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
Probe Media
Other News Sources
Probe International 