Shipping channels in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are to be dredged as the water falls to its lowest level in 20 years.
Authorities have withdrawn a large silt dredger from a north China offshore construction site to dredge channels at Heishazhou (Blacksand Shoal), 40 kilometers upstream from Wuhu Bridge on the lower reaches, said Wan Dabin, a senior official with the Yangtze River Waterway Bureau.
China has stepped up the diversion of the Yangtze River to dilute water polluted by blue-green algae in a lake that provides drinking water for millions of people in the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi.
China’s largest hydropower project, the Three Gorges Project, is expected to start full operation three to four months ahead of schedule as workers speed up the installation of the 12 turbines on the right bank of the Gorges.
The water quality of Yangtze River has become of increasing concern. Has the Three Gorges Dam Project caused the pollution in Yangtze River? Lu Youmei, an academic of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, as well as the chairman of the Chinese National Committee on Large Dams, answered the question when interviewed by the People’s Daily journalist.
Electricity generation now spans the two banks of China’s largest hydropower project, the Three Gorges Project, with the first turbine generator on the right bank of the river going into operation on Monday after a 72-hour trial.
Flood waters are putting China’s massive Three Gorges Dam to the test and raising water levels on its longest river, the Yangtze, after weeks of floods nationwide killed about 700 people, state media said on Tuesday.
This extensive and interactive piece charts journalist Jamil Anderlini’s return to the Three Gorges Dam and includes interviews with Chongqing mayor, Fu Xiancao, Dai Qing, and a slide show of towns along the Yangtze.
Heavy snowstorms felled three power transmission towers along a
majorline of the Three Gorges dam, disrupting a link in central China’s
transmission system, Xinhua news agency reported last month.
(June 11, 2008) While earthquake damage sustained by the country’s dams may pose serious threats, many are turning to the dams themselves for explanations. Probe International Fellow Dai Qing says: “We must look carefully at the questions: How do dams impact earthquakes? How do earthquakes impact dams?”
(June 11, 2008) China has insisted it will not allow corruption to infect its huge earthquake reconstruction effort, but one month after the disaster not everyone is convinced reality will match the pledge.
The delays that have plagued boats trying to get around the Three Gorges dam are set to worsen soon when one-half of the two-way shiplock is taken out of service for more than nine months.
Amid widespread worry about a shrinking river and speculation about the role of the Three
Gorges dam in exacerbating the downstream drought, officials in charge of managing the Yangtze say they lack the clout to address serious dry-season problems.
(June 10, 2008) The chief engineer of the Regional Geology Investigation Team of the Sichuan Geology and Mineral Bureau talks about the possibility that the Zipingpu dam induced China’s deadly May 12 earthquake.
Award-winning documentary Up the Yangtze by Canadian filmmaker Yung Chang is a heart-wrenching protrayal of a family affected by the Three Gorges dam.
Probe International is co-sponsoring the release of Up the Yangtze at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival on February 3rd.
Three Gorges dam has increased water discharge to aid navigation in the Yangtze, where water levels are at their lowest in 50 years, according to the China Three Gorges Project Corporation, Xinhua reports.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
Probe Media
Other News Sources
Probe International 