Officials are putting an emergency rescue plan in place to respond to shipping accidents they expect will occur on the Yangtze after the Three Gorges reservoir begins to fill on June 1, China News Service (Zhongguo xinwen she) reports.
Xiaolangdi turbine trouble heightens Three Gorges concerns
One of the foreign companies supplying turbines for the Three Gorges project has agreed to pay US$3 million in compensation after cracks appeared on similar equipment it built for a dam on the Yellow River.
Three Gorges tourism slumps amid war jitters
The threat of war in Iraq has led to a tourism slump this year in the Three Gorges area, as foreigners uneasy about air travel cancel plans for holidays abroad, the Hubei Daily (Hubei Ribao) reports.
More cash needed to fix ‘enormous’ resettlement problems, official says
A top Three Gorges project official has urged Beijing to pour more money into an increasingly cash-starved resettlement effort that is not delivering promised benefits to many of the rural migrants who have moved to make way for the world’s biggest dam.
Don’t ignore downsides of dams, official warns
(February 28, 2003) Pan Jiazheng, one of China’s top engineers, has issued a strongly worded warning to his profession not to deny the disadvantages of water projects, or neglect to address the harmful impacts when they occur.
Treating Klong Dan so it’s not all a waste
(February 26, 2003) Praphat Panyachartrak, minister for natural resources and the environment, turned heads on Monday when he announced plans to scrap the contract to build a controversial wastewater treatment plant in Samut Prakan province.
Three Gorges pollution shocks green team
Activists with a Chongqing environmental group who undertook a 10-day trip to monitor the Three Gorges reservoir cleanup campaign were shocked at what they found, the Chongqing Daily (Chongqing Ribao) reported last week.
Candid remarks on ‘water calamities’
(February 21, 2003) Speech delivered by Pan Jiazheng, member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and former vice-director of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, at the Department of Water Conservancy and Hydropower, Qinghua University, Beijing, and reprinted in Guangming Daily (Guangming Ribao) on February 21, 2003.
Ten issues for Three Gorges propaganda
(February 20, 2003) A senior spokesman for the scheme summarizes the issues that the official Chinese media should prepare themselves to ‘propagandize.’
Drought, pollution could jeopardize water-transfer scheme
(February 14, 2003) Record-low water levels in the Yangtze caused an oil tanker to run aground and disrupted shipping in large sections of the river this week. The severe drought, along with worsening pollution in a major Yangtze tributary, raise serious concerns about the scheme launched late last year to transfer water from the region to China’s parched north.
Damn the fish: Lessons from Glen Canyon
(February 7, 2003) A huge dam near the Grand Canyon in the United States, which has killed off half the native fish species that once thrived downstream, holds lessons for the Three Gorges project.
Top scientists call for Three Gorges monitoring stations
Three of China’s top water engineers have called for monitoring stations to be set up below the Three Gorges dam to study the changes in the Yangtze River that will begin occurring after the reservoir is filled in June, an official newspaper reports.
Three Gorges sedimentation concerns build up
(January 24, 2003) The builders of the Three Gorges project are showing new concern about the prospect of a dangerous buildup of silt in the massive reservoir behind the dam, and are still discussing basic aspects of the dam’s operating regime and likely impacts.
Beijing urged to get moving on water conservation
(January 17, 2003) Beijingers have been warned against regarding the south-north water-transfer scheme as an excuse to waste more water, while continuing to neglect water-saving strategies.
Leading scientists warn about impacts of Three Gorges dam
Three prominent scientists who took part in the environmental impact assessment conducted by Chinese researchers 15 years ago for the Three Gorges project still stand by the conclusion of that study, which raised serious concerns about building the dam, a Chinese publication reports.
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