Three Gorges Probe has obtained leaked correspondence between China’s top leadership revealing growing official alarm over the threat of unmitigated water pollution in the Three Gorges reservoir.
45,874 MW of capacity approved from Aug to Dec 2005, half is hydropower
(January 30, 2001) Power projects with a total installed capacity of 45,874 MW were approved between August and December last year, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) revealed, and almost half of it was hydropower.
A yellow river runs in Shanghai’s taps
(January 30, 2001) A reporter revealed Shanghai’s dirty secret live on national television yesterday by criticising the city’s drinking water quality in a question to Premier Wen Jiabao about the mainland’s environmental pollution.
The dammed: Environmentalists watch and wait for opening of world’s largest dam
Environmentalists view the Three Gorges dam in China, the world’s biggest, as a monstrous natural catastrophe waiting to unleash itself on the hundreds of millions of people who live near the Yangtze river.
China to begin $17-billion Yangtze river diversion scheme next year
(January 26, 2001) China Daily reports that construction of China’s largest water diversion project is expected to begin in 2002.
China’s electricity monopoly embroiled in corruption, Financial Times reports
(January 22, 2001) Official sources said yesterday that Cha Keming, a former deputy minister of power and vice-general manager of the State Power Corporation, had been formally arrested for taking bribes during power project tenders.
Officials admit a third unhappy with dam move, reports South China Morning Post
(January 18, 2001) The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reports that about one-third of the people forced from their homes by the Three Gorges Dam project have said they are not satisfied with the locations chosen by the authorities.
Director of Yunnan Environmental Protection Bureau visits Nu River dam site
(January 16, 2001) On 10 March, the Director of Yunnan Environmental Protection Bureau, Wang Jian-hua, led a 7-people delegate from the Bureau office, Planning and Finance Office, Pollution Control Office and the Institute of Environmental Science, to conduct a site visit in Baoshan Prefecture.
Yellow River’s thirst for water brings shortages into light
(January 16, 2001) Although he lives beside the Yellow River, China’s second longest and popularly known as China’s Mother river, Du Ping is very concerned about water supply, which was the cause in a drop of his income last year. The farmer in Chongxing Town, northwestern China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, used to plant rice on his third of a hectare farm, but switched to maize last year as it requires less water.
Three Gorges dam protesters beaten, town held under guard
(January 15, 2001) A central China settlement was put under official guard for months after villagers protested the destruction of their homes, as part of a local government plan to rebuild the area to accommodate Three Gorges dam migrants.
China’s giant dam faces huge problems
(January 7, 2001) When China started building the giant Three Gorges Dam here in 1993, its leadership sought to use the undertaking — the country’s most ambitious engineering project since the Great Wall — to highlight the superiority of its socialist system. But now, halfway into the construction, some Chinese officials, engineers and activists say the project has instead become a testimony to malfeasance, incompetence and systemic weakness.
Three Gorges Probe – flood control; resettlement; water clean-up and conservation
(December 15, 2000) Yangtze flood control chief says, keep the alarm bells ringing
Three Gorges dam a time bomb, reports Asiaweek
(December 11, 2000)… China’s Three Gorges dam is a time bomb with problems to match its colossal girth …
Three Gorges Probe – ancient cultural relics; future developments
(December 8, 2000) Museum to store cultural relics from Three Gorges area
China turns floodwater into new source for irrigation
Floods become friends rather than foes in China, since the country has succeeded in making terrible summer floodwater useful in drought resistance.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
Probe Media
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