Probe International

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.

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.