Investigating Whether the River Yangtze Should be Dammed
Introduction: If everything goes to plan, China by the year 2009 will
have finished the biggest, most expensive, and perhaps the most risky
hydroelectric project in history. The dam is 1.3-mile-long, 610 ft
high and will create a reservoir as long as Lake Superior. The Chinese
refer to it as "the lake within the gorges." It will meander 385 miles
upstream through cliffs, all the way from the concrete ‘megadam’ near
Yichang upriver to Chongqing. The reservoir's 10.4 trillion gallons of
water will force almost two million valley residents to move from
their homes and farmlands with fertile land, as well as the ancient
tombs of their ancestors. The people from 13 cities, hundreds nearly
thousands of villages, 955 businesses and factories, farmers will have
to evacuate 115,000 acres of the richest farmland along the river
basin and relocate in unknown, possibly inhospitable territory with
lower living standards. This essay will cover the social, economic and
environmental effects of this monumental scheme.
Where are the Three Gorges?:
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The waters draining into this huge river, some 6380 Km, come from a
massive catchment area. The river flows southwards from the high
Qinghai Plateaus and into Tibet. The river from here flows south and
almost reaches the Tropics before zigzagging its way north eastwards.
Next it flows into the enclosed basin of Sichuan. From here the river
heads eastwards through long deep gorges. The Three Gorges Dam is
situated near Wuhan.
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Social Effects: As a result of the dam being built almost 10 million
people are having to be evacuated and most are receiving only a small
portion of the $3.2 million the government promised them as
compensation money, because most of it is going into the pockets of
their own local officials.
The main downside is that the old residents of the 13 cities that will
be flooded will most likely be worse off and with a lot lower standard
of living than they had previously.
The negative aspects of Glen Canyon Dam greatly exceed the positive aspects. The dam’s hydroelectric power supply is only three percent of the total power used by the six states that are served by the facility. There is a surplus of power on the Colorado Plateau and with more and more power-plants being created in the western hemisphere, Glen Canyon Dam’s power is not needed (Living Rivers: What about the hydroelectric loss). Although the ‘lake’ contains twenty seven million acre feet of water, one and a half million acre feet of water are lost yearly due to evaporation and seepage into the sandstone banks surrounding the ‘lake’ (Living Rivers: What about the water supply?). The loss of that much “water represents millions, even billions of dollars” (Farmer 183). If the government were to employ more water efficient irrigation practices, as much as five million acre feet of water per year could be saved.
The one feature common to the Hoover Dam, The Mississippi river and the three gorges dam is that they all tried to control nature’s swings, specifically in the form of flooding. Before the Hoover dam was built, the Colorado river “used to flood spectacularly…but after 1900 the Colorado provoked a vehement response” (Pg 177). The response was simple, but large. The U.S. built several large dams, including the Hoover dam, on the Colorado to decrease its flooding and increase power and irrigation. Unfortunately, just as human control of the Colorado’s flooding increased, its organisms and habitats were detrimentally influenced, and the water became more and more salinated.
Every person requires water for survival. So what would happen if we ran out? North China is undergoing a serious water crisis, which holds a large part of China’s agriculture and population, with China’s government attempting to gain control of the situation they have decided to bring in water from the south. North China does have many factors contributing to it’s water issue at hand, however, in my opinion there are three main issues which the government should gain control of, or the three biggest causes of China’s crisis. these causes include urbanization, global warming, and the worst for last, industry.
Over the years Glen Canyon Dam has been the spark for hundreds of debates, rallies, and protests. These debates have been going on for almost forty years now. The fact is that the dam created a huge lake when it was built, this is what bothers environmentalists. This lake is called Lake Powell and thousands of people depend on its tourists for income. The lake also filled up a canyon called Glen Canyon, some people say it was the most beautiful place on earth. The anti-dam side of the debate has its basis in the fact that Lake Powell is currently covering Glen Canyon. It was very remote so few people got to witness its splendor. This is probably the reason the dam was built in the first place, ignorance.
China’s water supply is running out faster than it can be replaced. Water is being polluted by the environment, wasted because of the law, and a lot of water is being used due to it's growing industry. What is driving China’s water scarcity crisis? China's water scarcity crisis is mainly caused by the government mispricing water, industrialization, and urbanization.
China has had Water-Scarcity for several years now.China is suffering majorly from the water shortages in China, North China in particular. Many of the bodies of water are running low but especially the three main rivers Yellow,Yangtze, And pearl rivers, which may cause their rank in industrial powers to fall. In order to stop the water shortages China is building something designed to move water each year from southern to northern China. This shows many actions are being pushed to save water throughout China.There are three main causes of China’s water scarcity crisis this includes, Global Warming,China’s changing population, and Different industries using all the water to power the Country. Of these, the biggest driver is the power industries have over the water supply.
The great Pyramid of Giza, the Statue of Liberty, the Great Wall of China, all of these world wonders have amazing histories. Although the Great Wall had its pros and cons, so was it worth it? The Great Wall of China goes way back in history, it was built centuries ago by the Ming, Han, and Qin dynasty. You may think the wall is great, but the wall’s benefits did not outweigh the costs because it wasted time, brought misery, and gave endless work.
Some of the effects that are positive is that the soil for plants gets the nutrients it needs, the water can last a while the same methods of planting can still remain the same . The negative part is if it's too hot the water will dry up causing the plants to die it would last about 2-3 months, if the gate is opened too much it may cause another flood. If the water passes a certain limit an alarm will go off letting the people know that there may be a danger approaching. there is water in a small city in Yuma, the negative is that it looks like the water took down some houses causing the house to fall in the water. The positive is Some of the houses look untouched it could be that the water is a little shallow. There is a building that looks unharmed, it could be a shelter from the flood making it a positive effect because people are out of harm's way. People are in boats making it another positive thing they have transportation to get to safer places the only negative to be seen is the water, making people use boats instead of cars, walking, bikes etc. Colorado improved the water distribution and also increased the water conservation making this a positive part of Colorado dam the only down side is the delay it take a while for the
Yet, there is no such thing as “clean hydro power,” with the exception of very small-scale hydropower dams at the individual or neighborhood level. Hydro powered dams can cause major fluctuations in downstream flows, and even dewater the stream channel, leading to direct death of fish and other species. The main effects of a dam on a river is that it disrupts flows, lowers water quality, blocks the movement of rivers vital nutrients and sediment, destroys fish and wildlife habitat, and eliminates recreational opportunities. Reservoirs slow and broaden rivers, making them warmer, reducing water quality, and harboring destructive nonnative species that scatter throughout the watershed and prey on and compete with native wildlife. The environmental, economic, and social impacts of a dam and reservoir may run the entire length of the river from the highest mountain peaks that feed the headwaters to the river’s outlet at the ocean according to
Director Owen Lammers calls it one of the "largest and most environmentally and socially destructive projects on Earth"(Maier, 1997). One of China’s oldest dreams is becoming its newest reality. Since 1914 the idea has arisen of damming the Yangtze River. China plans to do this with a 600-foot, cement wall which will take eleven years to complete and costs could rise to over 75 billion dollars. The dam is claimed to have many advantages for China and the Chinese. Three Gorges is expected to produce around one-tenth of the nation’s energy, without the use of coal, improving air quality. Also, the natural floods that occur with the Yangtze river will be stopped, supposedly saving thousands of lives in the future. The first thing needed to keep the project going is money, and many United States senators see this as a great opportunity for jobs, but it is also viewed as a good investment. Fortunately, the U.S. Export-Import Bank, (for the first time), "…denied financing solely on environmental grounds"(Giaccia, 1997). These advantages are easily outweighed by the disadvantages of this proposal; this monument threatens the environment, but construction will ensue.
China has approximately 20% of the world’s population, which is around 1.3 billion people (Morris, 2009, p. 111). Also, China has become one of the worlds biggest manufacturing countries within 30 years (Fawssett, 2009, p. 27). However, such rapid development has come at a cost, which has created various environmental problems. Coincidentally, China has 16 cities on a list of the 20 worst polluted cities in the world (Fawssett, 2009, p. 15). Therefore, this essay will explain the reasons for China’s environmental problems, then evaluate the claim that the Chinese government and people, are tackling these environmental problems. First, crop farming techniques over the last hundred years, and their consequences will be explained. Followed by, how peoples choice in food has changed over the last hundred years, and how this indirectly affects the environment. Then, how a capitalist economy is linked to agriculture, and finally what the Chinese government and people are doing to tackle these problems.
The Great Wall of China is an internationally identifiable emblem and is a pervasive parable that is used to demarcate modern China’s national character, political attitudes, history and culture. The Great Wall is an immense man-made structure that has stood the test of time and much like the centuries’ old Chinese culture. It has also come to symbolize the rich history of the Chinese people and indication of their strength and ability as a nation. The Wall inspires admiration from other nations and also functions as a basis of national pride for the Chinese, as demonstrated by President Obama’s quote; (Huang, 2006)
The Hoover Dam is one of the biggest dams and power plants in the world. It was built during the Great depression and continues to be a source of energy for the area. Between 1930 and 1936, thousands of people worked on the dam and ninety-six workers died from accidents directly relating to the building of the dam. It was the first human-made structure to exceed the masonry mass to that of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
IYER, R.I. (19X9) "Large Dams: The Right Perspective.' Economic and Political Weekly, 14, 107- 116.
Many people have already dammed a small stream using sticks and mud by the time they become adults. Humans have used dams since early civilization, because four-thousand years ago they became aware that floods and droughts affected their well-being and so they began to build dams to protect themselves from these effects.1 The basic principles of dams still apply today as they did before; a dam must prevent water from being passed. Since then, people have been continuing to build and perfect these structures, not knowing the full intensity of their side effects. The hindering effects of dams on humans and their environment heavily outweigh the beneficial ones.