SOME OF the best scenery in the world is being destroyed bit by bit. Early this month, the government of mainland China closed the floodgates on the Three Gorges Dam. The dam has been under construction since 1993, and the adverse effects of this gargantuan project are beginning to be felt.
The stated purpose of the dam is two-fold. First, it is designed to generate as much hydroelectric power as 14 nuclear power plants, providing a good deal of energy for China. Second, it is designed to stop flooding on the Yangtze River, the third longest river in the world.
Debate has been raging about damming the Yangtze for many years, even as far back as 1919. However, recent action and inaction by the totalitarian state have caused the situation to turn from bad to worse.
The first major problem with the project is the sheer number of people who will need to be "relocated." The official Chinese estimate is 1.2 million people, while other unofficial estimates reach 1.9 million. Six hundred thousand have already been forced out of their homes. A fund was set up by the government to reimburse these people for their losses, but like many funds associated with the project, the money is being siphoned off by corrupt individuals. Many of the relocated people are "resettled" on ground that is not suitable for farming and without the compensation they were owed.
Perhaps a more serious issue than the forced relocation of hundreds of thousands is the fact that significant cracks in the concrete have been found as recently as May 20. The state-run newspapers dismissed these cracks as "insignificant" and claimed that the dam was within the tolerances set forth by the design. Once the reservoir is filled and the dam finished in late 2009, the force pushing against the concrete structure will be massive. If significant cracks continue to appear in the dam, it will become a large safety hazard to those people living downstream. The results of a break in the dam would be catastrophic.
The environmental impact of the dam will be extreme. In addition to flooding 15,000 towns, countless archeological sites and some of the best scenery in the world, the dam will create a reservoir that is plagued by silt and pollution. Nearly two-thirds of the tributaries of the reservoir are considered polluted by the Chinese government. If the Chinese regime is willing to classify these tributaries as polluted, one can be quite sure the situation is extreme. Without the powerful river to sweep these pollutants out to sea, they will simply sit at the bottom of the reservoir. The Yangtze is notorious for carrying a massive amount of silt with it, which is fine until you dam it up. Many experts believe that the silt deposited in the reservoir will make navigation difficult if not impossible.
The dam project defiantly falls under the category of "if it does what the government says it will do then it will be a good thing." Unfortunately there is significant evidence that the stated goals of flood control and power generation will not be accomplished. On the side of power generation, the main issue is cost. The energy industry in China (both state owned and private) is growing extremely rapidly. By the time the entire generator complex comes online there will be significant sources of cheaper energy out there. Thus in order for the dam to be profitable, the Chinese government will have to either subsidize the power or place tariffs on other power generation techniques -- in either case limiting growth.
The flood control capabilities of the dam have also been called into question in recent years. Many experts believe that the dam will not be enough to stop the floods downstream and that the tributaries below the dam will still cause significant flooding. In addition, many have suggested that a system of smaller dams on the tributaries would be far more productive in power generation and flood control.
Obviously, the totalitarian state is not just going to stop building this dam on the command of the international community. Considering they have already jailed people who spoke out against the dam, it is a safe bet that this project will continue. At this point, the international community needs to put pressure on China to allow the dam to be inspected by Western engineers. The foremost thing on our minds should be making sure that this dam is structurally sound.
China once again has the opportunity to prove itself as a nation, and building the largest dam in the world is not their rite of passage. China must devote additional resources to making sure that the dam is structurally sound, the resettlement project is done in a humanitarian way and the silt and pollution problem is solved. At the end of the day, the totalitarian government of China may have the largest dam in the world, but they may also have the largest ecological and humanitarian disaster of the modern age.
(Daniel Bagley is a Cavalier Daily columnist. He can be reached at dbagley@cavalierdaily.com.)
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