Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
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A Dangerous
Dam in China
In 2006, China completed construction of the dam structure of
the Three Gorges Dam, which sits on the Yangtze River. The
dam is the largest hydroelectric river dam in the world. Building
it, though, forced more than one million people to move to new
towns and villages.
The dam has also caused other problems. Scientists say
the dam has harmed several hundred types of plants and
animals because the reservoir destroyed their habitats (the
environments in which they lived). Water from the reservoir
has leaked into the ground, making it easier for rocks and
earth to tumble down. This has created landslides, forcing even
more people to move. Farther down the Yangtze, people are
not getting as much water from the river as they once did. At
the same time, more salt water is entering the area where the
river meets the sea. Some sea creatures that live in salt water
can now live farther upstream in the Yangtze. They are eating
the eggs of other
kinds of river life.
Scientists still do
not know all the
damage the dam
could cause in
years to come.
There have been problems
associated with China's
huge Three Gorges Dam.