Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
environmental impact fell largely on deaf ears. Fear that too much
environmentalism might lead to social unrest, always a major dread
of the Communist Party, often led not so much to government censor-
ship of public discourse on the topic per se, but to voluntary self-
censorship born of long-ingrained instincts for survival and self-
preservation.
Since the dam's completion, however, even Communist Party hard-
liners have had to admit that the dam's critics and detractors have
been right. Toxic algal blooms have appeared on the Three Gorges
Lake. The dam has triggered landslides, which have in turn produced
massive, ocean-sized waves 60 feet in height. It is now widely recog-
nized in China that there will be some difficult environmental conse-
quences created by the dam, including heavy siltation within only a
few years, the alteration of entire ecosystems, the extinction of entire
species of fish, an increase in waterborne diseases, water shortages cre-
ated by decreased water flow, and salination as sea water creeps far-
ther upriver. The dam and its lake may be changing weather
patterns, leading in particular to decreased rainfall.
The physical vulnerability of the dam is itself a major issue. Geological
fault lines cross the dam, and if it ever broke the results would be cata-
strophic; the lower Yangzi delta area has some of the highest and densest
population clusters on earth. Some geologists have speculated that
the sheer weight of the water backed up behind the dam might trigger
earthquakes. In addition, irresponsible people in Taiwan have threat-
ened to bomb the dam if the mainland ever attacks the island. Terrorists,
both foreign and domestic, might target the dam.
Proponents of the Three Gorges Dam tout its very real benefits: its
production of electricity without hydrocarbon combustion and also
its flood storage capacity, which will ameliorate the perennial problem
of seasonal floods along the great river's course. A very long time ago
in ancient China, however, Yu the Great figured out that the best flood
control measure is ultimately not to contain floodwaters, but to give
them somewhere to go—to channel them away. If unexpectedly large
floods in the future swell the Three Gorges Lake beyond its contain-
ment capacity, the result could be an unthinkable human catastrophe
unprecedented in all of human experience.
The relative benefits and detriments of damming rivers have
recently come under increased scrutiny and are now important topics
of discussion and debate in environmental studies. This, however, has
been ignored or downplayed in China. Dams impede or contain the
flow of both water and silt, and in this the Three Gorges Dam is no
