Case Study: Effects Of The Three Gorges Dam)

“Floodwater dashed up against the skies... God issued a command allowing Yu to spread out the self-replacing soil so as to quell the foods in the Nine Provinces.” This myth from China’s remote past may reflect stories about the efforts of early rulers to control the flood waters of the Huang River- the mighty river that has been central to Chinese civilization since the earliest of times.” (Holt, World History textbook, 76). China is located in the far east side of Asia. They have very rugged mountains in the west, some of the tallest in the world. In the south there are many plateaus, moving north; there are semi-deserts. The heart of China, the China Proper, has been significant though it’s early years. China has three major rivers that they used for transportation, crops, and ect. they are

Due to the water-rich Yangtze River Basin, China has been able to provide clean water to much of the highly populated region, even in the face of growing population.

The Three Gorges Dam is an unfinished project which will be the largest dam ever constructed on the planet Earth. It is situated in China on the third largest river in the world – the Yangtze. The dam has been debated over since the 1919 and is still a hot topic of debate because of its many pros and cons. In 1994 construction began on the dam, and it is expected to be finished by the year 2009. The massive dimensions of the dam are mind boggling and its functions – if the dam actually works – are truly remarkable; however, with such a large structure also comes difficulties, sacrifices, and cynics. The goal of this essay is to lend an understanding of the dam itself, the prospective benefits of

There was a river. The first time I went to my aunt’s farm in rural China I was seven, and the only memory I could recall was the powerful, roaring river I needed to cross. There was a river. The second time I visited their farm, I also saw how all the local farmers and various other farming conglomerates used the river to develop the land and feed the thirsty quinoa and corn. There was a river. I went to her farm once again this past summer, and was shocked to see that the once strong and raging river was reduced to nothing more than a trickling stream due to overuse and a worsening environmental climate. She was forced to move to the impoverished city of ChiFeng and now has to do menial labor for her meager three dollars an hour.

As the days are becoming hotter, and as our water supply is decreasing, it is becoming more relevant than ever before to increase the water inventory for the agricultural industry. With the damming of the Hetchy-Hetchy river, it will limit our already low supply and output of crop, which is the lead export of sustenance in the nation.

The engineers at the dam had no choice, and had to take the most appropriate action, which would benefit the people living in the surrounding areas the most, based on the situation, as a result, they had to release the water and not allow it to go beyond the 200 per cent capacity limit. If they allowed the water capacity in the dam to go beyond the 200 percent capacity limit, that would mean that the secondary spillway will be activated and they would not be able to control the water flow, which would then lead to the flood levels rapidly rising. Should this occur, there is a high chance that the loss of lives would be significantly higher, and the amount of damage would be much worse than what had actually occurred in 2011. More so, in the event that no action was taken at all, and the water levels began to rise at a much higher rate, until water started to spill over the dam wall, there would have been a possibility that the dam wall would have started to erode. With the additional pressure buildup from the water it is holding back, it would have been possible that the dam wall could have then collapsed completely, which would possibly have wiped out the whole city. Judging by this, the actions taken by the engineers then are ethical and correct, as if it was not for their action to release the water, the damage that could have occurred would have been significantly worse, and would have caused more grievous harm to the majority of the population of

When it came to water like the Romans Chinese were controlling it like putty in their hands. The main thing was the grand canal which brought water from one city to another and acted as a road way. The Grand Canal is the world 's longest man-made waterway, being 1,800 kilometers long. The canal connects the present cities of Beijing in the north and Hangzhou in the south, which served as dynastic capitals in the past, and contains 24 locks and 60 bridges. Since most of China 's major rivers flow from west to east, the fact that the Grand Canal runs north and south provides it as an important connector between the Yangtze River valley and the Yellow River valley. A good example of their care for water is in Document 1 “I request that you establish water conservation offices in each district and staff them with people who are experienced in the ways of water.” When it says this you can tell how much they care about the water. Both societies clearly had a good grip on the control of water, for their benefit and their pleasure.

Archeologist and historians criticize the building of the Three Gorges Dam because it is socially and environmentally destructive. This is because when the dam is finished, nearly 2 million people will have been displaced and 4000 villages, 140 towns, and 13 cities will have been swallowed up. Also, monuments, and priceless archeological discoveries of this countries culture will be lost

The Yellow River is not what is used be unfortunately. With the decrease in rainfall in the Yellow River Basin and also increasing water demands for irrigation purposes the river has dried up annually since 1972. The longest it ever ran dry was in 1997 for 226 days (Wu). These annual droughts have brought many challenges to the regions agriculture

According to the Center for The Columbia River History, “The Columbia River Basin is the most hydroelectrically developed river system in the world. More than 400 dams, 11 run-of-the-river dams on the mainstem and hundreds of major and modest structures on tributaries block river flows and tap a large portion of the Columbia's generating capacity: more than 21 million kilowatts.” It goes on to say that “Rock Island Dam on the middle river was the first major hydropower producer on the Columbia.” The Rock Island Dam, however, pales in size to the much larger Bonneville and Grand Coulee Dams that the federal government completed in 1938 and 1941. During the 1960's and 1970's the last of the mainstream dams were built on the Columbia. Canada completed the Mica Dam in 1973.

Salinas, similar to Chang’an, is in an area that benefits its inhabitants in many ways, including rivers that contributes to the surplus of agriculture and the numerous cultures that are drawn to it. In Chang’an, the ancient capital of China, agriculture was plentiful because of the Wei river. Similarly, Salinas is supported by plentiful water sources, mainly the runoff from the Sierra Nevadas and the numerous underground basins. These boundless water sources contribute to the explosion of agriculture that comes from Salinas, including 70% of the nation’s lettuce and 2 of the largest orchards in the United States. In addition to the similarities in agriculture, Salinas, similar to Chang’an, contains many cultures and races. In Chang’an, people

The World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank agreed to finance the Chixoy dam project.

The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River will probably be finished by 2009 and will be the largest hydroelectric dam in the world.

The World Bank is known to fund many infrastructure projects in developing countries, presumably as a means to achieve their goals of increasing development in those countries. Hydroelectric dams are some of the much-maligned infrastructure projects funded by the World Bank. In a report authored by employees of the World Bank itself, the authors themselves highlight the “adverse environmental and related social impacts” of large dams, while attempting to draw a distinction between “relatively good dams and bad dams”. (Ledec & Quintero, 2003)

While programs like the Cultivated Land Balancing and Payment for Environmental Services regimes have stabilized the China’s food security situation for the time being it could not have predicted the changing and increasing demands on the system. At current levels China will soon outstrip its own ability to produce sufficient food to feed itself. These concerns about China’s ability to meet its own food security needs are strong enough to spur speculation that Chinese investments in