The Three Gorges Dam spans the Yangtze River near Shanghai, China.It is the world’s largest hydro-electric power station.

Building and maintaining the dam provided many jobs.

Tourist come from all over the world to see the Three Gorges Dam.

Tourists view a model of the Three Gorges Dam. You can fly over and see it from the air.

A gorge is a deep, narrow valley with steep rocky sides, often with a stream flowing through it. Gorges are smaller and narrower than canyons and are often a part of a canyon.

The lesser gorge on the Daning RiverCompare the land before and after the dam.

The Three Gorges Dam

Notice how small the people look beside it.

The lock system at the Three Gorges Dam

Ships and boats from upriver must be lowered in steps. So these locks have been built to bring them down slowly.

Commercial barges travel the river daily.

Boats must be lowered via the locks built beside the dam.

After the dam was built, the water came up to the top of this sign.

Rural life before being flooded out.

Xiling Gorge One of the three gorges through which the river flows. Farmers were removed from their homes and made to live in these apartments.

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Reasons to Build the Three Gorges Dam

• 1.Improve navigation along the Yangtze River.

• 2.Major waterway for movement of coal, other goods and people

• 3.Prevent seasonal flooding which used to cause loss of life and property along river .

• 4.Provide hydroelectric power desperately needed energy for growing population

• 5.Reduce dependence on coal with environmental and health and safety issues

Reasons NOT to build the dam

• Negative Environmental Impact

• Water Pollution. Ecosystem. Deforestation. Landslides. Sedimentation. Economical Problems.

• Destroyed 1300 archeological sites

• Flooded many historical sites.

• Examples : Ba Civilization , Ancient Fossils at Dragon Bone Cave . ShibaozhaiTemple , Zhang Fei Temple .

• Reduced tourism

Deforestation and Landslides

• Deforestation took place for the construction of the dam

reservoir and for relocating the people who lived it that area.

• The Yangtze river surrounding was already unstable before building the dam because all the lands are located on the steep slopes of the Gorges.

• After the deforestation increased the risk of landslides. Because of this, residents were forced to relocate for second time.

The main Yangtze River is one of the most polluted waterways on Earth• This is due to coal shipping, acid rain, and its location in the heart of industrial

China.

• 265 billion gallons of raw sewage are dumped into the river annually.

• Because of the dam prevents any of this material being washed out of sea, water quality has become much worse since construction of the dam began.

• It was the only water source for millions of residents around the dam area, and the life quality decreased.

• When the TGD is fully operational, there will be significant changes in water temperature, silt levels, and seasonal flow fluctuations.

• Additionally, breakdown of vegetation, silt, and other organics at the bottom of the reservoir will release significant amounts of greenhouse gasses (GHG).

Resettlement Issues

• 1. China’s highest state body warned that the Three Gorges Project has “caused some urgent problems in terms of environmental protection, the prevention of geological hazards and the welfare of the relocated communities.”

• 2. Some villagers in Fengjie Country were relocated to a new village site less than a mile away but were not given enough compensation to get new housing

• 3. 20,000 people have been relocated for the second time due to this project.

Millions of people are in danger.

Loss of Historical Sites and Treasures:

Ancient archeological sites flooded by the dam.

Among the potential tragedies of the Three Gorges Dam project are over one thousand sites of archeological and historical importance that will be submerged and lost forever upon completion of the dam. Ancestral burial grounds and centuries-old temples, fossil remains and archeological sites dating as far back as the Paleolithic Age risk being obliterated from public access and scholarly pursuit if they are not unearthed and relocated before the waters rise.

Earthquake Tremors• The Three Gorges Dam sits on two major earthquake fault

lines. In 2006 over seven months, scientists recorded 822 tremors around the reservoir.

• Earthquake, May 2008 ◦ 7.9 Richter scale earthquake, perhaps caused by the Zipingu Dam, 5.5km away ◦ 80,000 people killed, 5 million homes lost.

• Reservoirs are know to have triggered earthquakes all over the world.

• While the dam is built to withstand a strong earthquake( withstand an earthquake of 7.0 on the Richter scale ), the houses, schools, and buildings along the river are not and millions are in danger.

• ◦ Water level reached full capacity (175 m), 26 Oct 2010 26 generators to produce 84.7 bil kw/h, annually (6 more generators installed).

Plundering the Three Gorges May 14, 1998

by Spencer P.M. Harrington

An unprecedented rash of looting is following in the wake of construction of the Three Gorges Dam on the middle reaches of China's Yangtze River. The dam is the largest hydroelectric project ever undertaken; 13 cities, 140 towns, more than 1,600 villages, and 300 factories will be submerged, and nearly 1.5 million people relocated (see "Race Against Time," November/December 1996). Salvage archaeology in the region has been impoverished; the initial budget of nearly two billion yuan ($250 million) for excavation and preservation was reduced to 300 million ($37.5 million), and only a small amount of that sum has been distributed to local authorities because government officials have been unable to decide which agency should administer the funds. Full articles documenting the Yangtze looting crisis are located on the International Rivers Network website. Capsule summaries follow. http://archive.archaeology.org/online/news/china.html

Sources

• http://www.pbs.org/itvs/greatwall/controversy1.html

• November2014 THE THREE GORGES DAM & Environmental impact

• Source: China Three Gorges Dam Corporation Http://www.ctgpc.com.cn

• ◦ China Three Gorges Corporation Webpage http://www.ctgpc.com.cn/en/index.php

• Three Gorges Dam (Discovery Channel, 2007)

• http://www.slideshare.net/webtel125/three-gorges-dam-presentation

• http://www.slideshare.net/kevindesmond/three-gorges-dam-pro-or-con