Images of pollution in China http://www.google.com/search?q=water+pollution+on+the+yangtze&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=CKYOU7L2OIihogS554DQAw&ved=0CC0QsAQ&biw=1093&bih=515&surl=1&safe=active
Is the Three Gorges Dam really a clean, renewable energy source?
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~vanti20m/classweb/website/environmentalimpact.html
Critics had long warned of the potential environmental damage that would result from such an extensive construction project. Some say that hydroelectric power should not be considered as a renewable energy source because of the irreversible environmental damage that results from these projects.
Greenhouse Gases:
The main environmental benefit of the Three Gorges Dam is the reduction of carbon emissions. However, it has been found that the dam does cause greenhouse gases to be released into the atmosphere, just not in the form of industrial pollution. In reservoirs, the breakdown of vegetation and organic material that accumulates actually releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere! Therefore, while proponents claim that hydroelectric energy is a “clean” energy source, this is not entirely the case.
Water Pollution:
Vegetation is not the only thing that will accumulate behind the dam. The dam has blocked approximately ten million tons of plastic bags, bottles, animal corpses, trees, and other detritus that would have otherwise have flowed out to sea. The Yangtze River is already one of the most polluted rivers in the world. Because of its proximity to several city centers, the dumping of industrial waste and sewage has always been a serious problem. More than 265 billion gallons of raw sewage are dumped into the Yangtze annually. In addition, the reservoir itself flooded 1,600 abandoned factories, mines, dumps, and potential toxic waste sites. Because the dam prevents any of this material to be washed out to see, water quality in the Yangtze has become much worse since construction of the dam began.
This project claims to yield social benefits: less air pollution will result in better health and a higher standard of living. But in reality, millions of residents of the Three Gorges Dam area rely on the Yangtze River as their only water source. In Fengdu County alone, which lies on a tributary of the Yangtze River, contaminated water affects the lives of 50,000 people.
Siltation:
Because of reduced water speed behind the dam, an estimated 530 million tons of silt will accumulate behind the dam. Critics claim that the spillway built into the dam, with a discharge capacity of 116,000 cubic meters, is still not of sufficient size to prevent siltation from occurring behind the dam. The rising silt levels could eventually cause sections of the Yangtze to be impassible for shipping, which will impact Chongqing, which relies on Yangtze River trade for economic vitality. Silt accumulation could even block the sluice gates that are essential to control water levels behind the dam. In the event of heavy rainfall, rather than working to control the waters, the dam could actually cause more flooding to occur upstream. In addition, the reduced water speed will hinder the power generating capacity of the hydroelectric dam and contribute to accumulation of pollutants and toxins in water, reducing fresh water availability.
Ecosystem Disruption:
The giant hydroelectric dam serves as a physical barrier that disrupts the river ecosystem. In addition to water pollution, habitat fragmentation will have a detrimental effect on all species within the Three Gorges Dam area. In an environmental impact assessment, it was determined that there are 47 endangered species in the Three Gorges Dam area that are supposed to be protected by law. Two of the most popular marine animals in China, the Chinese River Dolphin and the Chinese Sturgeon are included in the list of species at risk. Ecosystem disruption poses not only environmental problems, but economic problems as well. The physical barrier interferes with fish spawning, and in combination with pollution, the dam will have a serious impact on the fishing economy of the Yangtze River.
Fisherman at the Three Gorges Dam
Deforestation:
Deforestation is another factor that refutes China’s claim that the Three Gorges Dam is a “clean” energy source. Forests are a major carbon sink and work to negate greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere. However, the process of deforestation (burning trees) actually emits carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and is responsible for 20% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
An immense amount of deforestation occurred for the construction of this project, mainly to provide farmland in the surrounding areas for those whose homes and farms were flooded by the reservoir. Much of this land is located on the steep slopes of the gorges, and has been determined as unsuitable land for farming. In addition, the three gorges dam area is geographically unstable, and deforestation has increased the risk of landslides. Because of this, residents are being forced to relocate for a second time.
Landslides:
The most current environmental concern with the Three Gorges Dam is the prevalence of landslides. So far there have been 91 places where the shore has collapsed, with a total of 36 kilometers of land caved in. Some of these landslides have triggered 50 meter-high waves on the reservoir behind the dam. In Fengjie County alone, officials have designated more than 800 disaster-prone areas. The potential for geological disaster is threatening the lives of millions of residents in the area. Large dams increase the possibility for earthquakes because of increasing geological pressure from rising water. Over 360 million people live within the watershed of the Yangtze River. In the chance of earthquake or dam collapse, millions of people who live downstream will be endangered.
Landslides have resulted from a culmination of factors. The Three Gorges area has been always been geologically unstable before construction on the dam began. When relocation began, many people were moved to higher land in the valley just above the flood line. Farmers cleared land to plant crops or orange trees, but deforestation contributed to soil erosion and destabilized many hillsides. Construction crews are now reinforcing the hillsides with concrete to prevent more landslides. Some residents have received aid from the government, but most are camping out in tents nearby for lack of money and transportation to be relocated. Most residents are farmers and fishermen who were forced to leave their villages for higher land and put their life savings into these new homes that were not built on reliable land.
Landslides on the Yangtze River
Threat of Pollution in the Yangtze http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/about_freshwater/freshwater_problems/river_decline/10_rivers_risk/yangtze/yangtze_threats/
Rivaling the impact of the Three Gorges Dam, this basin faces unprecedented pollution as a result of rapid, large-scale industrial and domestic development, and agricultural runoff. According to Chinese environmental activist Dai Qing, the Yangtze used to be so clear that you could see a pen sink to the bottom. Now it has become so dirty that it is not fit for drinking.
Over the last 50 years, there has been a 73% increase in pollution levels from hundreds of cities, in the main stem of the Yangtze River. The annual discharge of sewage and industrial waste in the river has reached about 25 billion tons, which is 42% of the country’s total sewage discharge, and 45% of its total industrial discharge. In addition, the CCICED (China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development) Task Force on Reducing Non-Point Pollution from Crop Production concluded that 92% of the nitrogen discharged into the Yangtze is from agriculture.
· Shipping discharges are also to blame for the river’s declining health. As well, the extensive loss of floodplain areas to agriculture has reduced the basin’s ability to detoxify pollutants.
· The major pollutants in the Yangtze main stem are suspended substances, oxidizing organic and inorganic compounds, and ammonia nitrogen. This has severely reduced drinking water quality and contributed to dramatic eutrophication.
· Shallow, slower water flowing in belts adjacent to the banks near urban areas, and in smaller lakes and tributaries off the main stem, suffer even worse eutrophication and higher concentrations of the pollutants.
· The Yangtze is the 4th largest sediment carrier in the world due to the proportion of arable land in its catchment, damming and erosion from land conversion.
· In the first 60 years of the 20th century, the Yangtze’s sediment yield increased by about 30%, which corresponds to a related increase in surface erosion area in the basin.
· Since the 1960’s, the sediment yield in many areas of the basin has increased, while the suspended sediment flux has dramatically decreased as it has been trapped in dam reservoirs.
· Hydropower developments impound reservoirs that severely affect water quality. After 13 years of construction, the Three Gorges Dam is now built and will be fully operational in 2008.
The Three Gorges Dam exacerbates water pollution by impounding waters, trapping sediment and increasing eutrophication. Chongqing Municipality, at the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers has become the largest economic centre in southwest China, but is the largest source of organic water pollution in the Yangtze upstream of the Three Gorges Dam. Before the Three Gorges Dam, health impacts in the area were already substantial including intestinal infectious diseases such as hepatitis A, and dysentery incidence rates some 50% higher than the national average. E-coli bacteria are rampant in water sources, and as high as 15,000 E-coli/L in some parts of the city.
The Three Gorges Dam, about 660 Km downstream, reduces the velocity of the Yangtze River, increases its water depth, and alters the natural flow regime. In the huge reservoir behind the dam, eutrophication threatens surface water quality, and near water intakes.
Also, impounded water submerges existing urban water and sanitation infrastructure. In addition, construction for the Three Gorges Dam never included a budget to clean towns of toxic waste before submerging them.
In Wanxian, Wan County, the Three Gorges Dam submerges part of the sewer system and waste water treatment plant as well as dumpsites along the river. Garbage heaps, boat effluent, pig and animal waste, factories, hospitals, and mines containing hazardous and possibly radioactive waste on the bottom of the reservoir are creating serious pollution.
In addition, possible riverbank collapses and landslides as a result of damming will add even more stress to the water quality of the Yangtze
“In one study, cadmium levels in irrigation waters at Hubei Province in the middle reaches of the Yangtze were 160 times applicable water standards.
Tests from the hair of affected populations revealed that the levels of cadmium are 5 times higher than background levels and only marginally lower than the threshold concentration causing itai-itai disease in humans. Local Chinese experts are now describing pollution in the Yangtze as ‘cancerous’.
Politics Climate Change5 Shocking Photos Of China's Not-So-Green Three Gorges Dam
By Hyacinth Mascarenhas July 18, 2013
As the world's largest source of so-called 'clean' hydroelectric power, China's controversial Three Gorges dDam promised to provide friendly energy to millions.
Built on theYangtze River in the Hubei Province at a cost of $22.5 billion, the dam was completed in 2006 and has a combining generating capacity of 22.5 million kilowatts (22,500 megawatts), the equivalent of fifteen15 nuclear reactors, and was a crucial part of China's 'green' initiative to solve its massive energy crisis.
It also requiredmore than 1.4 million people to be relocated from towns, cities, and villages to make way for the giant dam.
While most Chinese citizens hoped the colossal project would be worth the cost, the disastrous environmental repeurcussions that have sprung since then prove otherwise.
1. It was dangerous from the get-go
Via: China Navis
The project, which began in 1993, came with dangerous risks that the weight of the reservoir would "alter China's geology, uproot millions of people, poison water supplies by trapping pollution, and disrupt the Yangtze watershed."
Creating a reservoir stretching up to 370 miles, the once gorgeous Three Gorgeous region is now plagued with floating debris and filth.
2. It forms thick and vast garbage patches
Via: China Navis
Thousands of tons of garbage are seasonally washed down into the Yangtze River by torrential rain and flooding to createvast floating islands of garbage and debris.
In some regions, the crust of rubbish is so thick that one can literally walk on it.
3. It is incredibly overwhelming for cleanup crews
Via: China Navis
The floating garbage has overwhelmed local cleanup crews working in the Yangtze River in Yichange, Central China's Hubei province.
In August 2010, nearly three tons of wastewere collected from the dam every day, but operators still struggled due to lack of manpower and equipment.
4. It is a very expensive ordeal
Via: China Navis
The China Three Gorges Corporation spends about 10 million yuan ($1.5 million)per year to clear floating waste.
But multiple nearby cities continue to dump household garbage directly into the river due to municipalities' lack of trash disposal resources.
5. It is and will continue to be horrible for the ecosystem
By slowing down the normally quick flowing river, the dam has caused silt to settle on the riverbed and damage existing ecosystems.
In addition to boosting existing problems such as pollution levels and water-borne diseases, the stagnant reservoir will continue to weaken the riverbank and threatens to displace another 100,000 people due to erosion.
Beijing's mayor announces 'all-out effort' to tackle air pollution
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/chinas-choice/2014/jan/16/china-beijing-air-pollution-hazardous
A number of Chinese cities again hit by record high levels of air pollution as residents are advised to stay indoors
There appears to be no end in sight for China's air pollution problems as Beijing issued its first pollution warning of the New Year. The capital, along with Tianjin and a number of cities in Hebei province are again enveloped in a shroud of hazardous smog. Some of Beijing's most well-known buildings were barely visible on Thursday as the municipal government issued a yellow smog alert.