The Three Gorges Dam INTRODUCTION The Three Gorges Dam is the world’s largest hydropower project and most notorious dam. The massive project sets records for number of people displaced (more than 1.2 million), number of cities and towns flooded (13 cities, 140 towns, 1,350 villages), and length of reservoir (more than 600 kilometres). The project has been plagued by corruption, spiralling costs, environmental impacts, human rights violations and resettlement difficulties. Flood Control: Since the beginning of the Han Dynasty 2,300 years ago, there have been 214 major floods recorded, averaging 1 flood every ten years. Within this past century, there have been five major floods that were recorded to have claimed hundreds of millions of lives, millions of acres of farmland, destroyed thousands of homes, and billions of dollars of damage.
The Three Gorges Dam is a model for disaster, yet Chinese companies are replicating the model. Huge hydropower cascades have been proposed and are being constructed in some of China’s most pristine and culturally diverse river basins. Around the world, large dams are causing social and environmental devastation while better alternatives are being ignored. It is the world’s biggest hydro project and the problems that come along with it are not unA third of China’s 1.3 billion people live in and around the Yangtze River basin. For centuries,
When the river passes Baton Rouge, it is very deep, and wider than the height of the state’s phallic capitol, then the tallest building in Louisiana. By the time the river reaches New Orleans it has carved a depth of 25 stories and the currents are so treacherously swift that whatever falls in, including bodies, may not resurface before reaching the Gulf of Mexico. So I grew up drawn to the river and warned against it. Alec Soth lives at the northern end of the river and is equally drawn by its power, its lore and its physical grandeur as well as the rich legacy of literature that it has inspired, most especially Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. Trekking along the Mississippi, Soth wasn’t interested in the large cities or industries.
As a result many LEDC countries such as Chile often experience the effects more severely than those in MEDCs such as Italy. In June 1991 on the Island of Luzon in the Philippines, Mount Pinatubo erupted where 500,000 people lived within the danger zone of the volcano. The Philippines is a LEDC, which relies heavily on sustenance farming, as a result the effects of this eruption severely affected the people. 847 people died directly from the volcano and 500 more from the indirect effects of the eruption. During the time the USA had used the Philippines as a military base and thanks to this they provided financial support.
With reference to an area that you have studied, describe and explain the appropriateness of flood management strategies? (15marks) The Three Gorges dam on the Yangtze River in China can seem a very appropriate strategy of flood management however there are some negatives that show that is not a full proof strategy. The Three Gorges dam was built in 1994 to try and reduce major flooding in cities such as Wuhan and Nanjing. It is 101m high and as well boasts the largest hydroelectric power station in the world with around 26 turbines. Behind the dam is a reservoir which can hold up to 22km³ of water, this act as a catchment are for flood water.
M. says “Most of China’s 617 cities face water issues. Beijing is one of the cities that are most affected. Most of northern China is now relaying on underground water which was formed about 10,000 years ago to meet the demands of the overpopulation in China. In February 2007 one of the most severe droughts hit china and affected 5 million people. In Yancheng Jiangsu 300 kilometers from Shanghai, more than 200,000 people
This is shown by how there GDP is high, and the very large population. Productivity in China has also significantly increased in the last few decades. There are many different natural resources that can be found on China for example: coal, iron ore, petroleum, natural gas, mercury, tin, tungsten, antimony, manganese, molybdenum, vanadium, magnetite, aluminium, lead, zinc, uranium, hydropower potential (world's largest). China can make huge amounts of money by selling its natural resources to other countries where they may not be able to extract these resources from their own country. In 2006, out of all the consumer electrics in the world, 80% was exported from China.
The Rise of the British Empire The British Empire was the greatest empire the world ever knew. It covered one quarter of the Earths land mass and dominated most of the Earth’s waters. It also included 450 million people, a quarter of the world’s total population 300 million of whom lived in India. Britain is what you would call an “island fortress” because we are completely surrounded by water and the English Channel is a kind of moat that hasn’t been successfully crossed for 1000 years as Britain’s last successful invasion was in 1066. Many have tried since then but all have failed, such as the Spanish armada in 1588.
Three Gorges Dam 4/29/13 The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric plant built on the Yangtze River in China. It’s the largest hydroelectric dam on Earth and can be seen in pictures from space. The dam has been the subject of controversy and dilemma since its construction. Raising numerous environmental, ethical and social dilemmas that question whether the pros of the dam outweigh the cons. Although the dam produces a huge amount of energy for China it has created many problems.
The popularity of this “solution” is apparent in the $22 billion USD average annual revenue of the industry. The bottled water industry drains huge amounts of water from local sources across the world. The volume of water commandeered by the industry is to the tune of 8.9 billion litres annually. The rapid rate at which water is drained causes massive amounts of disruption to local ecosystems. The extent of ecological damage means that it takes decades for an ecosystem affected by the industry to heal.