Three Gorges dam faces 'biggest challenge'

[GoFlyKiteNow]

Three Gorges dam faces 'biggest challenge'
08:03, July 19, 2010
Peoples' daily
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/7070538.html


The Three Gorges reservoir is expected to face its biggest challenge since its operation, with a major flood brewing at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, water authorities said on Sunday.

The China Three Gorges Corporation forecast that floods as huge as those in 1998 will occur.

The peak flow of the coming flood has been forecast at 70,000 cubic meters a second, greater than the 50,000 cubic meters a second during the flood in 1998, when 4,150 people were killed and 18.4 million residents evacuated.

The Three Gorges navigation administration said on Saturday it will close ship locks if floods gush in at a speed of up to 45,000 cubic meters a second.

At least 146 people have already been confirmed dead and 40 missing in 10 provinces and Chongqing municipality by Friday, after continuous rainstorms and floods in the areas since July 1, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.

Heavy rains have inflated water flow at both the mainstream and tributaries of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, with inflow from the Minjiang, Tuojiang and Jialing rivers rising fast, said Wang Jun, director of the hydrology bureau under the Changjiang Water Resources Commission.

Daily rainfall at the Jiuyuan monitoring station on the Jialing River hit 225 mm on Saturday. Inflow to the Cuntan monitoring station on the Yangtze River mainstream went up to 42,300 cubic meters a second at 3 pm on Sunday.

Inflow to the Three Gorges reservoir will reach 53,000, 66,000 and 60,000 cubic meters a second at 8 am on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, the hydrology bureau forecast.

With strong rains forecast along the Jinsha River on Thursday, inflow to the reservoir is also expected to approach 70,000 cubic meters a second.

The Yangtze River flood control and drought relief office has been closely monitoring water in the river and adjusting the storage of the Three Gorges reservoir to help relieve mounting flood pressure along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, office director Wei Shanzhong said.

Although the peak discharge at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River will surpass that in 1998, the duration and total flood volume will be less, the office said on Sunday.

Flood pressure at the middle and upper reaches of the river should also lessen with control by the reservoir, it said.

 

[longbow]

I think that is whole purpose of building the dam. To control water levels during flood situation. Read that water rose 4 meters in 1 day!! Cannot imagine the pressure behind that dam.

I met a civil engineer on that project. Everything was over spec to counter any "cheating" on the materials. Also signals from Beijing was "zero tolerance" for shortcuts given the importance of the project.

 

[longbow]

Here is latest on Three Gorges. They must be producing heck of a lot of hydro power given the spped of water

Beijing, China (CNN) -- The giant Three Gorges Dam which spans China's Yangtze River in Yichang, Hubei Province, has withstood the biggest test of its flood control capabilities since it was completed in 2009, according to a senior official.

The massive but controversial dam has seen its biggest flood crest since it was opened: flood water with speeds of 70,000 cubic meters per second hit the dam early this week. Liu Ning, vice minister of Water Resources, said this is 20,000 cubic meters per second more than the flood that killed 4,150 people in 1998.

"The Three Gorges Dam is instrumental in our flood control efforts," Liu told reporters in Beijing.

Southern China braces for tropical storm

"We are able to control the outward flow of flood water as it goes downstream," Liu said, noting that, without it, the smaller dams and the towns and cities along the lower reaches of the Yangtze would be seriously endangered.

Built at an estimated cost of $24 billion, the centerpiece of the world's biggest hydroelectric project is designed to help flood control, capable of holding back 22 billion cubic meters of extra flood water, according to the Chinese government.

But the project has also faced criticism after hundreds of thousands of people were displaced to make way for the dam and reservoir. Environmentalists also fear the dam could create an ecological disaster, with reports of landslides and severe erosion downstream.

After the deadly flooding in 1998, China reinforced and rehabilitated major dikes along the Yangtze, Liu said.

"We have completed 29 projects after 1998. They serve as the pillar of our flood control."

He said that so far this year, they have seen only "sporadic breaches of dikes," including those in Jiangxi and Anhui provinces.

Responding to questions about potential issues with any of the 29 projects, Liu said: "We have examined these projects and so far we have not discovered any problems of quality."

In the coming weeks, Liu said they would monitor floodwaters in the major rivers like the Yangtze and Huaihe, and Dongting lake.

China will take more preventative measures, improve weather forecasting, monitoring and public information, and guard against the danger posed by looming tropical storms.

China expects six to eight typhoons this year.

 

[mentor_LEE]

You fucking moron peasant!

Pay attention to my THREE TOMBSTONE DAM instead of PRC Three Gorges Dam!

Fucking idiot!