What are the unintended consequences of the Three Gorges Dam?
What are the unintended consequences of the Three Gorges Dam? Undesirable consequences of the Three Gorges Dam: (1) geological risks; (2) algal blooms and water pollution; (3) loss of biodiversity; (4) increase in water-borne diseases; (5) severe drought; (6) delta erosion and saltwater intrusion.
What is the lifespan of the Three Gorges Dam?
6. The flow of silt into the reservoir is a recognised problem which has badly affected other major hydroelectric projects in China. This has been addressed partly by reafforestation in the upper reaches of the river, but could still significantly shorten the dam's expected lifespan of 50 years.
How does the Three Gorges Dam affect the Earth?
It also affects the wildlife and ecosystem of the areas near its location, and that's not the end of it. The Three Gorges Dam is claimed to be slowing the Earth's rotation! The huge capacity of the dam can hold 42 billion tons of water at maximum. NASA scientists believe that this shift has an impact on Earth.
How does the Three Gorges Dam affect animals?
The Three Gorges Dam project threatens many endangered species that are native to the Yangtze River. The baiji dolphin, the ancient river sturgeon and the finless porpoise depend on the Yangtze for their survival. The population of Siberian cranes in Poyang Lake will also be affected by the dam.
How does the Three Gorges Dam affect biodiversity?
Over 1,300 cultural and archeological sites and 100,000 hectares of agricultural land have been submerged by the reservoir, while also impacting the habitats of over 6,000 plant species, 500 terrestrial vertebrates and 400 species of fish along the Yangtze River.
Does the Three Gorges Dam prevent flooding?
Situated on the Yangtze River in China, the Three Gorges Dam is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world. A Xylem solution at the dam provides data that helps prevent flooding and droughts.
What is the most worrying consequence of the Three Gorges Dam?
To make way for the Three Gorges Dam, 1.5 million people will have to abandon their homes. More than 160,000 citizens have already been relocated. Upon the dam's completion, 1,300 known archeological sites will be lost forever under water. Over 265 billion gallons of raw sewage are dumped into the Yangtze annually.
How did the Gorges dam impact people and or the environment?
The most important effect that the construction of the Three Gorges Dam has had on Chinese society has been the displacement of millions of people from the Yangtze river region. In order to establish the reservoir, hundreds (possible thousands) of towns and villages were evacuated and later submerged.
Is Three Gorges Dam environmental disaster?
Chinese officials staged a sudden about-face, acknowledging for the first time that the massive hydroelectric dam, sandwiched between breathtaking cliffs on the Yangtze River in central China, may be triggering landslides, altering entire ecosystems and causing other serious environmental problems—and, by extension, ...
Has a dam ever collapsed?
Between the years 2000 and 2009 more than 200 notable dam failures happened worldwide. The reservoir emptying through the failed Teton Dam Ruins of the dam of Vega de Tera (Spain) after breaking in 1959.