”Made in China” Ping.
(Please FReepmail me if you would like to be on or off of the list.)
Posted on 11/02/2007 6:35:01 PM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
(BEIJING) — The world's earliest irrigation system is being threatened by a hydroelectric project to be built in southwest China, state press said Friday, citing critics of the project.
A series of 10 small hydro plants to be built on the Botiao river in Sichuan province will destroy the natural ecology of the Dujiangyan irrigation system, a UNESCO World Heritage listed site, the China Daily reported.
"It is irrational to build such stations as they will destroy the natural ecology along the river," Chen Qingheng, a expert at the China Academy of Sciences, was quoted by the paper as saying.
"Moreover, (the dams) will affect the local drinking water."
The system was built around 250 BC and continues to work "perfectly" today in controlling and distributing water throughout the Chengdu plains, according to the UNESCO website that explains why Dujiangyan has World Heritage listing.
The Dujiangyan administration bureau is a backer of the one billion yuan (135 million dollar) dam project, which if built will have a combined electrical capacity of 100,000 kilowatts, according to the China Daily.
The dam project is currently undergoing an environmental impact assessment, the paper said of what is often the final step in project approval.
Besides threatening the local fresh water supplies, the 10 dams could also become a flood hazard to farms in the region, other opponents said.
"If the dams are breached, every farm and village in the area will be at risk," said Zhao Wenqian, deputy head of the Sichuan provincial academy of water resources.
Over recent decades, China has engaged in massive hydroelectric development to feed its skyrocketing energy needs, but critics often oppose projects due to the large ecological and cultural damage that the dams cause.
The Botiao river is a branch of the Min river which in turn is a major tributary of the Yangtze, China's longest river and home to the just completed Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest dam project.
Old news.
The Yangtze (Yellow) river is so named because of the suspended silt. This alone is going to doom the Three Gorges Dam project and has already filled catchment and coffer dams upstream. Siltation is wreaking holy hell with turbines and lock machinery. The flooded cities, towns, villages and industries with their attendant toxic wastes only adds to the load. Run-off and direct drainage from discrete and diffuse sources are only icing on the cake. One of my former professors was a consultant on water quality issues hired by the Chicoms. Basically, he told them to pound sand if they went ahead with the Yangtze hydro project. Pretty strong position coming from a guy who was a de facto commie himself.
The upshot will be the severe alteration of the Chinese breadbasket output that is primarily watered by the Yangtze. With a population of 1.2:1 male/females ratio and a looming ag crisis on the horizon, it doesn’t bode well for happy thoughts or global peace fans.
A Scientific American paper suggests that global warming actually began 8,000 years with agriculture, beginning in Asia, and without it a lot of the world would be too cold for human habitation.
http://ccr.aos.wisc.edu/news/0305046.pdf
fascinating. I think China is headed for a hard fall. The only question is how.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.