INTRODUCTION

    The Yangtze River in China is the third largest in the world. The Chinese call the river Chang-chiang, which means "long river." With more than 30 industrial cities along the coast, this river provides about 70% of the inland water transportation. In addition to the industrial cities, the river runs through more than 25% of the agricultural farmlands and supports about a third of the population in the country. As a result of the great economic, cultural, and political importance to China, the name "China's Golden Waterway" is quite appropriate for the Yangtze River.

Three reasons

    The controversial Golden Waterway's Three Gorges Project (TGP) has been proposed for three reasons:

• to produce more efficient hydroelectric power (power generation) for the country
• flood control
• waterway navigation purposes (Ryder, 1990).

    The Yangtze River in China has been the focus of the newest megadam project. The purposes of the project are to control the flooding of the Yangtze River while generating 84 billion kilowatt/hour (kW/h) of hydroelectric power each year, and to improve the navigation along the river. With this dam, it will also create a deep-water reservoir from the Pacific Ocean to the port city of Chongqing. At that point, Chongqing will become one of the world’s largest seaports. This will help the waterway navigation in China.

Possible affects

    Although the great amount of hydroelectric power produced would benefit the country, there are many controversial issues about the TGP. By building a gigantic dam across the Yangtze River, it would create significant impacts on the river itself and affect the living people along the coast. With the TGP under way, there will be a submergence of the local coastal cities. About one million innocent civilians will be displaced to local inland urban cities. The integration of the two populations will cause an over crowding and social disruption to the local existing community. However, the main concerns of the TGP are the negative environmental impacts that the project would create. Although, the social impacts have many negative impacts, the environmental effects outweight the social impacts. The disruption of the environment and the ecosystem would alter the natural capital of China. These environmental drawbacks include: water pollution, fish migration, inundation, landslides, sedimentation, ground water contamination, soil erosion, water loss of the "great lakes" of China, ground water contamination of ShangHai, eutrophication, and an outbreak of water borne disease.

    Environmental issues are important, however, other important regional factors come into play. As many as 19 countries would be affected by the TGP. This in turn would affect a total population of 14 million people. A possible worldwide impact, an "economic and social disaster" would have to be taken into consideration. However, within the general vicinity, resettlement of 727,000 people will have to take place due to the submerging of towns and urban centers. The relocation of the population would not only affect the people socially, but also economically in the end. In addition to the submerging of towns and urban centers, historical sites (dating back to 10,000 B.C.) will also be submerged. Because of this, society will have to accept the loss of their cultural heritage (Ryder, 1988).

    As for the economic concerns, China would be drastically effected by the agricultural shifts. Vital farmlands would be submerged and so will coal mines and metal mines worth millions of dollars. With a decrease in land availability due to the submergence, the lack of replenishment of land would affect the industry and the agriculture of the country.

    Agriculture is not the only economic concern for the TGP. In order to build the dam, there must be a global funding for the project. The total estimated cost to build the dam has risen from $17 billion U.S. dollars to $75 billion. With that in mind, investment firms now have second thoughts on funding the project. The U.S. Export-Import Bank has refused to finance loans for the project, and the World Bank declined financial aid. The question remains as to who will help fund this project. Another aspect to keep in mind is the recovery of the construction cost. Will the project succeed enough to cover the amount of funding invested into the TGP? These questions lie within the economic capital of China. According to Goodland and Daly (1996), the economic sustainability means making profits. Goodland and Daly (1996) also mentioned that the environmental and social costs must be internalized through new policies and valuation techniques.

    By analyzing the possible impacts of the TGP, true benefits that could be acquired from the project need to be filtered out. An analysis of how these impacts would affect the environment, society, and the economic stability in the end would have to be taken into consideration. However, if no isolation of a single benefit from the TGP can be made, proposals for alternative roots to fulfill the demand for energy (hydroelectric power), flood control, and navigation within the water systems of China would have to take place.

    Along the riverbanks of the Yangtze River, many major cities, farmlands and hundreds of small villages reside. By building the gigantic dam across the Yangtze River, over 62,000 acres of the farmland, 13 major cities, 140 large and hundreds of small villages would be flooded (Goldsmith et al, 1984). With that fact in mind, is it worth the ecological risks to build the Three Gorges dam?

    With the submergence of vital land, a total population resettlement of 727,000 people would be relocated. Along with the relocation, their agricultural land and historical sites would be flooded as well.

Effects of Resettlement

    Although this consequence can not be determined from the current data obtained, there are several similar retrospect examples we can look at. The first example is the "Past Yvpo resettlement experience". This experience in China shows that these so-called "relocatees" have been treated like refugees from their own country. With the loss of their hard worked farmlands and homes, these relocatees had to find a temporary "home" until they were able to build up a new foundation again. During relocation, these innocent bystandards had to settle into "refugee camps" or "military camps" provided by the government. If there was a lack of these "refugee camps" people were relocated into already over populated cities and towns (Fang et al., 1988). Each city would become magnified four times in population within a small area of land. This produced over crowding in public places such as school and work.

    Another of China’s past relocation experiences is the Danjiangkou example that relocated over 380,000 people during the building of the Danjiangkou dam (Fang et al., 1988). During this relocation, the natives suffered a lot. The majority of the people were driven to homelessness and many suffered from extreme hardship to work their way back up to the economic norms of the country.

    The main difficulty of the relocation project is the lack of land availability. Relocation is not merely just the resettlement of homes but the farmlands that the lands people cultivated. The difficult objective was to find viable land for these farmers to grow their crops. Since China is already very densely populated, it is hard to find even an inch of land to cultivate any new farmlands.

    Although there were only two experiences in China alone, there were many relocation events due to dam construction worldwide. World class experts state that relocation is the "least satisfactory" event to take place. "Dam related relocation affects society in three ways: an economic disaster, human trauma, and social catastrophe", states Dr. Michael Cernea of the World Bank and Dr. Thayer Scudder, Professor of California Institutes of Technology (Jhaveri, 1988).

Affects on Society-Culture

    Not only does dam related relocation affect society, but it also affects the cultural aspects of China. Many historical sites dating to 10,000 B.C. would be submerged and lost. There will be a loss of over 100 historical sites due to the flooding (Ryder, 1990). Many of cultural heritages of China would be lost. In addition, the internationally renowned Three Gorges would also be destroyed. The scenic canyons of the Three Gorges that have inspired poets and painters for centuries would be destroyed since there will be an increase in water level.

Dam Safety

    All of the consequences mentioned above are the sociological aspects of the dam construction; however, we must take into consideration the safety of the civilians. One of the major concerns of safety is dam safety. The weight of millions of tons of water behind a dam can increase the chances of an earthquake. With any minor effects of an earthquake, the dam is subjected to breaking or severe landslides can occur. If the dam were to break, this would cause a major flooding of the Yangtze delta. Another factor of dam safety is the Three Gorges Dam being the potential prime target during a war. If a war were to break out, the first target would be the Three Gorges dam. With a threat to destroy the dam first, this would put millions of lives into risk. The destroying of the dam would wash away millions of people into the sea while destroying all viable land surrounding the river. Back in 1975, in Southern Henan Province, heavy rains caused a break in a chain of dams (Jhaveri, 1988). Millions of people below the dam were washed away into the Pacific Ocean and the remaining lives were left homeless. Other cases of dam breaks were reported in USA, Italy, and many other countries. Why would the Three Gorges Dam be of any exception?

    The technical aspect of the dam is one of the most important issues of the TGP. By observing the vast amount of environmental factors on building the Three Gorges Dams, we as a society must be able to grasp the concept of what types of risks we are putting on the natural capital. Goodland and Daly (1996) states that, "the natural capital is comprised of intact ecosystems and ecosystem services (structurally and functionally)". However, the TGP opposes that statement. With the TGP under construction, this project affects the ecosystem negatively. With the high rate of soil erosion, siltation, water loss, inundation, and species extinction, the ecosystem services can not harvest renewable substances to keep within the regeneration rate. Since the natural resources of the ecosystem of the earth can not provide services any longer, the natural capital is completely depleted. The main objective was to maintain the natural capital to ensure that adequate resources are available for nature (Goodland and Daly, 1996). However, with the TGP, these resources are just continuously depleted and not harvested for any future use.

    Throughout the technical aspects of the paper, the first topic that I will discuss is the environmental effects of the TGP. The environmental affects includes the following: siltation, sedimentation and agriculture, affects on the Yangtze river, Species disruptions, affects on other species, and the impacts on natural lakes. The topics following the environmental issues will focus on the engineering problems, the economic problems, and the social impacts due to resettlement.

Siltation

    The first major problem of the TGP is the siltation. Siltation is one of the hardest and most difficult problems for every dam. Siltation is often referred to as the "cancer" of the dam because it determines the lifetime of the project. The Yangtze River carries about 680 million tons of silt to the East China Sea every year (Anonymous, 1988). Therefore, the Yangtze River is the fourth most silt-laden river in the World. An estimated guess of sedimentation to occur is about 0.5 billion tons of silt will become trapped behind the dam every year during the TGP (Anonymous, 1988). Under normal conditions, for the sake of power generation, improvement of navigation, and flood control of downstream areas, TGP is supposed to store water during the flood season and to release water during dry season. However, due to siltation, this goal would be impossible to accomplish. Siltation causes an accumulation of muddy water behind the dam. In order to store the clean water and to drain off the muddy water, this would require a release of muddy water during the muddy season. Drainage of muddy waters would in turn defeat the purpose of flood control. Where silt tends to accumulate, it is hard to flush away the muddy water. If siltation happens, TGP will seriously disrupt the navigation conditions of the upper Yangtze River during the dry season. By silting up dams and dikes, the riverbeds are elevated resulting in an increase in water levels. Siltation in the end would aggravate more floods and destruction of viable land. In addition, the middle reach of the Yangtze River is full of rich rice paddies and endangered fishes. The River is the hometown of most lakes of China. Environmentalist believe that siltation can reach an equilibrium in about 50-80 years. However, siltation would be too serious of equilibrium to be reached if no measures are taken immediately.

Sedimentation and Agriculture

    Sedimentation often plays a large role as well. For the Yangtze Delta, the agriculture and fishery depends on the constant sedimentation flow from the upper Yangtze River. The sedimentation acts as a "natural" fertilizer for the down stream Yangtze Delta. However, with the TGP, the reservoir would trap over 75% of the sediments (Jhaveri, 1988). Because of intensified use of land, an accelerated rate of soil erosion is displayed. Since the agricultural land is depleted of its natural fertilizer, the cultivation of unsuitable hilly land would produce serious soil erosion. This eventually causes sedimentation and reduces the life of the reservoir (Leopold, 1991). In terms of agriculture, viable land would be lost at an exponential rate.

    Not only is agricultural land negatively impacted but also underground water is affected by pollution. As mentioned earlier on how sedimentation acts as a natural fertilizer and due to the TGP, the reservoir would trap over 75 % of sediments. Since the lower Yangtze Delta receives less sediment, more chemical fertilizers would have to be used to compensate for the loss of natural fertilizer from the upper Yangtze River. These chemical fertilizers may contain cancer-causing agents (such as nitrates) that can be introduced straight into the surface water system or the ground water system. The ground water system can become saturated with chemical pollutants from the fertilizers causing an irreversible ground water contamination. One specific area that groundwater would affect society is ShangHai. The water supply in ShangHai would be affected by some extent. Most of the regulated flow of water would increase the chances of intrusion by salty seawater into the estuary and the underground water in ShangHai (Jhaveri, 1988).

Affects on the Yangtze River

    In addition to the sedimentation impacts on the river, the dam will affect the free flowing river. The naturally free flowing Yangtze River will be transformed into a slow moving reservoir, which will further deteriorate water pollution. Since siltation elevates the riverbeds and water levels, the toxic substances and pollutants will be slowly released from the land into the river system. The substances and pollution would drastically change the biological activity in the river. With a temperature change and an increased light penetration due to stratification, it would produce plankton blooms, which triggers the start of eutrophication (Brower et al.,1990). The total productivity of the river increases until the nutrients are depleted. Since the biological activity would become dependent on nutrient flow, the existing species would overtake the habitat. The new exotic species could decline the existing fish population depending on whether the fishes can find another suitable habitat.

Species Disruption

    With the disruption of the species habitat, the discussion on how the TGP would affect the fish species in the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River would be the next concern. Within the Yangtze River, there are about 196 fish species in the upper reach, among which 90 belong to special species (Jhaveri, 1988). The fish species in the middle reach of the Yangtze River breeds in the Middle River during the flooding season. The breeding of these native species requires a certain rise of the water level as well as water temperature. However, since the TGP will drastically reduce the down stream water temperature and the rise of water level during the flooding season, it will delay the breeding period by several days. Consequently, some of theses species may disappear. In addition, the TGP may speed up the extinction rate of the rare species, such as the Chinese Sturgeon and the Chinese Paddlefish. The survival of these two species requires the middle and upper habitat of the Yangtze River. With the extinction rate increased drastically, this can seriously affect the fishery of Habei and Human Provinces. It is estimated that the TGP will reduce 3.5 billion fry catches in these areas that are important for all of Chinese agriculture (Goldsmith et al., 1984). In addition to the rare Chinese Sturgeon and the Chinese Paddlefish, there is also the endangered Yangtze River dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer). The Yangtze River dolphin is one of the world's most endangered cetaceans – an estimated 300 individuals remain (Anonymous, N/D). With the alteration to the Yangtze River due to the TGP, the extinction rate of the Yangtze River dolphin may increase.

Affects on Other Species

    Not only would the aquatic population become affected but the invaluable animal species inhabiting the land areas and large forests would also become affected. Most of the lands and forests would become submerged due to the flooding of the riverbeds. These large areas of land and forests host thousands of invaluable animal species. Most of the existing endangered species would have the possibility of becoming extinct.

    Other than just animal species becoming endangered by the TGP, we must take into consideration several factors such as landslides, sedimentation, and soil erosion. By building a dam, the free flowing river system would be converted into a slow moving reservoir type water system. Reservoir areas are well known for landslides. The erosion of the reservoir banks may trigger large-scale landslides. In addition, the regulated flow of the river would increase the river channels and bank erosion, which would result in loss of agriculture land and also intensity flooding.

Impacts on Natural Lakes

    Within the reservoirs, there is an increased evaporation of water, which will reduce the flow of water downstream of the dam. Located downstream of the dam, the "Great Lakes" of China exists. With the increased evaporation, the "Great Lakes" of China may dry up in a much faster rate (Jhaveri, 1988). Most of these natural lakes are also used for agricultural purposes. With an affect on the natural lakes, there would be a negative impact on the economic sustainability due to the loss of fisheries and employment at these local fisheries.

Engineering Problems

    Other than the environmental aspects of dam construction, there are also demographics to consider. First, there is the basic engineering features. These features are listed in Table I.

Table I. Basic engineering features (Compiled from various sources):

By the Working Group on TGP, FCSSC

• The location of the dam is at the Sandouping Village, Yichange Hubei province
• The height of the dam is 185 meters
• Dam length is 2,150 meters
• The electric generating capacity is 16,750 megawatts
• The total cost to build the dam is $75 billion U.S. dollars
• The construction duration is 18 years
• The length of the reservoir is 500-600 km.

    Another engineering feature is the parameters of the TGP. The gigantic concrete gravity dam of about 1,000 meters long and 175-185 meters high (i.e., the crest level) will make a reservoir of 500-700 kilometers long. The normal water level is a subject of controversy and is varied from 150 to 180 meters (Fang et al., 1988). According to table II, the major parameters of TGP is listed. Using the data present, we can analyze whether the TGP will be a success or not based on the engineering features.

Table II. Major parameters of TGP (Data taken from Fang et al, 1988):

Parameters 150-meter scheme 180-meter scheme
Crest height (m) 175 185
Total storage vol. (m^3) 19.7 billion 44.6 billion
Active storage (m^3) 9.4 billion 18.4 billion
Flooding control vol. (m^3) 7.3 billion 24.9 billion
Power capacity (MW) 13,000 18,720
Annual output (KW hr) 67.7 billion 89.1 billion

    According to the data given, it is obvious that a larger scheme would contain a larger active storage for more reserve volume to generate greater hydroelectric power. However, due to the greater storage volume, there will be a greater chance for a large reservoir to be produced. Reservoir areas are well known for landslides. The erosion of the reservoir banks may trigger large-scale landslides.

Economic Problems

    In addition to the engineering problems, there are many economic problems to consider. As mentioned earlier, the economic capital must be sustained. According to Goodland and Daly (1996), economic sustainability means making profits. However, the techniques practiced on the TGP, the sustainability of the financial capital are not maintained. Since the total cost of building the dam is $75 billion U.S. dollars, the construction of the dam is very costly. With this type of investment in such a large project, the overall benefits from the TGP will not compensate for the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. Another economic problem of the TGP is the funding of the project. Since the U.S. Export-Import Banks has refused to finance loans for the project, how would China obtain such great amounts of money to fund the project? In addition to the U.S. Export-Import Banks rejecting the loans, the World Bank has also declined the funding for the project.

Social Impacts-Resettlement Problems

    According to Goodland and Daly (1996), social sustainability is the maintenance of social and human capital. This means that we must keep the social and human capital intact. The social and moral capital is comprised of the following: intact social society, equal rights, and cultural identity (Goodland and Daly, 1996). In order to maintain social capital, it requires maintenance and replenishment of shared values by communities, social and religious groups. Without this, "it will depreciate just as human-made capital does" (Goodland and Daly, 1996). However, the TGP would negatively affect social sustainability. The submergence of vital land, a population resettlement would have to take place. First of all, the dam would force the relocation of 727,000 people and would flood up to 44,000 hectares of China’s most fertile farmlands (Anonymous, 1998). The resettlement of innocent civilians can alter their society in a negative way. Their rights to live in their desired area will be disturbed. According to the past relocation experiences due to dam construction, these relocatees had to find a temporary homes until they were able to build up a new foundation. Several of these retrospect experiences includes the "Past Yvpo resettlement experience" and the Danjiangkou example (Fang et al., 1988). Through these experiences, the following observations were made. During the relocation duration, these innocent by standards had to settle into "refugee camps" or "military camps" provided by the government. Majority of the people was driven to homelessness and many suffered from extreme hardship to work their way back up to the economic norms of society. By observing table III, you can view the vast numbers of innocent people that were relocated and resettled.

Table III. Population resettlements are the following (Data complied from Fang et al. 1988):

• Number of countries affected are 19
• Total number of population affected: 14 million
• Number of towns submerged: 104
• Urban centers submerged

• Population resettlement: 727,000 people

    As you have read within the technical aspects of the dam, there was a realization of the overall negative impacts of the TGP. However, we must further these oppositions by observing other aspects of the TGP as well. Usually, within one major problem, there are many other problems, which contribute to the main. These other problems include (1) the environment, (2) impacts on society, (3) economic concerns, (4) political views, and (5) the technical constraints on the TGP. In addition to these problems, there must be a proposal for an alternative to the TGP.

Environment

    In order to propose an alternative to the TGP, we must understand the negative impacts made by the TGP that has lead us to the decision factor for an "alternative". One major concern is the environment. We need to know exactly how the TGP would affect the surrounding ecosystem. By building the TGP, the following negative impacts may occur: (1) water pollution which includes ground water contamination of ShangHai, (2) water loss of the "Great Lakes" of China, (3) the disruption of fish migration, (4) inundation, (5) landslides along the banks of the Yangtze River, (6) sedimentation, (7) soil erosion, (8) an increase in water borne diseases, (9) the aggravation of droughts which can affect the productivity of farmlands in the lake areas, and (10) the possible termination of land formation which can aggravate the saltwater intrusion at the estuary.

    Weighing the benefits and losses is needed. If a project can not only disrupt one but a handful of the natural ecosystems, one question lies, "Is the TGP worth it?" If the ignorance of considering these environmental issues continues to exist, the consequences in the end would be devastating.

Social Impacts

    Not only will the TGP affect the environment and its ecosystem, but it will also affect the society inhabiting this ecosystem. By building the Three Gorges Dam, it would affect more than 14 million innocent people throughout 19 countries. These 14 million people are counted towards the submergence of towns and urban cities as well as population resettlement. By relocating society, extreme hardship will be fall on these individuals. Some relocatees will be driven into destitution and even homelessness. Several other people will be relocated into new homes resembling refugee camps or military camps (Jhaverni, 1988). Not only would towns and urban areas become submerged, there would be a loss of cultural heritage too. By submerging over 100 historical sites, society would lose its cultural identity.

    A possible threat affecting society mentally is not the only concern. Physical safety must be taken into consideration. The weight of the millions of tons of water behind the dam may increase the chances of earthquakes. At this point, dam safety is acknowledged. If the dam were to break, the Yangtze River would kill thousands of people. In addition, if a war broke out, the Three Gorges would be one important target.

Economic Issues

    In order to fund such a large project, you must take into consideration several factors. First, the TGP would cost an estimated amount of $75 billion U.S. dollars. The U.S. Export-Import Bank has refused to finance loans for the project, and the World Bank declined financial aid. Therefore, who will fund the project? China does not have the capabilities to fund the project themselves. With an attempt to do so, China would put themselves into a deeper economic crisis. Another economic concern is the duration of the project. An estimated duration is 20 years. Who will fund the building of the dam for these 20 years? In addition, to the economic concerns on funding the project, there are other economic losses due to the TGP. These other economic losses include the loss of coal mines and metal mines worth millions of dollars, which will be submerged. Thousands of kilometers of highways and railways, and factories will have to be submerged or relocated. This relocation would be very costly. Also, all of the Fulling Zha Chai (Sichuan preserved vegetables) fields will be submerged along with thousands of acres of forests (Fang et al.,1988).

Energy Situations

    Along with the economic concerns, there are political aspects, which further confuses a decision regarding the TGP. Since China has suffered from serious shortage of electricity since the early 70’s, one of the goals of the TGP was to provide enormous amounts of hydroelectric power. However, there is a flaw on accomplishing this goal. With a shortage in both electricity and the mass amounts of under-development of water energy in China, this is difficult to fulfil. These obstacles are largely caused by the governmental policies. Despite the minute advantages of waterpower, rich water resources of China are far from being fully utilized. Up to now, the coal industry accounts for more than 70% of energy production, while waterpower contributes less than 5 %. The price of coal has been kept too low to provide any incentive to develop waterpower. Both the investment interest and the tax of waterpower are higher than that of coal and oil. The development of thermal power has been a favorable choice compared to waterpower. The investments such as building coal fields and railways are factors that do not have to be worried about. While, the resettlement in a waterpower project has to be taken into consideration. By referring to Table IV, the composition of primary energy production and consumption is given (Fang, et al., 1988).

Table IV. Composition of primary energy production and consumption (Data compiled from Fang, et al, 1988):

China (1985) % World (1980) %

Production Consumption Consumption

Coal     72.8     75.8    25.9
Oil         20.9     17.1     45.6
Natural gas 2.0     2.3     18.5
Waterpower 4.3     4.8     6.3
Nuclear         0         0     1.1
Others             --         -- 1.1

    Here, we have seen, because of economy, an inappropriate situation of the industrial development of China. The regional development is out of proportion to its resources. Coal deposits of China are mostly located in the northern and northwestern areas, while the waterpower resources are located in southwestern areas. The coal deposits are about a thousand miles away from the power-hungry industrial centers in the southeastern area. Those rich and developed coastal provinces are rather poor in the natural resources, while those inland areas rich in resources are largely underdeveloped. Therefore, there have been many factors against the development of waterpower.

Proposed Water Project

    Over viewing the vast amount of potential negative impacts made by the TGP, an alternative strategy can be planned out. One main alternative, especially for hydroelectric power is to build dams along two different river systems, the Jinsha Jiang and the Yalong Jiang. Experts argue that these two river systems would be a more suitable compared to the Yangtze River (Fang et al., 1988). The Jinsha Jiang, which takes up more than a half of the total drop of the Yangtze River, can have an echelon of eight dams in series. These dams will have a total capacity of 50,000 megawatts, which is four times the capacity of the 150-meter scheme. There will be an active volume of 65 levels of formation of four or five dams, which can be built at the Yalong Jiang. Each with a similar capacity as TGP and the volumes are more active for flood control. Table V gives a more detailed comparison of TGP and several selected alternatives. These alternatives have the following advantages:

Table V. Proposed water projects in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River (From Fang et al., 1988):

Rivers: Jinsha Jiang Yalong Jiang TGP
Location: (Dukou-Yibin) (Jinping-Dukou) (150-meter plan)
No. Of dams 4 5 1
Active vol. (M^3) 16.6 billion 9.4 billion 9.4 billion
Capacity (MW) 27,220 10,800 13,000
Annual output (KWhr)149.9 billion 68.8 billion 64.6 billion
Min. output (%)* 34 54 23
Inundation (Ha) 12,100 1840 9740
Resettlement 196,000 24,300 330,400
Total Cost (yuan) ** 26.3 billion 10.7 billion 16.0 billion
Cost/KW *** 966 994 1227
Cost/KW hr (yuan) 0.175 0.156 0.247

*: Percentage of minimum output in the total capacity.
**: Total cost of the project without including interest, all TGP data were provided by "Chang Ban".
**: Investment per kilowatt capacity.

The Alternative Solution

    These alternatives were proposed for the following advantages. Since the rich "mines" of waterpower are mostly located in the southwestern areas of China, a power plant there will be more efficient than the TGP. With similar capacity and costs, the dams in the upper reaches will have a more active volume, are therefore will be more useful in flow regulation and flood control. This way, better quality of power can be provided. Another advantage is that the alternative projects contains a series of smaller dams, whose construction is technically much less challenging compared to the megadam of the TGP. Since these dams can be built at a same time, the alternative projects will take about 10 years in comparison to the 20-year TGP. In addition, the series of dams will generate more electricity by the time TGP is finished. The alternative dams will also cost much less than the TGP if the investment interest is taken into account. Since the alternative projects are located in a less populated upper reach area, there will be less inundation loss and resettlements. Other than the relocation being dispersed in several provinces, this will make the task much easier to accomplish. The goals in maintaining the social sustainability will be easier to accomplish. The social effects of relocation by the "alternative dams" will be less exhausting. Finally, The alternative projects will create less environmental effects compared to the TGP.

Anonymous, N/D. Dams on Dolphins. http://www.pbs.org/saf/4_class/45_pguides/pguide_602/4562_dams.html.

Anonymous, 1988. "Rejection of Chinese Dam Financing is Victory for Environment, Labor, Human Rights." ^† America Online.

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http:// ourworld.compuser.com/homepage/SMIPP/frmt.html.

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Goldsmith, Edward and Hildyard, Nicholas. 1984. The Social and Environmental Effects of Large Dams. Published by Wadebridge Ecological Center.

Goodland, Robert and Daly, Herman.1996. Environmental Sustainability: Universal and Non-Negotiable. Ecological Applications 6 (December 20, 1994): 4.

Jhaveri, Nayna. 1988. "The Three Gorges Debacle." The Ecologist 18:56-63. {Nayna Jhaveri is working for a Hong Kong-based organization which is involved in the campaign against TGP}.Address: Hong Kong Environment Centre c/o Conservancy Association G.P.O Box 157 Hong Kong Telephone: (352) (03) 321.

Leopold, Luna B. 1991. Sediment Problems at Three Gorges Dams. http://www.irn.org/irn/programs/3g/leopold.html.

Ryder, Grainne (ed). 1988. "The Three Gorges Dam: Whose Dam Business Is It?". Cultural Survival Quarterly 12:2.

Ryder, Grainne (ed). 1990. "Damming the Three Gorges: What Dam-Builders Don’t Want You to Know". Toronto: Probe International. This is a Very newly released book. Criticizing the final report prepared by the Montreal-based (CYJV). {Note: Probe International is a non-profit public interest research group that monitors the effects of Canadian aid and trade policies on the people and environment of the Third World}. Address: Probe International 100 College Street Toronto, Ontario Canada
M5G 1 LS Telephone: (416) 978-7014.

^† The following information was obtained via America Online. The Website address was unattainable since I forgot to write it down during the research process. During the research, I saved these articles into my hardrive which did not state the original website address.

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