Environmental issues of the Three Georges Dam

Three Gorges Dam, the dam on the River Yangtze (Chang Jiang) just west of Yichang City in Hubei Province, China. Once the dam was formally started building in 1994, it was China’s biggest engineering project. This was the world’s largest dam structure at the time its completion in 2006.

The High-resolution satellite imagery was captured by ShowMySite from cloudeo. ShowMySite used to get a literal “high-level overview” of any plot of land (for example, to monitor long-term and short-term changes from construction, infrastructure, or natural terrain changes)

Landslides

Erosion in the reservoir caused by rising water causes frequent major landslides that resulted in noticeable disturbances in the surface of the reservoir, including two incidents in May 2009 when somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 cubic meters (26,000 and 65,000 cubic meters) of material plunged into the Wuxia Gorge of the Wu River.

Sedimentation

Two hazards that are unique to the dam are listed. One is that there is no consensus on sedimentation estimates and the other is that the dam sits on a seismic fault. At current levels, 80 percent of the area’s land is undergoing erosion, depositing about 40 million tons of sediment annually into the Yangtze. Since the flow above the dam is slower, more of this water will now settle down there instead of going downstream, and there will be less downstream runoff.

Soil Erosion

Hydrological experts had cautioned that the dam was unsafe for the ecosystem due to several factors. Two dangers associated with the dam were the inviolable predictions of sedimentation and the seismic fault on which the dam sits. 80% of the land in the dam region experienced soil erosion, depositing about 40 million tons of sediment annually in the Yangtze River.

Erosion in the reservoir, induced by rising water, caused frequent major landslides which resulted in visible disruption in the surface of the reservoir.

The dam has also affected the forest cover, wildlife, and terrestrial impact and its waste management is also under a cloud.

Fact about Three Gorges dam

Three Gorges Dam was built, 39 trillion kilograms of water from the Yangtze River built up behind it to 175 meters above sea level. NASA has estimated that the dam only delays 0.06 microseconds, which is six-hundredths of a millionth of a second, in rotation. The rotational speed of our planet actually fluctuates fairly frequently, as it can be influenced by the North Pole ‘s earthquakes, the moon, and climate change-induced movement.

Regional rainstorms and mudslides that started up have uprooted over 7,300 houses and affected nearly eight million people by the end of the month. The intense non-stop rains had increased the fears of the public about the possible harm to the world’s largest hydropower project.

To get High-resolution Satellite Imagery: https://www.cloudeo.group/showmysite