Happiness - Yangtze River Dynasty
The Yangtze River has a hydroelectric dam called The Three Gorges Dam.
It’s located at the province of Hubei. The largest power station is the Three Gorges Dam. The Three Gorges Dam set a world record to produce 98.8 TWh of electricity. Even though it is hydroelectricity, this still has an impact on the environment. The dam prevents emissions sent to the sky. 366 grams of coal is equivalent to 1 kWh of electricity. If the dam is at full power, The Three Gorges Dam could reduce coal use by 31 million tonnes per year, hydropower saves power that we need to wash, mine and transfer coal from northern China. The province is home to 6,388 species of plants, 57% of these plants are endangered because of this dam. In the region, it provides lots of freshwater, and freshwater fishes are also affected by this. Other marine species are endangered because of the dam, such as the Chinese river dolphin (or the Baiji), Chinese Sturgeon, Chinese Tiger, Chinese Alligator, and the Siberian Crane.
Towns and forests located in the area near the Three Gorges Dam will have to be removed in order to increase the navigability on the river. Since the loss of forests and agricultural lands will lead to erosion. So that means this might lead to increase chances for the river to flow upstream. The destruction of the villages will cause pollution problems. The Yangtze River’s color is pink because of pollution from shipping coals, acid rain, waste dumps, and its central location of the Chinese industrial activity. There are some concerns that the quality of the River will worsen if this continues.
Other problems the Three Gorges Dam caused are lower temperature and dissolved oxygen content in the water. Dissolved oxygen is required for healthy aerobic activity in aquatic ecosystems. Fish and plants depend on Carbon dioxide/oxygen to survive, but the presence of the dam will interfere with the natural process of the flow of the water.
A number of cultural and archaeological sites will be destroyed when the reservoir reaches its maximum depth. These places are valuable to the history of the Yangtze River. Some of the places holds religious significance. The Chinese government said that he will save the artifacts, but due to the time constraints and shortage of capable personnel, some of these artifacts may not be saved or preserved correctly.
The reason why the dam was built is because the Chinese Government has four goals he wants to complete. The first goal is Flood Control. It is because the Yangtze River has history of many devastating floods over the centuries causing a millions of dollars to cover the damages and the Yangtze River flood killed thousands of people. The dam will reduce the chances of flooding since it will have a flood capacity of 22.15 billion cubic meters. The second goal the government wants accomplish is Power Generation. The Three Gorges Dam uses the hydroelectric turbine generators so it will reduce China’s use of coal. The Three Gorges Dam will produce about 84.6 billion kilowatt hours of clean electricity. The third goal is navigation. The reservoir, the presence of the dam, and the ship locks will let the bigger ships to travel up and down stream. So that means the ships from Shanghai will receive goods from Chongqing. Finally the last reason is tourism. The Government thinks that the Three Gorges Dam will attract tourists from people visiting/at China.
The Three Gorges Dam was approved on 1992. The construction began on 1994 there was an estimate that the project will be finished in 15 years (which is 2009). The Dam actually has three parts: the dam itself, the ship lock and the shiplift. The dam is 1.3 miles long and it is 600 feet high. The Three Gorges Dam could produce power equivalent to 18 nuclear power plants. The water that is behind the dam is expected to reach a height of 525 ft by 2009. The Reservoir could actually store 39.3 billion cubic meters of water.