U.S. Water News Online
BEIJING -- China unleashed the Yangtze River upon the world's largest hydroelectric dam by blowing up the temporary structure used during construction, state media reported.
The 1.4-mile-long Three Gorges Dam now holds back the full force of the river and assumes its role in controlling the deadly floods that have regularly ravaged China's farming heartland.
The dam was completed last month but its power-generation facilities are not slated to be finished until 2008. It is designed to eventually produce 22.4 million kilowatts of electricity -- enough to light up Shanghai on a peak day with power to spare.
The water level of the Three Gorges Reservoir will rise from the current height of 440 feet to 510 feet after the summer flood season is over, the official Xinhua news agency said. At its full height, waters will to rise to 575 feet, although experts claim no one really knows how high they will increase because of silting and the area's irregular geography.
More than 1.13 million people have been relocated to make way for the dam and its reservoir, and officials are keen to show they are sensitive to the dam's massive environmental impact.
Before they demolished the temporary structure, officials zapped the water with electric pulses to drive the fish away, Xinhua reported. Ultrasonic monitoring showed 90 percent of the fish fled, it said, citing Professor Tan Xichang from the Water Biological Engineering Institute.
Some 191 tons of dynamite were laid inside the temporary dam, which was 1,900 feet long and 460 feet high, according to Xinhua.
Return to the U.S. Water News Archives page Or Return to the U.S. Water News Homepage
Editor@uswaternews.com
*Your Name:
*Your Email:
*Friend's Email:
Use a comma to separate e-mail addresses:
*Your Comments:
Hi, I thought you might like to read this article.
*Required Fields