Yangtze drought triggers debate over China's Three Gorges dam - AFP

[Eugene]

Yangtze drought triggers debate over China's Three Gorges dam

Thu Mar 22, 2:23 AM ET

BEIJING (AFP) - Prolonged drought along the Yangtze has reduced China's
longest river to record lows, triggering a debate over the Three Gorges
dam's ability to generate power, state media said Thursday.

The Yangtze last year fell to its lowest level since records began in 1877,
but a dam official told the Xinhua news agency that power generation in
the Three Gorges area would not be affected.

"There have never been two successive years when a serious drop in the
amount of water flowing into the mainstream of the Yangtze has occurred,"
said the official, identified only by his surname Yuan.

-snip-

However, Xinhua quoted observers as saying such arguments, based on
historical data, failed to take into consideration the more recent issue
of climate change.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070322/sc_afp/chinathreegorgesdamdroughtelectricity_070322044107

[Atman]

1. National Geographic reported that so much water shifted position as a result...

...scientists were actually able to measure a change in the wobble of the earth on it's axis. This damn was more of a political thing than anything else, for the government to prove to the people that China was still great, and world leader.

Oopsie.

.

[Duer 157099]

2. There was a recent documentary on some cable channel

Nat'l Geo or Discovery, about the building of this dam, and it was really fascinating. They sacrificed ALOT to build that thing, including relocating whole villages and temples.

How sad for this to happen, after all that.