Three Gorges Project Key to Taming Yangtze

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, June 01, 2003

Three Gorges Project Key to Taming Yangtze

With the reservoir of three Gorges Project starting to be filled early Sunday, the project will play a pivotal role in controlling and utilizing the Yangtze River, which is China's longest.

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With the reservoir of three Gorges Project starting to be filled early Sunday, the project will play a pivotal role in controlling and utilizing the Yangtze River, which is China's longest.

When the entire project is completed in 2009, it will be highly effective for flood control, power generation, navigation, ecological protection and water diversion.

The flood-prone Yangtze was hit by 214 major flooding in the 2,000-plus years from Han Dynasty (206-220 B.C.) to Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), once every ten years on the average.

The frequent flooding mainly resulted from the fact that in high water seasons water flowing down the upper reaches of the river often far exceeded the storage and discharge capacity of the river's middle and lower reaches.

Once the Three Gorges reservoir is in place, the massive water flow from the upper reaches of the Yangtze can be effectively heldback thanks to the enormous storage capacity of the reservoir.

Zheng Shouren, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, predicted that when the water level rises to 175 meters in the reservoir, its storage capacity will reach 22.15 billion cubic meters. This equals to the combined floodwater storage capacity of four flood-diversion areas along Jingjiang, a section of the middle reaches of the Yangtze.

As a result, the Yangtze embankments in the Jingjiang section, which now can only resist severe flooding seen once a decade, will be able to stand a devastating flood occurring once every 100 years.

The Three Gorges Project can also bring about huge economic benefits through hydropower generation. The Three Gorges Hydropower Plant, producing as much as 84.7 billion kwh of electricity annually after completion, will play a vital role in the west-to-east power transfer project, which is now under construction.

With the success of the Three Gorges Project, the further development of the abundant water resources on the upper reaches of the Yangtze is written in the country's future economic blueprint.

The China Yangtze Three Gorges Project Development Corporation is planning to build four more gigantic hydropower plants, namely Wudongde, Baihetan, Xiluodu and Xiangjiaba, at the upper reaches of the Yangtze, while the combined installed capacity of these four plants will exceed 38.5 million kw, double that of the Three Gorges Project.

Experts predict that following the completion of these four hydropower plants, China's west-to-east power transfer project will turn out to be the world's largest. By that time, the Three Gorges Project will serve as the heart of the country's power transfer network.

In addition, when the Three Gorges reservoir is filled up, the navigation conditions on the Yangtze will be improved to great extent.

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