China’s Dam Building Spree

There has been a general decline in interest in building big dams amongst state planners and water management experts due in part to their considerable environmental impacts. China however believes that the environmental impacts of their dams are ‘in hand’ (Ball, 2015). Today China is home to more than 87,000 dams with plans for many more in progress (International Rivers, 2016). It is China’s lack of clean water that is driving this dam building boom. Dams address two main issues of China’s water security, one being that dams produce hydroelectric power, a clean renewable energy source. This means they can be less reliant on polluting, water intensive methods of energy production such as the coal-fired plants. Secondly the dams can help to address the uneven distribution in China’s water resources. By building dams in the north they can help to build up reservoirs and store fresh water in what is generally an arid climate.

The Three Gorges Dam located on the Yangtze River is the world’s largest dam at 185m high and almost two kilometres wide, it is made up from some 30 million cubic metres of concrete and holds a reservoir of 31,000 square miles (Ball, 2015). The dam has the capacity to produce a gigantic 18.2 GW of power; this is almost 10 times what the Hoover Dam in America can produce. This dam however is more than just an energy and water resource, it is clear that China regards the dam as a political symbol, a show of its technological and economic might. 

Figure 1: The Three Gorges Dam 

Source: Science Photo Library 

“The Three Gorges Dam will show the rest of the world that the Chinese people have high aspirations and the capacity to successfully build the world’s largest water conservancy and hydroelectric power project.” Says Chinese Premier Li Peng (Ball, 2015).

The building of this dam has come at a considerable ecological, economic and social cost. The dam itself destroyed a huge area of land in order to store water as the reservoir filled up, a number of priceless national heritage sites were also lost. Also the build up of sediment behind the dam, will in some critics opinion, increase the risk of flooding upriver in Sichuan province. There have also been concerns about the dams’ vulnerability to earthquakes. Furthermore the dam is thought to increase the risk of earthquakes due to the added weight of the water behind the dam. There have been a number of incidents including landslides and seismic activity since the dam was completed. However the most controversial issue relates to the forced relocation of the residents whose homes were located in the new reservoir basin. 1.5 million people were displaced and relocated with very little thought for their welfare.

Part of China’s plan to build large reservoirs in the north has caused international concern especially in the countries that lie downstream of the dams. Many rivers in the region have their source in the Himalayas and they run down through China or China controlled Tibet into India and Bangladesh. Beijing’s plans to harness the waters of the rivers in Tibet could potentially have significant socio-economic consequences for the downstream countries. This is a cause for concern for the international community, because while the issue is still relatively low key there is potential for this to lead to conflict. China shows no signs of slowing down and currently has plans for 36 more dams on the rivers and tributaries in Tibet, including a 510 MW dam at Zangmu on the Brahmaputra (Dwivedi, 2016). However it is difficult to blame China too much as they do have a restricted territorial sovereignty due to there status as the up river state. Also we must consider the fact that China’s water and energy demands are expected to grow in the coming years and with their remarkable economic growth finally stalling they must take full advantage of there natural resources.