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Chinese dam starts filling up
EFLChina has begun filling a reservoir for the world's biggest hydroelectric project, blocking the massive Yangtze River. Cascades of white water roared as sluice gates slowly drew shut yesterday on the Three Gorges Dam, China's biggest engineering project since the Great Wall was built more than 2 000 years ago. Nineteen of the 22 gates at the dam in Yichang, in the central province of Hubei, were closed, blocking the flood-prone Yangtze to form what will become a 600km reservoir. Three of the gates remained open to guarantee water flow on the Yangtze during the two weeks it takes to fill the reservoir to 135 metres. Some gates shut several days ago and water levels had already climbed to 106m by yesterday morning. Over the past decade, the project has been bedevilled by corruption and the discovery of hundreds of cracks in the dam. However, officials told the Guangzhou Daily yesterday that the cracks, some tens of metres long, were not a danger. Two weeks to fill the reservoir, I'll set 14 days as the over/under point for dam failure. This is going to be a major disaster, place your bets. Posted by: Steve 2003-06-02 |
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