How does the Three Gorges Dam affect humans?

When the dam is completed, 13 cities, 140 towns and over 1,300 villages will be submerged by the Three Gorges Reservoir. To make way for the Three Gorges Dam, 1.5 million people will have to abandon their homes. More than 160,000 citizens have already been relocated.



People Also Ask

The most important effect that the construction of the Three Gorges Dam has had on Chinese society has been the displacement of millions of people from the Yangtze river region. In order to establish the reservoir, hundreds (possible thousands) of towns and villages were evacuated and later submerged.

MORE DETAILS

It also affects the wildlife and ecosystem of the areas near its location, and that's not the end of it. The Three Gorges Dam is claimed to be slowing the Earth's rotation! The huge capacity of the dam can hold 42 billion tons of water at maximum. NASA scientists believe that this shift has an impact on Earth.

MORE DETAILS

Over 1,300 cultural and archeological sites and 100,000 hectares of agricultural land have been submerged by the reservoir, while also impacting the habitats of over 6,000 plant species, 500 terrestrial vertebrates and 400 species of fish along the Yangtze River.

MORE DETAILS

Moreover, a couple of other studies demonstrated that the construction of the TGD had an adverse effect on agricultural environment, including the agricultural water and the land resources [14,27,30]. However, on the other hand, its effective flood control function is able to reduce the scale and frequency of flooding.

MORE DETAILS

World's Biggest Dam Has 'Extremely Dangerous' Low Water Levels. The Kariba Dam between Zimbabwe and Zambia. Water levels at Kariba dam, the world's largest, are at “extremely dangerous” lows that could force a shutdown of its hydro power plants, said Zambian Energy Minister Dora Siliya.

MORE DETAILS

Key problems included the danger of dam collapse, the displacement of some 1.3 million people (critics insisted the figure was actually 1.9 million) living in more than 1,500 cities, towns, and villages along the river, and the destruction of magnificent scenery and countless rare architectural and archaeological sites ...

MORE DETAILS

After the construction of the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) in China, the downstream has been affected by the reduction in sediment discharge and regulation of flow processes, which have resulted in severe scouring and changes hydrological regime.

MORE DETAILS

Situated on the Yangtze River in China, the Three Gorges Dam is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world. A Xylem solution at the dam provides data that helps prevent flooding and droughts.

MORE DETAILS