From the Guardian (link):
The last of 16 million tonnes of concrete will be poured in today, making Chairman Mao’s dream of a reality, and giving China’s current generation of engineers-turned-leaders the chance to proclaim another colossal step forward in the country’s “harmonious development”.
But the completion of the Three Gorges dam has been anything but harmonious. It is now being cited as a textbook example of how not to build a dam. Before it even starts operating, the giant hydro-electric scheme is threatened by silt – the solution to which is to pour yet more concrete into the Yangtse river.
See also “Three Gorges revisited” from Chinese National Geographic Magazine, translated by the Three Gorges Probe (link):
The Three Gorges project has generated a great deal of international interest, along with concern about the impacts of building the world’s biggest dam. Since the dam’s reservoir was filled almost three years ago, many people have been wondering what changes may have occurred in the reservoir and surrounding area. With that in mind, Fan Xiao, a geologist from Sichuan province, travelled to the Three Gorges area in February of this year, and wrote the following trip report.
Also “What cost as China tames mother river?” from The Age (link).
