Socio-economic Impact of the Three Gorges dam

The Three Gorges Dam is an engineering marvel. It is 2335m long, 101m high and 115 m thick at its base. it is the largest hydro-electric dam in the world and it costs 180 billion yuan to build.

Pros

The Three Gorges Dam can produce enough electricity to reduce the coal consumption by 31 million tonnes per year, cutting the emission of 100 million tonnes of greenhouse gas millions of tonnes of dust, sulfur dioxide, Carbon dioxide and mercury. We can see from this that the it can protect the enviroment by cutting the amount of coal burned.

The dam also prevents flooding downstream of the dam, which had been a major problem before the dam was built. In the past, floods caused thousands of people to die and billions of dollars of damage. With the new dam, floods are less likely to occur.

Cons

The 600 kilometer long reservoir has or will flood some 1,300 archaeological sites and alter the appearance of the Three Gorges as the water level rises over one hundred meters at various locations. Cultural and historical relics are being moved to higher ground as they are discovered but the flooding of the Gorge will undoubtedly cover some undiscovered relics. It is very saddening to see artifacts which have survived thousands of years submerged in a few weeks.

The dam's reservoir will collect a lot of silt in the years and the construction of the dam caused more erosion and deforestation. The water downstream will be more polluted as the river's flow slows down. In turn, many people would be affected and wildlife would slowly die out.

The construction of the dam has relocated many living upstream of the dam. Reports claim that many of the people are not getting the compensation and help they need to rebuild their homes due to corrupion.

Do the Pros outweigh the Cons? Is the building of the dam worth it?