Large numbers of Hydropower projects have been built in China. That country has also overtaken India in economic development. We are following China in building large dams thinking that we can succeed by following the path taken by China.
Impacts Of Three Gorges Dam
The largest dam in China is “Three Gorges Dam” which is built on the Yangtze River. The production in dam was started in 2009. But now the negative impacts of this dam have started to appear.
- Chinese Academy of Engineering has reported that in the month of September 2006, 822 seismic shocks have occurred in this area in the seven months since the level of reservoirs increased. (see report below)
- Scientists of Geological Investigation and Mineral Resources Bureau of China says that after nine years of construction of the dam, about 700 million cubic feet of rock has slid in the Qinggan River (from where the Yangtze river flows at three kilometres distance) and waves as high as 65 feet have been created in which 14 people have died. (see report below)
- A Professor of Michigan State University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences says that the Three Gorges Dam has damaged more than 400 species; and that there is a change in seasonal patterns. At least 57 plants, including the Dove tree of China and Dawn Redwood, have become endangered. (see report below)
- According to Wuhan University, the downstream of the dam the floods have decreased. That has reduced the level of water of Yangtze, which makes it difficult for the fishes to survive. This project has already harmed the “Baji Dolphin”, which has now become rare. (see report below)
- China Daily (China’s largest English language newspaper) said that the Yangtze River has reached its lowest water level in 142 years. An official of the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission admitted that the dam has reduced the flow rate of the river by 50 percent. (see report below)
Large dams such as the Three Gorges have provided electricity and irrigation to the country but if we consider the negative impacts of these dams, then these projects may be much more harmful than the benefits obtained in the short run.
Impacts On Chinese Economy
The economic costs of pollution, including the impacts of the large dams, have been the focus of various government-backed studies in China. A recent study by the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning found that “environmental damage to forests, wetlands, and grasslands shaved 3.5 percent off China’s 2012 GDP. The World Bank puts the total cost of China’s environmental degradation in the late 1990s at between 3.5 and 8 percent of GDP. China’s pollution problem is holding back its economy — and poisoning its own people and the rest of the world in the process.” (see report below)
According to the East-West Centre: “economic burden of china’s environmental pollution and eco systemic degradation may already equal as much as 15 percent of its annual GDP.” (see report below)
Lesson From China
Based on these reports, we believe that the long term negative impacts of large hydropower projects on the economic growth may be much more than the immediate benefits provided by them.
Government of India should not follow China in embracing the long term path of destruction by building large dams. It should commission a serious study of the long term impacts of existing large dams like Bhakra Nangal and Tehri, and the proposed large dams like Lakwar Byasi and Pancheshwar, evaluate their long term impacts on the economy then take a decision that whether such big dam should be made.
