China facing worst drought in half a century

These comments explain why the bush crime family is buying tens of thousands of acres in south america over aquafiers. They are going to pull the same shit with water as they did with oil. Thank the bush crime family for the inflated oil prices. Thats why I insist that we must charge corporations for every once of our natural resources that they remove.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/25/china.three.gorges.dam/index.html?er...

In a rare admission, the Chinese government has said the Three Gorges Dam -- the world's largest hydropower plant -- is having "urgent problems," warning of environmental, construction and migration "disasters" amid the worst drought to hit southern China in 50 years.

China's State Council, the country's Cabinet, this week said that while the dam has been beneficial to the region, there has also been a variety of issues since construction began in 1992.

"At the same time that the Three Gorges Dam project provides huge comprehensive benefits, urgent problems must be resolved regarding the smooth relocation of residents, ecological protection and geological disaster prevention," the statement said.

This is the first major official acknowledgment of the dam's repercussions. The Chinese government also admitted the Three Gorges Dam has negatively impacted downstream river water, transport and migration.

"Some problems emerged at various stages of project planning and construction but could not be solved immediately due to the conditions at the time," the State Council said. "Some arose because of increased demands brought on by economic and social development."

The project, which cost more than 180 billion yuan (US$28 billion), has been a source of pride for the government while also arousing intense debate among scientists and villagers. Completed in 2006, the dam includes a five-tier ship lock, a reservoir, and 26 hydropower turbo-generators. The dam was originally touted for its ability to control the impact of flooding that threatens the Yangtze river delta each summer.

However, millions of Chinese citizens have been adversely impacted throughout the construction process and even after the dam's completion.

The Three Gorges displaced over 1.4 million residents along the Yangtze during the digging and construction of a giant concrete barrier, made up of 16 million tons of concrete. More than 1,000 towns and villages were flooded in the process. Landslides and pollution have plagued the areas near the dam since it was built.

Meanwhile, a prolonged drought has persisted along the Yangtze, affecting nearly 10 million people along the river's middle and lower sections, in Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Anhui provinces, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Citizens in the region are blaming the dam's restiction on river flow for exacerbating the effects of the drought.

These regions will mostly see hot and dry weather during the coming week, the China Meteorological Administration warned.

Meteorological data also indicated that rainfall in drought-affected regions was down 30% to 80% compared to levels in normal years, while the provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and the city of Shanghai continue suffering from the worst drought since 1954, Xinhua reported.

cont.
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The price of progress and showing off.

if it's anything like Australia's epic drought of 50 years
china will be seeing epic flooding when the drought ends

*see epic flooding in Australia every year since 2006*

Hmm...it seems some people are convinced global warming is natural and there's nothing we can do about it. That's the same as someone who smokes alot saying cancer is natural and there's nothing they can do about it.

Okay, maybe some climate shifts are natural, but we could at least try to do something to make this recent warming trend from getting worse. I am a big fan of Nikola Tesla's ideas.

Take away the worlds polution, and it's like someone quitting smoking. You might still get cancer, but at least your not helping that cancer.

Maybe damming the Yangtze was a bad idea after all? Maybe you should have listened to the river dolphins, didn't you believe they were your ancestors?

Just the facts:

" Natural disasters are a part of China. Located in the west Pacific monsoon weather belt, unpredictable amounts of precipitation can lead to life-threatening droughts or floods. In fact, Chinese history is dotted with natural disasters, which were often followed by famine and social upheaval."

(Source: Global Times Editorial - China)

China's worst droughts (deaths):

1) 1876-1879
2) 1942-1943
3) 1920

China's worst floods (deaths):

1) 1935
2) 1887
3) 1642
4) 1949
5) 1931
6) 1933

(Source: Worst Disasters - Across Pacfic and Asia website)

There must have been some serious global warming issues back in the 1930's and 40's. :)

Yesterday I posted about the rains in Colombia that have lasted eleven months,

http://current.com/technology/93244872_after-eleven-months-colombia-asks-wholl-s...

while Central China suffers through its worst drought in half a century. Erratic rainfall patterns,droughts, floods, stronger storms, mudslides, invasive species, glacier melt.... but hey, let's just close our eyes and maybe it will all go away, and so will that annoying JanForGore who keeps posting about this! Hmm, not a chance.

Stop building coal plants and start building solar panels and actually installing them at a pace that we can say we are truly making progress! And this also illustrates the futility of dams in places where such droughts are possible/common.