Further exploitation of the Yangtze River's upper reaches for
hydroelectricity will mean inevitable damage to the waterway's
ecosystem, Ma Jianhua, the chief engineer of the Yangtze River
Water Resources Commission, warned Thursday.
"Lobbying for more projects is becoming fiercer owing to the
increasingly short supply of electricity throughout China," Ma said
at a press conference in Beijing. He noted that the Three Gorges
Project, the last hydropower station constructed on the middle
reaches of the river, has raised new issues that must be faced.
"Pathological changes are occurring along sections of the
6,300-kilometer-long river with conditions getting worse than ever
before," said Ma.
Another official with the commission, Weng Lida, pointed out
that dams have a significant effect on the river's fish.
He said: "The dam projects influence the reproduction of fish in
the Yangtze like the Chinese sturgeon. We must find solutions to
these problems."
With the Yangtze River valley covering almost 20 percent of all
China's territory, fish are not the only species whose futures are
threatened.
To find solutions to these problems, a Yangtze Forum will be
held on April 16 in Wuhan, the capital of central China's Hubei
Province, to raise public awareness of the need to protect the
river, Ma announced.
Jointly sponsored by 26 parties, including the Worldwide Fund
for Nature (WWF) and China's water resources, forestry and
environmental protection authorities, the forum's focus is on
keeping the Yangtze a healthy river while allowing for the needs of
the 420 million people who live along its banks.
Today, the amount of sewage being poured into the river is
increasing relentlessly, with about 24 billion tons of effluent
being pumped into the increasingly dirty waters annually. Lakes and
wetlands along the river have receded due to rapid urbanization and
the reclamation of marshlands, while schistosomiasis, or snail
fever, has reached epidemic proportions in many areas.?
(China Daily April 1, 2005)
