3- Case study: The three gorges dam. China.

The facts:
. The three gorges Dam will be over 2 km long and 100 m. high
. The lake will be over 600 km long
. Over 1 million people will have to be removed to make way for the dam and the lake.
. The river Yangtze provides 66% of China’s rice and contains 400 million people.
. The Yangtze drains 1.8 million km2 and discharges 700 km3 of water annually.
Advantages
. It will generate up to 18,000 megawatts, eight times more than the Aswan Dam (Egypt) and 50% more than the world’s largest existing HEP dam, the Itapu in Paraguay.
. It will enable China to reduce its dependency on coal.
. It will supply energy to Shangai (population 13 million), one of the world’s largest cities, and Chongqing (population 3 million), an area with high economic growth.
.It will protect 10 million people from flooding (over 300,000 people in China died as a result of flooding in the 1900s)
. It will allow shipping above the Three Gorges (the dams will raise water levels by 90 m.) and turn the rapids in the gorge into a lake.
. It will generate thousands of jobs.
The protests
. Most floods in recent years have come from rivers which join the Yangtze below the three Gorges dam
. The region is seismically active and landslides are frequent
.The dam may become silted up as a result of increased deposition. To reduce silt load afforestation is needed but resettlement of people will cause more pressure on the slopes above the dam.
. Up to 1.2 million people will have to be moved to make way for the dam.
. Most of the available resettlement land is over 800 m. above sea level and is colder and has infertile thin soils.
. Dozens of towns, such as Wanxian and Fuling with 140,000 and 80,000 people respectively, will be flooded.
. Archaeological treasures will be drowned.
. It will take between 15 and 20 years to build and could cost as much as 70 billion dollars.

Explain with your own words, at least four advantages and four disadvantages of the new dam.
Advantages: It produce more energy than the Awan dam (Egypt) and more than the world´s largest existing HEP dam, the Itapu in Paraguay.
-It´s good for reduce no-renewable resources.
-It supplies energy to Shangai and other cities with more population.
-It is generate thousands of jobs.

Disadvantages:
-1, 2 million people they have to go an other place for live
- Dozens of towns such as Wanxian and Fuling will be flooded.
- Archaeological treasures is drowned.
- The dam are very expensive, it cost as much 70 billion dollars.