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DAM-L THREE GORGES PROBE: November 10, 2000 (fwd)

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Subject: THREE GORGES PROBE: November 10, 2000

THREE GORGES PROBE
November 10, 2000

(1) Yangtze River a public cesspool
(2) Chongqing university students shocked at Yangtze pollution
(3) Stone quarries damage Three Gorges' environment

(1) Yangtze River a public cesspool
Oct. 30, 2000 - The Beijing-based Guangming Daily
reports that the Yangtze River has become a public cesspool
and that pollution will increase by as much as 57 per cent
when construction of the Three Gorges dam is completed.
Chongqing city discharges 1,185 million tonnes of waste
water into the Yangtze River each year - including 940
million tonnes of industrial waste water and 245 million
tonnes of domestic sewage. In 1999, Chongqing treated
only 28 per cent of its industrial waste water and 8 per cent
of its urban domestic sewage, which is significantly less than
the national average for waste water treatment. From
Panzhihua to Shanghai there are 22 cities and 394 sources
discharging more than 20 billion tonnes of waste water a
year into the Yangtze. One third of this waste water
discharge does not meet national standards for sewage
treatment. Because of pollution from its riverside towns and
cities, many people are concerned that the Three Gorges
dam will transform the river into a sluggish and polluted
artificial lake. Once the dam is completed, the density of
pollutants in the Yangtze near Chongqing is expected to
increase by 34 per cent, and the area from Fuling to
Wanshou, to increase by 57 per cent.

(2) Chongqing university students shocked at Yangtze pollution
Oct. 23, 2000 - The Beijing-based Guangming Daily
reports that a group of Chongqing's Southwest Normal
University students were shocked by the deteriorating state
of the environment along the Yangtze after conducting a
survey of environmental pollution and residents' awareness
of environmental issues this summer. During a 10-day
survey, the students found that around 100 papermaking,
chemical, and glass factories were discharging untreated
water into the river - some of which is 15 times more
polluted than national allowable standards. Rubbish along
the Yangtze's riverbanks has become another major source
of pollution, particularly in the Fendu, Fuling, and
Zhongxian parts of the river. In the Three Gorges dam
reservoir area, the students found a chemical waste dump
which continues to grow and in Fuling city, near the
Yangtze, a mountain of rubbish 800-metres wide and 300-
metres high. All pollutants are washed into the river once
rains come while rubbish from ships and boats is thrown
into the river. According to a survey by the Wuhan-based
Changjang Water Resources Conservancy and Research
Institute, the Three Gorges area of the Yangtze receives
1.35 billion tonnes of waste water and one million tonnes of
rubbish each year.

(3) Stone quarries damage Three Gorges' environment
Oct. 19, 2000 - Central China Television reports that
people are quarrying stone from the banks of the Yangtze
River for building materials, needed to construct new towns
and villages for those displaced by the Three Gorges dam.
The quarrying by Three Gorges residents and peasants from
other areas is destroying vegetation and harming the
Yangtze's ecology, as well as threatening the safety of ships
navigating the river, according to China's official television
network. In 1995, such quarrying contributed to a large
landslide in Badong county killing five people and causing
US$1.2-million in damages. Since then, officials have closed
more than 30 unlicensed stone pits in Badong County, in an
effort to limit the damage. When visiting the area in the
early 1990s, China's former vice-premier, Zou Jiahua,
warned that uncontrolled quarrying would cause severe
erosion and degrade the tourism value of Three Gorges.

- END -

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Assistant Editor: Lisa Peryman
ISSN 1481-0913

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