China's Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) suspended approval for dams on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River last week, citing two of China's largest hydropower companies for illegally commencing construction on dam projects near Lijiang, according to a China Daily report.

According to the MEP, in January Huadian Power and Huaneng Power illegally blocked the middle reaches of the Jinsha River, as the upper reaches of the Yangtze are known, for the Ludila and Longkaikou dams, respectively.

MEP spokesman Tao Detian said that the two companies had failed to conduct environmental impact assessments, adding that both power producers had been ordered to cease building the dams immediately.

Some construction of the eight planned dams on the Jinsha – with a total projected cost of 200 billion yuan (US$29.3 billion) – may have been halted temporarily, but there is no indication that the dams have been permanently scrapped.

"For the approved projects, supplementary environmental reviews will be needed," Tao said.

If completed, the total installed capacity of the eight dams on the Jinsha would reach 20.59 gigawatts, just short of the capacity of the Three Gorges Dam further downstream. Of the eight dams, a dam at Jin'anqiao is already under construction, and the environmental impact assessment for a dam at Ahai was approved by MEP earlier this year.

Passing through Qinghai, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, the 2,300 kilometer Jinsha River flows through areas rich in biodiversity and inhabited by ethnic minority groups. It is also the source of much of the Yangtze's fish life, which would be greatly diminished if the planned dams were built.

This is not the first time that the central government has stopped proposed work on damming the Jinsha. At the end of 2007, a plan to dam and fill Tiger Leaping Gorge was scrapped after much public debate, a development which many consider to be the first major victory for China's nascent environmental movement.

China is home to an estimated 85,000 dams nationwide, more than 40 percent of the world's total. A large portion of those are in southwest China, especially Sichuan and Yunnan, whose rivers have their headwaters in neighboring Tibet.

Monday's magnitude 7.8 earthquake in northern Sichuan province highlights one of the vulnerabilities and inherent risks of China's prolific dambuilding in its southwest. Major rivers include the Jinsha, Nu and Lancang rivers, the headwaters of the Yangtze, Salween and Mekong rivers, respectively.

Sichuan's Tulong and Zipingpu reservoirs suffered damage from the quake, endangering the downstream city of Dujiangyan and its 500,000 residents, according to a Reuters report citing a local official.

According to the report, Sichuan's Yuzui levee, the linchpin of the Dujiangyan system, has also sustained damage from the quake, with cracks appearing. China's Ministry of Water Resources said the cracks were not serious.

In addition to Sichuan, the ministry has sent teams to the regions of Yunnan, Chongqing, Gansu and Shaanxi to assess earthquake-related damage to local dams. The majority of Yunnan's dams are far from Kunming and other major metropolitan areas within the province.

Xinhua quoted Water Resources Minister Chen Lei as saying that "local governments should monitor (dam) projects, to discover and repair damage as soon as possible. In case of danger, make sure to transport people to safer places."

Newer dam projects are tending to be larger than before, such as the Xiluodu Power Station, a dam that is being built on the Jinsha River between Sichuan and Yunnan. The hydropower project is scheduled for completion in 2015 and will be China's second-largest dam after the Three Gorges project.

Image: biaoshu.com

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