The Jinghong Hydropower Station's first generating unit went into operation last Thursday, according to a Xinhua report. The 108-meter high dam in southern Yunnan's Xishuangbanna prefecture is the third of 15 planned for the Lancang River (澜沧江), which is known as the Mekong after flowing out of China.

The Jinghong Hydropower Station joins the already operational Manwan and Dachaoshan power stations as the central government is preparing to build 12 more dams on the Lancang generating a total of 25.2 million kilowatts.

The 12.3 billion yuan (US$1.76 billion) station at Jinghong is projected to have a total installed capacity of 1.75 million kilowatts upon completion.

According to Xinhua, "The project is a key part of the country's strategy to develop its vast western region and send electricity from there to the more populated eastern area."

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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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Little more than two months after the announcement that Tiger Leaping Gorge will not be dammed, plans for damming the Nu River (怒江) in western Yunnan near the border with Myanmar may become the focus of the next battle between Yunnan officials and environmentalists and scientists.

A plan to dam the upper reaches of the Nu, known as the Salween River after flowing out of Yunnan into Myanmar, was originally suspended in 2004 by Premier Wen Jiabao. Premier Wen's order to conduct an environmental impact study of damming the river was considered one of the first major victories for China's nascent environmental movement.

Yesterday in Beijing, during the annual meeting of the National People's Congress – China's Parliament – the Nu River came back into focus as Yunnan province's Communist Party chief and trained engineer Bai Enpei (白恩培) told reporters that the provincial government still intends to build dams and hydropower stations on the river, according to an International Herald Tribune report.

"We are actively pushing the development of hydropower plants, including on the Nu River," the IHT quoted Bai as saying. "But their construction must take into account those downstream. And the environment must be protected. The people must also benefit."

A section of the Nu River flowing parallel to the upper reaches of the Yangtze and Mekong rivers is included in the Three Parallel Rivers Protected Areas, which are inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

Bai also reportedly argued that impoverished local conditions along the Nu have led to environmental degradation, including rampant tree-cutting. He said that there was still work to do to convince Myanmar's ruling military junta that the dams would not be a problem for Myanmar, adding that he didn't think that would be a problem.

In a challenge to Chinese and international environmental groups – several of which have offices in Kunming – Bai said it was unfair to deny people living in the Nu River valley the chance at economic development.
"You cannot expect the people of the Nu River to keep wearing animal skins and bring in everyone to have a look in the name of ecotourism," the IHT quoted Bai as saying.

Image: www.calacademy.org

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UK newspaper The Guardian is reporting that the controversial plan to dam Yunnan's Tiger Leaping Gorge (虎跳峡) has been scrapped.

The sparing of the gorge and its 100,000 inhabitants – who would have been forced to relocate to much less hospitable terrain – may be the biggest win to date for mainland environmentalists. The victory may only be a pyrrhic one, as other portions of the Yangtze River's upper reaches, known in Yunnan as the Jinsha River (金沙江) are under consideration for hydropower projects.

Tiger Leaping Gorge is where a roughly 15-kilometer stretch of the Jinsha runs between 5,596-meter Yulong Snow Mountain (玉龙雪山) and 5,396-meter Haba Snow Mountain (哈巴雪山). The gorge features 2,000-meter cliffs leading above intense rapids that are not considered navigable.

The area has traditionally been home to more than 100,000 residents, most of whom are from the Naxi ethnic minority. Since opening to foreign tourists in 1993, the gorge has seen a steady increase in tourist visits, which has led to road improvements and construction of several guesthouses along the 'high road' above the river.

The decision to spare the gorge from being dammed and filled will likely benefit tourism to the area, which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site known as the Three Parallel Rivers Protected Areas. However it is unlikely to be the end of new hydropower projects, as it is thought that damming the Jinsha could prevent the flow of silt downstream to the Three Gorges Dam.

Silt is considered a threat to the navigability of the Yangtze, which is expected to be able to handle increasing levels of containerized sea-going barge traffic as far west as Chongqing in the coming years.

Some officials are also proponents of using the damming of the Jinsha to flush out the pollution that has accumulated in Kunming's Dianchi Lake, which is one of China's largest and most polluted freshwater lakes. China's second-largest hydropower project at Xiluodu began construction in November of last year.

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The combination of this year's dry season with the effects of two dams in Yunnan has lowered parts of the Mekong river to water levels under one meter, according to a Bangkok Post report.

The low water levels have slowed cargo movement along the Mekong - known in Yunnan as the Lancang River - to a snail's pace. Cargo boats which once took three days to travel between the ports in southern Yunnan's Jinghong and Chiang Saen in northern Thailand's Chiang Rai province are now taking one month.

The effects of this year's dry season on the Mekong are compounded by the two recently completed dams at Manwan and Dachaoshan along the Lancang River in Yunnan. There are plans for six more hydroelectric dams to be built on the river, the next one scheduled for completion in 2010.

Although water levels on the Mekong are expected to rise again after this month, it is uncertain if an annual drying of the Mekong can be avoided. Aside from becoming nearly impassable for boats, lower fish counts are being recorded on the river, which sustains the livelihood of millions of farmers and villagers in Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

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See it while you can

On Monday Danwei posted an excellent piece by Rachel Beitarie about the current situation in Tiger Leaping Gorge entitled Media and the future of Tiger Leaping Gorge.

The story revolves around the plan to build a Three Gorges-scale dam on the Jinsha River in the majestic Tiger Leaping Gorge, about 150 km from Lijiang, plus the sociological and environmental damage that would result.

Yu Xiaogang, founder of Kunming-based NGO Green Watershed is featured in the story. For those who were wondering about the answer to whether the dam plan will go through, Yu seems certain that it will:

'Yu admits however, that whilst he hopes for a shift in the government policy for future project, the construction of this particular dam is probably now unstoppable.'

Another sobering observation later in the story about the farmers that would be displaced by such a dam:

'So the choice of these now relatively affluent farmers is to become marginalized urban residents with no land, or try to make a living in a harsh mountainous area, with fewer resources.'

China has 85,000 dams, or 46 percent of the world total. Those dams cannot be undone. Damming Tiger Leaping Gorge would be tragic for many reasons, the biggest one being: It doesn't have to happen.

Image: Warrior Tours

Tags: dams, Danwei.org, Green Watershed, Tiger Leaping Gorge

The Lancang River in Xishuangbanna

Defending the dams
A report issued today by Xinhua states that Southeast Asian
countries downstream of the Lancang/Mekong River will not feel any influence from the hydropower stations built on the river, which is known as the Mekong in Southeast Asia. There are hydropower stations on the Lancang - as it is known in China - at Tianshengqiao, Manwan and Dachao Mountain.

Yunnan University Asia International River Center chief scientist He Daming states that it is 'unscientific' to say that what happens upstream on the Lancang in China influences all of the downstream areas of the Mekong. Mr. He continues, saying that assessment of dam construction on internationally flowing rivers is 'very complicated' and warned against trying to politicize the issue.

Yunnan University Natural Resources, Environment and Geosciences Institute expert You Weihong also downplays the effects of existing dams on the Lancang, saying that the drying up of the Mekong and its tributaries north of Vientiane, Laos is a result of climate change.

Despite the 80-km benzene slick that flowed into Russia from China last year, it might be reassuring to Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia to read that China is going to such lengths to allay concerns about the future of the waters of the Lancang/Mekong.

Dianchi 'spill'
That reassured feeling probably won't last long after reading this Xinhua report describing a dredge charged with cleaning up superpolluted Dianchi Lake that was actually dumping used oil into the lake, creating an oil slick 100 mu (18,200 square meters) in area. Located on the southwestern edge of Kunming, Dianchi is China's sixth-largest freshwater lake.

Poor Dianchi. GoKunming's older Kunming friends often recall how they swam in the lake in their youth. Now one cannot get
close to the lake without being overpowered by the stench of pollution and untreated sewage that is being pumped into
it. Swim in Dianchi? Forget about it. Few and poor are the locals who dare eat fish caught in the lake. In this site's humble opinion, Kunming's success at transforming itself into a modern international city should be tied to the results (and sincerity) of its attempts to clean up Dianchi. It's got a long, long way to go.

(Image: My Life in Kunming)

Tags: dams, Dianchi Lake, environment, Lancang River, Mekong River, Southeast Asia