Undeniably, southwest China is witnessing an unprecedented boom
in hydropower development. Certain statistics show that of the
hydropower plants to be built over several rivers: Nujiang,
Lancang, Jinsha, Dadu, Yalong and Minjiang, 104 will have installed
capacities of above 150,000 kw and 72 will have capacities of
between 50,000 and 150,000 kw. The rest of them, with installed
capacities of less than 50,000 kw will be incredibly numerous.
Many major rivers in southwest China, especially in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, are about 2,000 meters
above sea level. There are usually steep drops along different
sections of these large rivers. Moreover, the riverside areas are
sparsely populated and just a small number of people need to be
relocated to accommodate a power plant. Therefore, these rivers are
ideal subjects for hydroelectricity. In fact, the potential
hydroelectric power is astonishingly enormous, as much as 490
million kw according to some previous statistics. Thus, people are
attracted to these regions to build hydropower plants.
A villager is driving a
herd of goats across a bridge over the Dadu River. Hydropower
exploitation is greatly changing the river and the life of the
people living nearby.
But environment and ecological experts have voiced their
concerns. They deem current hydropower exploitation as the second
worst ecological disaster in China following the destructive
deforestation that took place from the 1950s to the 1990s. The
ecological systems of these elevated riverside areas are extremely
fragile. And it still remains questionable whether or not a too
heavily exploited river can produce the energy as much as
predicted.
Miyaluo is a town by the Zagunao River, a tributary of upper
Minjiang River. It used to be renowned for its gorgeous maple
landscape. Covering an area stretching for about 130 km, it was the
largest in China. Now the maples are gone forever: concrete dams
have taken their place. Additionally, 58 local households in
Miyaluo have been forced to leave their hometown and relocated into
a strange place. Although they are now living in new houses and
receiving governmental subsidies, people are still worried about
their futures because they have been deprived of their old way of
life.
Miyaluo will be transformed to a power plant soon and is
expected to begin operation by the end of this year. It is just one
of the seven power plants along the Zagunao River. Now this river
is scattered with busy construction sites where debris flows and
landslides are common occurrences during rainy days.
Zhang Qiujin, Director of the Ecology Institute under the
Sichuan Provincial Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, says
that the construction of hydropower plants will deal a deadly blow
not only to aquatic and dry land ecological systems. When a river
is heavily exploited, its natural channels gradually dry up.
Consequently, not only the aquatic life in the river but also the
whole riverside area's natural environment is greatly endangered
and very likely to be completely ruined. The relocated population
will also exploit their newly found natural resources, thus posing
another threat to the fragile balance of the ecological system in
their new living places.
The Zagunao River is not the only subsidiary of the upper
Minjiang River being exploited. Countless concrete dams and steel
tubes will transform most of the upper Minjiang River's tributaries
into separate artificial reservoirs. Those natural river landscapes
are about to disappear from the earth.
The same fate is awaiting the Dadu River. The river is said to
have the most abundant hydropower potential in Sichuan, with its
exploitable installed capacities estimated at 50 percent more than
the Three Gorges'. Authorities are considering building up to 22
power plants on the Dadu alone. That means more than 100,000 people
will have to move from the river valley areas to higher ground. The
river will never be the same.
The hydroelectric power plants have altered the way water flows,
killing rare aquatic inhabitants, including otters, giant
salamanders and the Hucho Bleekeri Kimura. They also have invaded
into China's southwestern nature reserves, such as the Fengyongzhai
Reserve in Sichuan Province where wild giant pandas are living.
"The massive construction will devastate many regional ecological
systems," said Yang Yong, an independent explorer.
Yang visited the upper Yangtze River 20 years ago when the
ecological systems there were threatened by over-logging.
Governments in the region took action in time to prohibit total
forest destruction. Yet the roar of roaring generators has again
interrupted the protective approach.
Hydropower plants have been built in nature conservation areas
regardless of laws and regulations. Take Tianquan Town for example;
several generators have been built inside the town's nature
reserve. "Districts and towns should make their choices — to be
nature conservancies or to be hydropower generator centers," said
Chen Guojie, Director of the Sichuan Nature Reserves Review
Committee.
Densely populated
hydropower plants are devastating the rivers and their ecological
systems. This figure shows all the large- and medium-sized
hydropower plants that Sichuan Province plans to build.
But the local government has argued that they had started to
build hydropower plants before the place became a protected area.
They hoped that the committee could compromise on the standards and
allow them to place generators separate from the nature reserve.
According to Zhang Qiujin, nature reserves would prohibit
scientific explorations, let alone the construction of hydropower
plants.
Yet low relocation costs and rich water resources have made
these virgin lands irresistible for generator builders. "We have
built too many hydropower plants on land that we should not touch,"
said Ling Lin, Director of the WWF Chengdu Office.
Controversy sparked in 2003 around the construction of a
generator near the Renzong River on Gongga Mountain – the
400,000-hectares are designated as a nature conservation area and
surrounded by dozens of snow capped mountain peaks. The mountain,
covered with approximately 3,000 alpine plants, accommodates about
400 vertebrates.
The power plant on the Renzong Lake was phase one of the
project. The second phase was launched in the same year on the
Muge, a sacred lake for local people living on Gongga Mountain. The
whole project aimed at creating a terraced water conservancy works.
Yet the construction has been currently stopped due to strong
opposition. According to Fan Xiao, a chief engineer with the
Sichuan Geological Prospecting Bureau, earthquakes are occurring
more frequently on Gongga Mountain than previously – when there
were no hydropower projects.
Generators in China's southwestern regions have been generally
built in two ways – tunnel works and terraced works. Both of the
methods can do harm to ecological systems, according to
environmental protection experts. Rivers have dried up due to
changes in water flow caused by man-made tunnels. Such change has
caused numerous deaths of plants flanking riverbanks. Although
environmental protection experts disapprove of the technique, they
have no right to stop it. "The only thing we can do to minimize the
negative effects caused by tunnels is to keep a close eye on them,"
said Zhang.
"If there is no increase in water resources, hydropower plants
cannot generate more electricity despite continuous construction,"
said Ma Huaixin, Deputy Director of the Sichuan Society of
Hydropower Engineering.
Statistics show that about 100 fishes in the upper branches of
Yangtze River will go extinct if all the planned terraced
hydropower stations are put into operation.
Hydropower builders are thronging into China's southwest to
struggle for the region's rich water resources. As one of the
country's strategic projects, electricity has been sent from
China's west, including Guizhou, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces to its
energy-deficient east. The project has been part of the country's
plan to develop its western regions.
A power plant construction
site on the Dadu River
(China.org.cn by Pang Li and Wu Jin, November 3, 2007)
