Expert says that the impact of the dam on downstream flows has been exaggerated.
China has incorporated what it says will be the world’s largest hydroelectric project, a feat of $ 170 billion capable of generating sufficient electricity every year to feed Great Britain.
The Eclipsa scheme The Mighty Three Gorges dam, currently the world’s largest Chinese construction and engineering actions arose after Prime Minister Li Qiang revealed it over the weekend.
For Beijing, the project promises a clean power, jobs and a stimulus shake for a deceleration economy. For the neighbors downstream, agitates old anxieties about water safety: the Yarlung Zangbo becomes the Brahmaputra in India and Bangladesh, a lifeguard for millions.
What exactly China approved?
The plan involves five dams along a 50 -kilometer stretch where the river sinks 2,000 meters from the Tibetan plateau.
The First Power is expected to be generated in early mid -2030s, but beyond that and the price, China has published little information about how it intends to build the project.
Why are they worried about neighbors?
This lack of information is aggravating fears of water safety in India and Bangladesh, which are based on brahmaputra for irrigation, hydroelectric energy and drinking water.
Arunachal Pradesh’s prime minister, which limits with China, said earlier this year that the dam could dry 80 percent of the river that passed through the Indian state while potentially flooding later areas such as the neighboring state of Assam.
In addition to water, the dam will also mean less sediments that flow down, according to Michael Steckler, professor at Columbia University. This sediment carries essential nutrients for agriculture in the flood plains downstream.
India and China fought a border war in this region in the 1960s, and the lack of transparency of Beijing has helped boost the speculation that the dam could be used to cut the water in another conflict, according to Sayanangshu Fasho Fasho, an expert in the India-China water relationship at the University of Arizona.
“The construction of the Yarlung Zangbo hydroelectric project is an issue within the reach of China’s sovereign affairs,” said Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, adding that the dam would provide clean energy and avoid flooding.
“China has also made the necessary communication with the downstream countries with respect to hydrological information, flood control and disaster mitigation cooperation related to the Yarlung Zangbo project,” said the ministry.
The foreign and water ministries of India did not respond to the requests for comments.
Will you starve in Water India?
But the impact of the dam on the downstream flows has been exaggerated, partly because most of the water that enters the Brahmaputra is of the monzonic rain to the south of the Himalayas, and not from China, said Fashionk.
He added that China’s plans are for a “Run of the River” hydroelectric project, which means that water will normally flow along the usual brahmaputra course.
India itself has proposed two dams on the Siang River, its name for the Yarlung Zangbo. One, a 11.5-Gigawatt project in Arunachal Pradesh, will be the largest in India if you go ahead. They have proposed, in part, to affirm the statements of India in the river and strengthen their case if China ever seeks to divert the water, fashion added.
“If India can demonstrate that he has been using the waters, then China cannot deviate unilaterally,” he said.
Controversy is common
Disputes on dams and water safety are not new. Pakistan accused India of arming the shared water supplies in the disputed cashmere region after New Delhi suspended his participation in the Indo Water Treaty, which regulates the exchange of water between the neighbors.
In Egypt, a high -ranking politician was captured in Chamber proposing to bombard a controversial prey of the Nile River planned by Ethiopia during a long dispute over the project.
Extreme Earthquake and Climate Risks
The dam will be built in an earthquake zone also prone to landslides, floods and storms of glacial lake. A wave of the construction of dams in the area caused concerns of security experts after a devastating earthquake in the Tibet earlier this year.
A much smaller hydroelectric project in a nearby tributary has been limited to four -month construction windows due to engineering challenges in high altitudes and vicious winters.
Image of the header: The Baihetan hydroelectric plant is seen in the border between Qiaojia County of Yunnan province and the county of none of the province of Sichuan, China, on June 28, 2021. – Reuters
