Giant Garbage Rafts Piling Up Behind 3 Gorges Dam- - 200K M3 - AFP

[hatrack]

Massive amounts of floating garbage are accumulating behind China's giant Three Gorges Dam due to a drought and a host of other factors, state press said Thursday.

Several months of drought in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, China's longest, had reduced its capacity to clean itself, Xinhua news agency quoted Cao Guangjing, vice manager of the Three Gorges Corporation, as saying. Now as the water in the reservoir is set to rise to increase the hydro-electric potential of the dam, a lot of garbage on the banks will end up floating in its huge reservoir, he said.

"As the water in the reservoir is being raised 21 meters (70 feet) from 135 meters to 156 meters, the increase in floating debris in the reservoir is going to make clean up work much more difficult," Cao was quoted as saying. The amount of floating garbage in the reservoir is expected to surpass 200,000 cubic meters (seven million cubic feet), Cao said. To make matters worse, a specialized boat to clean up floating debris is inoperable due to a lack of spare parts, he added.

Environmental opponents of the dam have long said that such garbage, coupled with raw sewage from tens of millions of residents above the dam, will turn the Three Gorges reservoir into a huge cesspool.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2006/060921085556.ttz3sr2q.html

[greenman3610]

1. Global warming related, right?

3 gorges will eventually be choked in silt
as all river impoundments must. Looks
like the process will be unexpectedly rapid.


file this under unforseen consequences of
global warming.

[Cobalt-60]

2. mmmm toxic swimming and skiing

[ramapo]

3. Garbage, garbage everywhere

I always thought we were pigs here in the U.S. but the amount of garbage in other countries is even more astounding.

[htuttle]

4. Most of the bountiful garbage there is due to sheer population density

We still generate far, far, far more garbage per person in the US than they do anywhere else in the world.

So yes, they generate a huge amount of garbage and other pollutants in China, but the amount per person is far less than here. Not saying it's good, just that we're still very bad in this respect.

[file83]

5. And now we know where Bush's speeches end up...

...:rofl: