With Yangtze River At Record Lows, Questions Sprout About Future Of 3 Gorges Dam - AFP

[hatrack]

Prolonged drought along the Yangtze has reduced China's longest river to record lows, triggering a debate over the Three Gorges dam's ability to generate power, state media said Thursday.

The Yangtze last year fell to its lowest level since records began in 1877, but a dam official told the Xinhua news agency that power generation in the Three Gorges area would not be affected.

"There have never been two successive years when a serious drop in the amount of water flowing into the mainstream of the Yangtze has occurred," said the official, identified only by his surname Yuan. "(So) I believe it is unlikely there will be a significant drop in the inflow of water into the Three Gorges Reservoir from the upper reaches this year," he said.

However, Xinhua quoted observers as saying such arguments, based on historical data, failed to take into consideration the more recent issue of climate change

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Yangtze_Drought_Triggers_Debate_Over_China_Three_Gorges_Dam_999.html

[redqueen]

1. "such arguments ... failed to take into consideration ..."

Effin unreal... seems as if most won't notice what's happening till it's much too late.

[gasperc]

2. Global warming strikes again

but hopefully the Chinese are banking on this being a "warm" period