4EL+Pros+and+Cons

4EL Pros and Cons
This page will be used to gather information for your project. As you read through material on the Internet and in books, you will record the facts for both pro and con on this page. You will also add the resource for your information through an Internet link or the title of your print resource.

Pros: ~The most amount of people killed because of the Yangtze flooding is 3565, but now, the amount of people killed has become less. 5.3 million homes were destroyed (unusable), and 7 million homes were damaged. 14 million people were forced to move from their homes. Now because the Three Gorges Dam has been built, less homes will be destroyed and no more people have to move after they've been moved once before. ~The dam is creating one tenth of china's electricity for the Chinese citizens! ~Three Gorges is the largest dam in the world, so 18,000 people have to be working on the dam each day, so it is providing many jobs. ~It would have taken 50 million tons of coal to get to the same amount of power from the Three Gorges Dam. ~The dam will produce around 18,000 megawatts from 26 different generators, which are each four hundred tons. ~The power generator is also much cleaner. ~ It can carry a ship up to ten thousand tons, and will trade more goods. Cons: ~Three hundred thousand people must be relocated around the Three Gorges, in addition to the 14 million people who have already been forced to leave their home, according to the government report. ~The world's largest hydro-electric power-plant has created landslides and water pollution for the Chinese Citizens. Finding new homes for so many people will not be easy in an area that has already experienced mass migration and overcrowding. ~The report predicts the problems of landslide and river-bank collapses will continue for 20 years. ~13 cities, 140 towns, 1352 villages, 657 factories and 30,000 hectares of cultivated land were flooded. ~Around 70 species of fish are (mostly) estimated to be killed off due to the change in water temperature, the surrounding environment, and lack of resources so people can't fish. ~The canyon that will be flooded has also inspired chinese poets and peasants for past centuries. ~Wildlife that has adapted to its environment along the Yangtze river will be forced off its homeland and be forced to adapt to a new environment. ~Also nearly 80% of cities do not have sewage systems and it is much cheaper to dump toxins from factories and sewage into the river. (Now that there will be a reservoir, the moving waters can not flush the toxins downstream, thus trapping them in the resevoir. This will create an extinction zone for life.) ~There are assumptions also that since the dam and reservoir are so large, the sediment build up may become overloaded creating bedloads. This can hinder ships from moving through the upriver entrance, thus slowing down trade. ~One of the biggest concerns for millions of people is Resettlement. The Three Gorges Dam will cause over one million people to move out of their homes to government funded resettlement villages. More than 1352 villages,140 towns, 13 cities, and 955 business enterprises will be covered by the reservoir. ~Of this land, 54,000 acres of good farmland and 17,000 acres of forest will be destroyed. ~This land also is the foundation of China's heritage for it accomadates many temples, shrines, and chinese artifacts that are thousands of years old. The peasents and villagers are being located most likely at lower standard of living where the soil and farming is poor. For most of these Chinese, farming is their way of living and taking this away from them can destroy their income and families. ~Though the dam is going to be a historical landmark, it is located over a fault line and is at serious risk from earthquakes and landslides. China itself does not have a great reputation for dam building, and if something were to go wrong, it would be the worst destruction ever. The Three Gorges Dam may also lead to corruption by villagers being relocated, inflation in the economy and land value, and destruction of millions if the inevitable occurred. ~The dam might break, sending a torrent of water down-stream, and drowning thousands of people. ~The weight of the dam and its reservoir might trigger the disturbances under-ground and cause earthquakes in the zone of the Three Gorges Dam. ~The Three Gorges Dam will endanger species of plants and animals. For Example: ~Fish (that travel upstream and the dam will block their path, the dam might pollute the water... etc.) ~The Bei Ji Dolphin (including maybe other mammals) Questions raised: