Some of us obnoxious bloggers were predicting this was going to happen well over a year ago. Alas, no one listened to us, and look at the consequences.
It seems that the exhortations of China’s State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), calling for the urgent handling of floating waste in the Three Gorges section of the Yangtze River only two months ago, has not had the desired effect. Large quantities of floating matter are now heading down the river towards the dam and reservoir and the local authorities involved say that they do not have the funds to deal with it.
Work to block the waste in the counties of Wanzhou, Fengjie and Wushan is facing complete cessation because the money to pay for the equipment and the staff has not yet arrived, according to a report in the official western Chinese news service, Zhongguo Xibu Wang (China West News).
As Interfax previously reported, SEPA issued an emergency notice in May, urging local authorities and enterprises to implement the guidelines previously set out by the State Council on the handling of waste in the river. However, SEPA has discovered that in the recent period of heavy rain, floating matter now covers the entire surface of a number of estuaries on the Yangtze, and says that it might not only affect the quality of the water in the Three Gorges, but also navigation, tourism and the Three Gorges Project itself.
According to the State Council, the Three Gorges Project Corporation (TGPC) is responsible for the floating waste in the Yangtze River, but local county governments are responsible for the tributaries. However, the TGPC “has up to now not yet started” its work, SEPA says.
There was so much evidence this was going to happen, and as I noted before, Simon Winchester saw it all coming years ago! When we look back at this ecological catastrophe ten years from now and survey all the damage it caused, what will we think? How can it be explained or justified?
1
By vaara
“The Sewer at the Center of the World.”
Brought to you by the CCP — and the Western governments, banks, and contractors who, to their everlasting shame, supported the project.
July 24, 2004 @ 4:08 am | Comment
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By chriswaugh_bj
But it’s a sewer that generates power and if the methane from all that rotting garbage floating on the reservoir could be collected, it could perhaps generate even more power. But apparently it’s going to get blown up in the coming war, so don’t worry too much about it.
July 24, 2004 @ 6:59 am | Comment
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By richard
Vaara, blame Canada — most of the consulting came from them.
July 24, 2004 @ 10:42 am | Comment
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By jacky
Good one chris,
kiwi humour? or feeling generous after the Bedisloe Cup?
Saw news this morning the Blacks slipped through the Springboks 23-21.
July 24, 2004 @ 6:34 pm | Comment
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By chriswaugh_bj
Jacky, that was Kiwi humour spurred on by the All Blacks playing the way they’re supposed to again.
July 25, 2004 @ 12:26 am | Comment
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By The Gweilo Diaries
Up Shit Creek
Who could ever have predicted this? It seems that the exhortations of China’s State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), calling for the urgent handling of floating waste in the Three Gorges section of the Yangtze River only two months ago, …
July 26, 2004 @ 3:23 am | Comment
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By Keir
I’m amazed- you can get the entire “Yangtze! Yangtze!” by Dai Qian free online at http://www.threegorgesprobe.org/pi/documents/three_gorges/Yangtze/ ! She was the author who blew the whistle on the potential disaster of the 3 Gorges Dam and was gaoled 10 months for her efforts. It is a collection of essays that clearly outlines the need for public consultation and the various risks that the project has (within a week of its official opening the dam itself showed cracks). She compares it to the Great Wall which “brought down the First Empire of Qin (BC 221-207). It is unacceptable for the officials to forbid debate in the media on such an important project”.
She ends the book with the following:
“There is only one Yangtze River and we have already subjected it to many stupid deeds. Such stupidity must not be repeated. The Yangtze River belongs to all Chinese people and to the entire world.”
August 10, 2004 @ 9:53 pm | Comment