Is the Three Gorges Dam a Ticking Time Bomb?

[Music] [Music] the Three Gorges Dam is the biggest in the world it's also the largest hydroelectric project ever built as well as generating massive amounts of electricity it symbolizes China's growing power as a country that contained the elements like no other it's changed forever the Yangtze River which divides China's north from its South a river that at its most spectacular cuts through three gorges in a row four hundred million people live in the Yangtze Basin a third of China's population and as the dam nears completion there's growing unease since I won't tell Colonel work without round yeah well bad sorry Madiba so you're not sure yeah later hodo by eco shuns hum say hardly so it's only in the anti painterly do you say hydrogen Chongqing is the largest city in western China it's seen as the great hope for opening the country's vast inland to economic development thirty million people live in the greatest city area many moved here after their villages were flooded as part of the Three Gorges Development [Music] [Applause] we've come to Chongqing to start our journey to the three gorges even here over 600 kilometers away its impact is felt in so many ways so we're hoping as we travel down the Yangtze to see firsthand what effects the dam has been having recently [Music] first we go to see professor lay hyung shun he was a member of China's normally compliant parliament when sixteen years ago a quarter of its delegates abstained or voted against the new damn you don't you early incite anger and us in Santiago a missile or pimentos and simple or pimples and sand palaces you some Messiah the 82 year old geologists from Chongqing University has made the dam his life's work they seem that we also got pneumonia you're gonna do something you know someone and go Baba and the Forty Diego natives independent son define gon get some general seafood i cigarettes in your seats those who live and work on the river know about its health firsthand Hosea directions and I go how she's a woman she's our humble they'll see some you know so final elections another thought I don't y'all didn't yes yokujin since his team is determined to ensure that there is now less and less rubbish in the river in the world wildlife for chang-jung super xuanzong y'all can do whichever your woman Delisle to me shadows under lights on yeah baby Siwon hyung joong Indian I to the Josh inside China using the susharma well the job wouldn't you say yoku June's house is under this floating restaurant Gary says his real home is the Yangtze which is why he's doing this job to clean it up Selena want here do you got jungle we also a man at all without you creature warrior they should jump the writer and agitated I Ching has been the most vocal critic of the Three Gorges project her family history has given her degree of protection to speak out in the 1950s her father-in-law built an important damn outside Beijing former Chinese leader Mao Zedong even came to visit just having a break that what we would call this smoker in Australia this means having a break a cup of tea and that was murdered or smoked five decades later she says the environmental destruction caused by the greatest damn of them all he's hardly mentioned what do you that - she said - were in the OGS Santiago trunk that Sridhar sure can your chenda you it's a cruel mother made he shot you're sure they're bushy shorts I won't hold up when he mama Kobe I should cabbage TV radio okay she bought bouquet shop [Music] for hundreds of years the river has been used to carry cargo from the inland to the port of Shanghai and back also for moving a great many people joshan ago the local Porter's are renowned for their ability to carry huge amounts of luggage up and down these steep hills they take on a TV crews gear without even blinking [Music] the street gorges is an iconic place for Chinese people you only have to go as far as the 10 UN Nash to see that on the one side we've got Chairman Mao the former leader of the country and on the other the Three Gorges and here we are [Music] the beauty of the Three Gorges comes from the dramatic size of their cliffs as the waters gone up they're not as striking as they were and the river still has 10 meters to rise some say this is a small price to pay for a dam which can control disastrous flooding and could soon power one-third of the households in China for Chinese scientists this is a genuine dilemma [Music] chanting guys anyways yeah camera then closes the door Tashia shall handle Daniel Russo da that Juliet suit our different affiliates at our lobby hints about courage as dollar if they Europe by each housing a chang-geun is hungry tired into Julio Fazio same India Liberace oh-ah oh-ah Jiujiang good idea today Oh leave our song Huayra machine cuts home total yard toss know you got some tongue there do they Kirsten Tatiana she wants to share from the back so you see put the year waits as we move through the gorges the ruins of what were once vibrant communities are dotted along the steep river banks yet for those who remain here on higher ground this is not just a question of lost beauty generally since I won't on Colonel way true beautiful yeah Colonel which we said three and eleven T Joshi teachers I know matching Guardia Shri some misinformation be below me session I bet she's roomy tear free like Jim pot really a manager who know my trigger say hi Joe control your fashion that you complain fella when you travel on the Yangtze you can't miss the landslides which have collapsed into the river and the huge walls being built to try and contain them while the water level is slowly rising it's also fluctuating as the water is released and then held back downriver to control seasonal flooding [Music] that's a touching who you do which we ship or mention Tamayo you thought the is that hi we're semana you wanna make sure the hats home line Mayo go you were passing away chicken sounds to me yes I know pass away charlie sense to me you mean you took out your charity for your charity how do you can change that now you can cancel you can taste all Malala I tell you can change it since Allah 1:30 soul good night there's a glucose oh one gold IRA but a pencil one Guanella Oh Benson jion's a one for the part take it a sisterhood but this is an area already prone to geological instability but the villagers we met said the rising river level has increased the number and ferocity of landslides found one so even a little stable so you should have a like a decoy there's a world it's another home poverty for yeah sucia you showed us the major structural damage done to his house he's adamant that these cracks were caused by the rising waters of the Three Gorges Dam in this unusually cold winter the holes in the wall make it very hard to keep warm but they believe there could be worse to come Oh wha hey hides also a panic attack Oliver hey you don't have have you monkey paw do what - I gotta move out while I do not hire after that sue took us to see his mother's house to show us that theirs is not an isolated example how do you call you don't do as I do you got in touch with your inner get mad I see MA no buck I got a lot of it do you mind if I get a tie here these villagers say they can't afford to fix their houses they want the government to either pay for their repair work or move them they'll have to join the waiting list though because others are more desperate with their houses sliding down the hill and we came across some pretty stark evidence that the situation is indeed becoming serious these enormous pylons were sunk into the ground to try and stop landslides as you can see they haven't worked as the water level has come up the land around here has become increasingly unstable and now they look like they're about to fall over themselves [Music] we're almost at the Three Gorges Dam and the snow is getting heavier [Music] we get a glimpse of our destination off in the distance as the winter night draws in on the hills around the dam you can see what this project is all about electricity going out in all directions lots of it 17 so far edenia Google Santa Randy laughs at the end of hana-chan a human with human thing you and me then show so far for the DNA The Shining the chainsaw wo yiran to get area whatever paper before we're allowed anywhere near the dam we meet project vice president Darwin ding he refuses to answer any questions on its direct environmental impact he says he's just an engineer Virginia from Warren Tomica tada come from the Hawaiian PR being neither co-sleeping neither super nice evening neither - liquid honestly serious region to village and on the city is an agouti enter with a lagoon when we finally arrived there the dam is a sight to behold inside this concrete monolith there are dozens of turbines capturing the power of the Yangtze and turning it into electricity the cargo-ship locks are already working if you spend a little time watching them open and close you can see how busy the shipping traffic has become one of the reasons for the dam was to create a deeper river to carry larger ships the finished structure will also have an enormous passenger ship elevator big enough to lift whole vessels up the wall of the dam and after 17 years it's finally nearly completed well this is it the mighty Three Gorges Dam it's either an enormous mistake or an engineering marvel that'll power China into the 21st century it's definitely big and produces a lot of electricity but the question for China is was building the dam really worthwhile when were invited inside the dam to speak to shift engineer Li changer he certainly thinks so he couldn't believe his luck when he got a job here yeah how do you plea told us that the power generated by these turbines actually fluctuates quite a bit according to the seasons in the winter less electricity is produced but with the summer rains and the flooding River comes an electricity bonanza this electricity comes without the pollution of coal-fired power even one of the dams staunchest critics has become something of a convert ninja since either Renly omen in guy hi young da ba da shriti on Sega Wan Jia yo TN Tennessee see ya next wrestling persona Center area who are you who are you hot hot diggity change-o Pearman we shed light on all the weight on booty with Kenya so you can diali PDT negative Sandow Sujata tae soo Jin ho hands off hands on yesterday hi Hondo ng preciate you cow to the Kwang soo you put on de Chile ancho chili but for others the problem runs deeper because in China the financial benefits of mega engineering projects still outweigh environmental and social concerns every time [Music] [Applause] jimena Chandra convoy yah yah yah yah yah t Lord Shiva namah meteorology bakudo salchow evasion Italians me per dollar don't show your evader needed Allah teens ruin Yoshitaka know my channel at home Iguodala to ensure jiggle you had hide up [Music] china plans to dam many more of its rivers it's also building dams overseas for developing countries envious of China's startling economic growth [Music] but the Three Gorges project has shown that if you want the benefits of hydropower you'd better prepare for the costs [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Journeyman Pictures

Views: 2,324,096

Rating: 4.6572237 out of 5

Keywords: China, Dam, Yangtze, basin, electricity, Journeyman, Pictures, news, documentary, current affairs, Journeyman Pictures, Three Gorges Dam (Power Station)

Id: 3z9K82ZVdMA

Length: 19min 34sec (1174 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 04 2008

Reddit Comments

[u/SesshamoNekodearuzo]

this was aired 12 years ago...