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Hydropower exploitation devastating SW China
by Pang Li and Wu Jin
China.org.cn, November 3, 2007
http://www.china.org.cn/english/environment/230676.htm
Undeniably, southwest China is witnessing an unprecedented boom in hydropower
development. Certain statistics show that of the hydropower plants to be built
over several rivers: Nujiang, Lancang, Jinsha, Dadu, Yalong and Minjiang, 104
will have installed capacities of above 150,000 kw and 72 will have capacities
of between 50,000 and 150,000 kw. The rest of them, with installed capacities
of less than 50,000 kw will be incredibly numerous.
Many major rivers in southwest China, especially in Yunnan and Sichuan
provinces, are about 2,000 meters above sea level. There are usually steep
drops along different sections of these large rivers. Moreover, the riverside
areas are sparsely populated and just a small number of people need to be
relocated to accommodate a power plant. Therefore, these rivers are ideal
subjects for hydroelectricity. In fact, the potential hydroelectric power is
astonishingly enormous, as much as 490 million kw according to some previous
statistics. Thus, people are attracted to these regions to build hydropower
plants.
But environment and ecological experts have voiced their concerns. They deem
current hydropower exploitation as the second worst ecological disaster in
China following the destructive deforestation that took place from the 1950s to
the 1990s. The ecological systems of these elevated riverside areas are
extremely fragile. And it still remains questionable whether or not a too
heavily exploited river can produce the energy as much as predicted.
Miyaluo is a town by the Zagunao River, a subsidiary of upper Minjiang River.
It used to be renowned for its gorgeous maple landscape. Covering an area
stretching for about 130 km, it was the largest in China. Now the maples are
gone forever: concrete dams have taken their place. Additionally, 58 local
households in Miyaluo have been forced to leave their hometown and relocated
into a strange place. Although they are now living in new houses and receiving
governmental subsidies, people are still worried about their futures because
they have been deprived of their old way of life.
Miyaluo will be transformed to a power plant soon and is expected to begin
operation by the end of this year. It is just one of the seven power plants
along the Zagunao River. Now this river is scattered with busy construction
sites where debris flows and landslides are common occurrences during rainy
days.
Zhang Qiujin, Director of the Ecology Institute under the Sichuan Provincial
Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, says that the construction of
hydropower plants will deal a deadly blow not only to aquatic and dry land
ecological systems. When a river is heavily exploited, its natural channels
gradually dry up. Consequently, not only the aquatic life in the river but also
the whole riverside area's natural environment is greatly endangered and very
likely to be completely ruined. The relocated population will also exploit
their newly found natural resources, thus posing another threat to the fragile
balance of the ecological system in their new living places.
The Zagunao River is not the only subsidiary of the upper Minjiang River being
exploited. Countless concrete dams and steel tubes will transform most of the
upper Minjiang River's subsidiaries into separate artificial reservoirs. Those
natural river landscapes are about to disappear from the earth.
The same fate is awaiting the Dadu River. The river is said to have the most
abundant hydropower potential in Sichuan, with its exploitable installed
capacities estimated at 50 percent more than the Three Gorges'. Authorities are
considering building up to 22 power plants on the Dadu alone. That means more
than 100,000 people will have to move from the river valley areas to higher
ground. The river will never be the same.
The hydroelectric power plants have altered the way water flows, killing rare
aquatic inhabitants, including otters, giant salamanders and the Hucho Bleekeri
Kimura. They also have invaded into China's southwestern nature preserves, such
as the Fengyongzhai Reserve in Sichuan Province where wild giant pandas are
living. "The massive construction will devastate many regional ecological
systems," said Yang Yong, an independent explorer.
Yang visited the upper Yangtze River 20 years ago when the ecological systems
there were threatened by over-logging. Governments in the region took action in
time to prohibit total forest destruction. Yet the roar of roaring generators
has again interrupted the protective approach.
Hydropower plants have been built in nature conservation areas regardless of
laws and regulations. Take Tianquan Town for example; several generators have
been built inside the town's nature reserve. "Districts and towns should make
their choices to be nature conservancies or to be hydropower generator
centers," said Chen Guojie, Director of the Sichuan Nature Reserves Review
Committee.
But the local government has argued that they had started to build hydropower
plants before the place became a protected area. They hoped that the committee
could compromise on the standards and allow them to place generators separate
from the nature preserve. According to Zhang Qiujin, nature reserves would
prohibit scientific explorations, let alone the construction of hydropower
plants.
Yet low relocation costs and rich water resources have made these virgin lands
irresistible for generator builders. "We have built too many hydropower plants
on land that we should not touch," said Ling Lin, Director of the WWF Chengdu
Office.
Controversy sparked in 2003 around the construction of a generator near the
Renzong River on Gongga Mountain the 400,000-hectares are designated as a
nature conservation area and surrounded by dozens of snow capped mountain
peaks. The mountain, covered with approximately 3,000 alpine plants,
accommodates about 400 vertebrates.
The power plant on the Renzong Lake was phase one of the project. The second
phase was launched in the same year on the Muge, a sacred lake for local people
living on Gongga Mountain. The whole project aimed at creating a terraced water
conservancy works. Yet the construction has been currently stopped due to
strong opposition. According to Fan Xiao, a chief engineer with the Sichuan
Geological Prospecting Bureau, earthquakes are occurring more frequently on
Gongga Mountain than previously when there were no hydropower projects.
Generators in China's southwestern regions have been generally built in two
ways tunnel works and terraced works. Both of the methods can do harm to
ecological systems, according to environmental protection experts. Rivers have
dried up due to changes in water flow caused by man-made tunnels. Such change
has caused numerous deaths of plants flanking riverbanks. Although
environmental protection experts disapprove of the technique, they have no
right to stop it. "The only thing we can do to minimize the negative effects
caused by tunnels is to keep a close eye on them," said Zhang.
"If there is no increase in water resources, hydropower plants cannot generate
more electricity despite continuous construction," said Ma Huaixin, Deputy
Director of the Sichuan Society of Hydropower Engineering.
Statistics show that about 100 fishes in the upper branches of Yangtze River
will go extinct if all the planned terraced hydropower stations are put into
operation.
Hydropower builders are thronging into China's southwest to struggle for the
region's rich water resources. As one of the country's strategic projects,
electricity has been sent from China's west, including Guizhou, Yunnan and
Sichuan provinces to its energy-deficient east. The project has been part of
the country's plan to develop its western regions.
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