Does the construction of the Three Gorges Dam have an impact on our lives?

The Three Gorges Reservoir built in Yichang is the dividing line between the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River. The upper reaches of the Yangtze River are characterized by large drop, fast flow rate and large power generation kinetic energy. As the largest river in China, the Yangtze River has a large and stable water volume, which is conducive to power generation. The geological structure in the Three Gorges area is stable (not prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes and landslides), which provides a favorable guarantee for the construction of the Three Gorges Dam.

The site selection of the Three Gorges Dam initially included several candidate dam sites such as Nanjinguan, Taipingxi and Sandouping. The final dam site of Sandouping Dam is located 38km upstream of Gezhouba Hydropower Station, with open terrain, hard granite geological conditions and low seismic intensity.

There is a sandbar in the middle of the river, which divides the Yangtze River in two. On the left is the big river with a width of about 900 meters and the hill Tanziling on the bank of the river, and on the right is the Houhe River with a width of about 300 meters, which can facilitate the construction by stages.

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Influence;

The environmental impact of the Three Gorges Project comes from reservoir pollution. Sewage and domestic garbage discharged by towns and tourists on both sides of the Three Gorges are directly discharged into the Yangtze River without treatment.

After water storage, because the water flow is still, pollutants can't flow down in time and accumulate in the reservoir, which causes water quality deterioration and garbage floating, and may cause infectious diseases. Some towns collect domestic water from other sources, and at the same time, a large number of immigrants reclaim wasteland, which also aggravates water pollution and causes soil erosion.

In this regard, the local government is vigorously building sewage treatment plants and landfills to solve the pollution problem. If it is found that the pollution is too serious, it is also possible to build a dam to increase the flow to realize water exchange.

The Three Gorges Project will have an impact on the surrounding ecology. Because of the dam, fish can't pass through the Three Gorges normally, and their living habits and heredity will change. After the impoundment of the Three Gorges Reservoir, more than 560 species of rare terrestrial plants will be submerged, but most of them are also distributed above the submerged line. Only Selaginella laxiflora and Clematis chinensis are completely below the submerged line and have been transplanted.