Since April 5, 1958, when the Chinese government issued the first document on the Three Gorges Project, "Opinion on the Three Gorges Water Conservancy Project and the Planning of the Yangtze Valley," the very mention of the project raised bristles on people around the globe like a cat in a dog-fight. As the project nears its final stages of completion with full operation expected in 2008, the world will look to whether the project has been a well-conceived solution to multiple environmental and social problems or whether it is the environmental disaster of the 21st Century. The debates on China's decision to construct the project resulting in the displacement of millions of people has been debated for the last two decades However, just having spent a week at the Three Gorges Dam Project, including walking on top of the dam and driving all around the villages and rivers surrounding this beautiful mountainous landscape, I can give you my personal opinion that is was a project not only well conceived, but was ahead of its time to those now demanding solutions to "global warming".

The project was conceived with a view of sustainability from the very beginning. The project solved many engineering and social problems with a development perspective. Previous flooding of the Yangtze River destroyed crops and took hundreds of thousands of lives. Dangerous shoals and rapids limited the navigational benefits the river might offer. Previous coal-fired plants allowed CO2 emissions to fill the atmosphere, while at the same time not providing sufficient or predictable generating capacity to its citizens.

Before its construction the project underwent scientific analyses and all-around planning that covered issues such as the environment, relocation, and financing with a view to ecosystem balance and long-term development. The benefits of these early studies which were the bases for the project assumptions are now seeing the fruit of that labor. In terms of power generation, the project equates to a thermal power plant that consumes 40 million-50 million tons of raw coal, releasing 100 million tons of CO2, 2 million tons of SO2, 10 million tons of CO, 370 million tons of NOx, enormous dusts and solid wastes on a yearly basis. The Three Gorges Dam is simply a renewable and clean energy solution that will significantly improve the environment of East and Central China. This in turn will lead to favorable development of farming, forestry and fishery. The regulation of the reservoir, the outflow to the downstream tends to stabilize, which is helpful to improving water quality during the dry season, reducing salt water intrusion at the estuary to enhance the quality of water supplied to Shanghai.

The controversy has centered on the 1.13 million people of the reservoir area that are being relocated in an effort to protect the other 15 million people in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze. However, the relocation has been a major consideration in the project execution with about 45% of the project's total investment for relocation. Much to the contrary of what some have thought about the people who were located, about 58% of the relocates dwelled in urban areas and thus their employment did not pose a problem and their new living quarters and conditions were a substantial enhancement to their quality of life. Of the remaining, the farmers were provided with new land, with a view toward cash plants such as citrus and tea instead of grain crops.

The project will go down as one of the world's largest mega-projects ever to be built. Will we ever see anything like it in western world? Probably not in the near term. However, critics should obtain all the facts before throwing stones. This project is one of the most beautiful I have seen and the restoration of the environment surrounding the dam is one of the largest undertakings anywhere -- with massive planting of millions of trees, plants and flowers. The landscape shines with its colors of bright rape seed and glistening green rice shoots flowing in the breeze. The communities in the surrounding areas and in the mountains moving along the Yangtze could compete with any other river valleys and even resorts around the world. The Three Gorges Dam Project is truly a world-class project and a solution to an environmental problem that -- had it not been conceived and moved forward with its renewable and clean energy -- could have presented the world with of the greatest environmental concerns we have ever seen.

June 5, 2006

I love the dam.

John Foster

March 28, 2007

There is a large body of serious, ongoing, responsible debate about the long term issues of this project - much more than mere stone-throwing. Readers should Google "three gorges" and "sediment" to learn more. At the same time, many positive benefits will accrue from this massive project, at least to some. But was it carried out by a society that is in any way "sustainable" over the long term?

Phil Kabza

March 22, 2007

And yet here in America our environmental idiots insist on tearing down dams that provide similar benefits on a much smaller scale. Kudos to the Chinese.

Ray Hatton
Jacobs Engineering

March 19, 2007

I just read an article on my home page that said the dam was an enviromentel disaster. I'm glad I took the time to look op this story. Sometimes people try to feed us the wrong information. It sounds like a good thing the Chinese did keep up the good work.

Gilbert Park

March 17, 2007

For the first time, I have read a story on the three gorges that has been on the optimistic side and gave a different perspective. So far, pretty much every article in the general mass media was focusing too much on the negative impacts of this mega project. We still cannot come to conclusions, but atleast its good to hear that one of the largest building projects of 21st century is meeting its project goals.

It is my opinion that the rulers of the Peoples Republic of China have always made major decisions looking so far ahead of our time that many analysts( economic, political , military etc) miss the big picture. Thanks for the article.

Ganesh Doraisamy