Drought Poses Obstacle for Giant Chinese Dam

By JAMES T. AREDDY

SHANGHAI -- China's controversial Three Gorges Dam, a giant man-versus-nature project designed to combat centuries of brutal flooding, has become hamstrung for the moment by a lack of water.

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Associated Press/Xinhua Photo

A drought in China's midsection makes it unlikely the dam's 400-mile-long reservoir will be filled to capacity as planned this month. Some experts are asking whether environmental concerns about the dam are making the government more willing to abandon its symbolic goal.

Li Feng, a spokesman for the Chinese State Council's Three Gorges project construction committee, on Tuesday said lower-than-normal Yangtze River flows spurred by drought have hurt the government's plan to temporarily lift the water level to the dam's maximum point, about 575 feet. He declined further comment.

The plan was meant to mark a pinnacle moment for a project the government says has cost $27 billion. It would have allowed engineers to demonstrate the strength of its 1.4-mile retaining wall and the promised generating capacity of its hydropower turbines. The government has in the past given itself until 2012 to fill the basin to capacity and operate the project at full strength.

The scuttling of the capacity test comes amid continuing concern among Chinese and foreign critics that the dam and its reservoir have already had a detrimental environmental impact. Residents along the riverside, for instance, have blamed the dam for devastating landslides that have swept away homes and farmland.

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An underground power plant of the Three Gorges Dam in Hubei province is shown under construction in September. The project hasn't been filled to capacity, amid concerns over a drought and over environmental consequences such as landslides.

Fan Xiao, a Chengdu-based geologist, said he agrees drought is the likeliest reason for the postponement in filling the Three Gorges Dam now.

But he said authorities may end up delaying indefinitely if they conclude filling it would have environmental consequences.

Another geologist in the region, Yang Yong, said he believes geological concerns likely played an important role in the decision to delay.

In a season when water should be rising behind the 600-foot-high dam, those levels have held mostly steady at around 558 feet since late last month.

Instead of continuing to add water when the line reached the current level, dam operators began allowing flows out -- more than 9,000 cubic meters per second at times -- to satisfy demand downstream.

In addition to rainfalls that are half normal levels, a growing population, industrialization, pollution and food production have compounded the shortage of water resources.

China's breadbasket central provinces this year have seen some grain harvests cut in half, fishing hauls shrink and riverboat shipping lanes dry up.

In state television broadcasts, boats on one of the country's largest bodies of fresh water, Dongting Lake, which straddles the provinces of Hubei and Hunan, are shown tilted sideways on a bed of cracked mud instead of bobbing in the deepest water of the year.

Almost a year ago, Beijing also cited drought in announcing delays in the launch of the key central-China section of a multidecade project meant to divert water from the country's south to its parched north.—Kersten Zhang in Beijing contributed to this article.

Write to James T. Areddy at james.areddy@wsj.comPrinted in The Wall Street Journal, page A11