Hidden problems with China's dams
This is a summary of an in-depth investigation?published by 21st Century Business Herald (Ershiyi shiji jingji baodao) on June 12, 2003.
According to Ministry of Water Resources statistics, 30,413 of China’s reservoirs, or 36 per cent of the total, are considered badly functioning and dangerous; 145 of these are classified as large, 1,118 as medium-sized, and 29,150 as small.
Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Anhui provinces have the highest number of badly functioning and dangerous reservoirs. Hunan leads the list with 6,092 such reservoirs (45 per cent of the province’s total), followed by Hubei (1,791 bad reservoirs, 31 percent of its total), Jiangxi (1,627 bad reservoirs, 18 per cent of its total) and Anhui (1,416 bad reservoirs, 30 per cent of its total).
Poorly functioning and dangerous reservoirs have resulted in numerous dam collapses, caused by overtopping (when too much flood water has been stored), structural weaknesses and bad management. In addition, as many as 10,000 reservoirs were damaged by floods last year alone and are in urgent need of repair, according to an official in the Reservoir Management Department of the Ministry of Water Resources.
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