How AIDS in China is spreading
Shanghaiist Scrabble: We have a winner!
New sex change rules for China
2000 years later, Mongolian barbarians finally take down Great Wall
Threesday: How globalized Shanghai remains Chinese
There's a serious drought affecting Chongqing and neighboring Sichuan, which recent reports have stated is the worst such drought to hit the region in 50 years. Water levels on the Yangtze are at lows unseen for 100 years, water is being rationed in Chongqing, and millions of people are already without safe drinking water. Losses are already in the billions of yuan, and it looks like the autumn harvests are going to be shite, thus leading to huge agricultural losses.
During this time, reports began circulating on the internet that The Three Gorges Dam was responsible for the drought, which the government has denied, citing reasons that have to do with climate changes, global warming, and strange air currents over the Qinghai-Tibet plateau.
Meteorological changes might be the reason, but it is possible the drought is in part related to human activity -- now we don't know jack about water engineering or whatever kind of biology is germane to the issue at hand, but we did find this report, which suggests that water transfer between regions might have something to do with water levels in the Yangtze:
Under the south-north water transfer project, which is designed to benefit Beijing and other cities on the drought-stricken north China plain, water is to be drawn from the Yangtze and its tributaries and sent to the north along three routes. The eastern and western channels will each convey 15 billion cubic metres of water, while the middle route will draw 14.5 billion cubic metres of water from the Danjiangkou reservoir on the Han River.
Less water means that pollutants become more concentrated. It seems that people as far up the river as Nanjing in Jiangsu province have been affected, with one village of people unfortunate enough to have been forced by lack of water to dip into a local river, which is full of parasites, including the infamous blood flukes（血吸虫）that Mao had claimed to have eradicated (they are prevalent in his home province of Hunan, in the Yueyang/Changsha area, especially). Like we said, we don't know much about this field, but in any case, it's not likely that if silting or water transfer or anything other than metereological flux is the culprit, that we are going to actually find out about it -- the Three Gorges Dam is way too politicized for that to happen.
Photo from China Daily.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
post to facebook
Since 3 gorges dam is downstream, how could it cause a drought? The north-south project and local big boss abuse shares blame with global warming.
what do you mean by "big boss abuse?"
Between climate change, diversion projects, and industrial abuse of water resources, I'm not shocked there is a severe "drought." Chances are, though, this is contributing:
In 1998, there were HUGE floods which were traced in part to deforestation. Logging was (and still is) banned in much of Yunnan and Sichuan province, and there is a huge push to reforest these areas. Wouldn't it be ironic if the government decided to reverse the policy and promote heavy logging to increase water flow downstream?
also, big boss abuse sounds kinda kinky
Deforestation/Forestation affects soil retention and therefore silt levels in a body of water. Trees don't cause drought. Draining aquifers, diverting water volume and less rainfall creates drought. You don't even need high temperatures, as warm air holds more moisture than cold air, but usually high temps accompany a drought.
A policy of deforestation would only create bigger mudslides, possibly taking rice paddies along, and add more silt to big rivers like the Yangtze, which really doesn't need more of anything.
"big boss abuse" means local big bosses taking water they shouldn't for whatever wasteful, fraudulant products they have going on at the time. "Big boss" deforestation could lead to muddying of waters which make them less usable for irrigation and consumption.
"Trees don't cause drought."
Obviously -- but it is possible for those 'big bosses' to make a fairly coherent argument that fewer trees will translate into more runoff. Forests don't produce drought, but forests, just like factories and irrigation, are capable of diverting water: canopy cover, less compacted soil (root breakup), and litterfall on forest floors divert rainfall from flowing downstream.
I'm not contending that deforestation is good drought control policy -- in fact, it is a horrible idea -- I'm merely suggesting that Yunnan local officials are aching for any excuse to reverse the logging ban... and I sure hope they don't pick this one.
less trees will result in more silty runoff ie land erosion. It's pretty tough to pump mud and mud doesn't flow very easily in gravity fed irrigation canals. Mud also kills machinery if you try to use it for a coolant.
Trees can't consume surface water very fast, only their leaves and roots can absorb water and osmosis is very slow. Forest canopies only mean that water won't hit the ground evenly, but it still will reach the ground and most of it will still flow downhill into a stream or river.
Discovery channel shows on rainforests are proof enough. Those forest canopies are far denser than anything in Yunnan and it is still easy to get drenched while standing around under the trees.
Local officials are pretty stupid, drag their knuckles and smoke too many cigarettes.