China builds world's highest dam, India fears water theft

China builds world's highest dam, India fears water theft

www.asianews.it

The dam will rise to 3,260 meters, on Yarlung Zangbo River (Brahmaputra, for Indians) using special materials and techniques. But India notes that the river is essential to the lives of millions of people and calls for assurances that Beijing does not seem to want to give. For that zone a war was fought that has never officially ended.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - China has admitted that it is building a dam on the Yarlung Zangbo River. The river originates in Tibet, but then flows into India where it is called Brahmaputra and is a major water source for millions of people. Moreover, the dam will be built in the area near the border disputed between the two countries.

India is however very worried about the plan, fearing a decrease in the flow of the river water in India and the destruction of the Himalayas ecosystem. Above all the agriculture and industry of the north-eastern states of India depend heavily on the Brahmaputra river.

In addition, with this project China will directly control more than 90 thousand square meters of land the sovereignty of which is disputed between India and China, who fought a war that has never formally ended and who still station armed forces in the area. China responds that the dam will allow it to develop clean energy and reduce carbon dioxide emissions resulting from coal fired power plants.

This is an issue that I first learned about two years ago here on ATS and it is strange that something of such crucial importance is largely unreported in (Western) media.

He who controls the water controls the world. India and China have been at Cold War for a long time and the fact that China does not care about the consequences for the lives of millions of Indians says enough about the future prospects.

Both China and India have been arming Himalayan states with arms and trying to get them on their respective sides. With the fight for water reaching a breaking point, it is going to be interesting to see what will happen.

However, not just India faces water shortages, perhaps China's biggest threat is also the shortage of water like elaborated in the following article from the Washington Post:

As economy booms, China faces major water shortage

"China is facing two prominent challenges: water shortages and pollution," said Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, a Beijing-based group. On top of that, "what's not receiving attention is the destruction of the river ecosystem, which I think will have long-term effects on our water resources."

source

www.asianews.it
(visit the link for the full news article)

Nobody wants to step on Chinas toes too much right now - that would be the main reasoning behind not reporting it I would think.

The whole world is going to learn in the long run, that messing with natural rivers and associated ecosystems screws up the balance of things.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

BTW, that dam China is building/built is the biggest infrastructure project in the world - I'm pretty sure it dwarfs the hoover dam.

reply to post by ghostsoldier


Hoover Dam?

The Three Gorges Dam ain't too shabby:

The Three Gorges Dam (simplified Chinese: 长江三峡大坝; traditional Chinese: 長江三峽大壩; pinyin: Chángjiāng Sānxiá Dàbà) is a hydroelectric river dam that spans the Yangtze River in the town of Sandouping, located in the Yiling District of Yichang, at the Hubei province, China. It is the world's largest electricity-generating plant of any kind.[2]

The dam body was completed in 2006. Except for a ship lift, all of the originally planned components of the project were completed on October 30, 2008 when the 26th generator was brought into commercial operation. Currently, it contains 26 completed generators in the shore power plant, each with a capacity of 700 MW.[3] Six additional generators in the underground power plant are being installed and are not expected to become fully operational until around 2011. Coupling the dam's 32 main generators with 2 smaller generators (50 MW each) to power the plant itself, the total electric generating capacity of the dam will eventually reach 22,500 MW.[4] The project produces hydroelectricity, increases the river's navigation capacity, and reduces the potential for floods downstream by providing flood storage space. From completion until September 2009 the dam has generated 348.4 TWh of electricity, covering more than one third of its project cost.[5]

en.wikipedia.org...

Hmmm.... Didn't China build a dam in Tibet, in 2010, in the movie 2012? That's where the arks were stored. First thing that jumped to mind, but I am of the mind that movies often "report" on things that exist you would not know about otherwise. Like celldar in the latest Batman or healing substances that can regrow limbs on Wanted. Co-incidence?

reply to post by Mdv2


looking up India and Dams
got this article and others looks like India also do the same thing

search.com.bd...

Here's what another source (India) said about the problem near the end of 2009. (Note: the dam will be 1100 km from the border of China and India)

www.hindustantimes.com...





[edit on 25-4-2010 by manta78]

[edit on 25-4-2010 by manta78]

reply to post by siahchi


Both Celldar and the magic regrowth stuff I was aware of prior to the films as they were reported in the normal media, but then I am a rather sad bastardo and read the BBC website and others back to front... I also work in telecoms so that does help keep abreast of the latest and greatest..

I wouldn't read too much into films, art imitates life and all that.

As for the this dam, is India prepared to go to war with it's giant neighbour? Also, China is pretty pally with Pakistan. It does seem this part of the world has many potential conflicts ready to go and could cause the next "big one". It's almost like Europe used to be, with many states with different agendas all vying for power.

[edit on 25/4/10 by stumason]

reply to post by stumason


HMM. I'm a sad bastard too then, news junkie that I am! I knew about the celldar before the movie too, the miracle regrowth stuff I just knew had to be real before I found the actual news on it, however I had no idea they were reported on the BBC or msm, as I learned of them through the alt. media. I'll have to comb through the BBC more regularly, although I prefer the telegraph. I actually think China is the big thing to watch, sleeping giant that it is (relatively speaking). I see them as a potential new world superpower, which is the stuff sleepless nights are made of. BTW, great signature. I've always admired the politeness of the English, and strive for the quality in myself.

[edit on 25-4-2010 by siahchi]

Its articles like this, ide love to send to big businessess that promote global communitys* i am sick and tired of seeing how soft and happy people look in the commercials...in reality its all a lie* bringing us together, ect blah..yeah so when you big businesses have raped and plubnderred everyones bank accounts, estroyed an entire national economy and snuck out he backdoor unscaved...maybe more of us together killing eachother off from economic disoirder and stress YOU were greedliy and selfishly resposable for...maybe thats what they mean by globalization*
It is a shame our government deals with communist china. I call it communist becaue thiers still influences thier in the governement. Thier building so far, the freedom tower, screwing many american citizens out of a job, have whorded well over 84% of our land, no thanks to corporate america, and now, have totaly dis regarded another nations of people and eco system.
Should be very interesting this summer or next year, if a drought strikes that part of india...persoanlly, IF i was from INdia and concerned over this..ide simply sneak to the damn with some kind of 'charges' C 4 dynamite or something, and break that damn REAL GOOD.
Of course, china would accuse india, but lack of evidence starting to sound like those mel gibson movies nowadays,....road warrior. Not much water left, canned dog food if yuor lucky is your meal for the next 4 days,...

reply to post by manta78


Living in the Western US with its history of water wars, this thread caught my attention. Your post helped to relieve some anxiety

"For their run of the river, we have no right. Our concern should be that there is no diversion in existing flow of the 79 BCM water from the river into India. There is no evidence for any such diversion so far," Bansal said.

Water rights are a major concern, especially internationally.

I don`t understand something.
"The dam will rise to 3,260 meters". I assume they talk about the lenght of the dam, not its height

[edit on 25/4/10 by sandri_90]

reply to post by sandri_90

I don`t understand something.
"The dam will rise to 3,260 meters". I assume they talk about the lenght of the dam, not its height

I whistled when I read that, too. But here is a quote from the article...

China outlined the project this month, in a private meeting with Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna. The dam will be built in Zangmu at a height of 3,260 meters, in the Shannan Prefecture in Tibet and nearby four other dams will also be built in the valley between Jiacha and Sangro counties. Official sources said yesterday that the overall capacity of the dams will be "several times" more than the gigantic Three Gorges Dam.

Well, China does not care about the human rights and liberties of its own population, so it is hardly going to give a toss about a few million Indians!

The Three Gorges dam in China was an impressive engineering achievement. It also threw nearly 1.5 million Chinese off their land (bet they were happy about that - especially those who received zero compensation), but that's what you get when you live in a dictatorship. It also messed up the ecology of the Yangtze River, but the Chinese authorities (who answer to no one) have demonstrated a contempt for the natural environment of China, so we can expect more of the same in their next big dam project.

Regards

Originally posted by mishigas
reply to post by sandri_90

 

I don`t understand something.
"The dam will rise to 3,260 meters". I assume they talk about the lenght of the dam, not its height

I whistled when I read that, too. But here is a quote from the article...

China outlined the project this month, in a private meeting with Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna. The dam will be built in Zangmu at a height of 3,260 meters, in the Shannan Prefecture in Tibet and nearby four other dams will also be built in the valley between Jiacha and Sangro counties. Official sources said yesterday that the overall capacity of the dams will be "several times" more than the gigantic Three Gorges Dam.

Yhea the way I read that is that the top of the dam (or the average level of the water held by the dam, whatever) will be at an altitude of 3,260 meters above sea level - after all if the structure it's self was more than 3 1/4 km high!! that's more than 2 miles high!!!

It must be altitude above sea level.

I have a tip for India.

Do a cost analysis.

Does it cost more to :
A) Go to war with China
B) Build water desalinization power plants on your coast

If A is cheaper than B, go to war, otherwise, go with B.

Or even if B is costlier, go with B if you think A has more risks... and I doubt that A is cheaper than B, a few cities turned into ash by nuclear fire is probably more expensive than building a few power plants...

Considering how there is well over 1/3rd of the worlds population in India and China alone, water must be an incredably valuable commodity.
As such, I can see why India would be more than a bit annoyed about China having the power to completely stop the flow of a major river.

Originally posted by siahchi
Hmmm.... Didn't China build a dam in Tibet, in 2010, in the movie 2012? That's where the arks were stored. First thing that jumped to mind, but I am of the mind that movies often "report" on things that exist you would not know about otherwise.

They said it was a dam, but IIRC, there was no river in that valley, and the 'dam' was right at the top of the cliff.
I can think of another instance actually. In 'The Day After Tomorrow', the first sign of the coming events is a massive ice shelf at the North pole breaking off.
Before the film was released, an ice shelf in a similar location actually did break off. There might have been one or two other things that happened that were similar to the events of the film, although I can't remember for certain.
I do remember someone, possibly the director', being quoted along the lines of 'We'd better hurry up before this turns into a documentary!'

I wonder how many people are going to die building this. We all know China has the best safety record and cares for it's workers.

They need a regulatory agency like OSHA... I feel bad for them.

reply to post by Now_Then

Yhea the way I read that is that the top of the dam (or the average level of the water held by the dam, whatever) will be at an altitude of 3,260 meters above sea level - after all if the structure it's self was more than 3 1/4 km high!! that's more than 2 miles high!!!

It must be altitude above sea level.

What you say makes sense. But then the article states that 'special materials' and techniques will be used.

A 2 mile high dam breast is insane!

Water dispute fuels India-Pakistan tensions

A bitter dispute over limited water resources is fueling India-Pakistan tensions at a time when the South Asian neighbors are trying to rebuild trust and resume peace talks.

It’s a long-running feud that has worsened in recent months as a dry spell focuses attention on Pakistan’s growing water shortage. Three days of talks in March ended with both sides trading barbs and failing to reach a resolution.

The issue was raised Thursday when the leaders of the two countries met at a regional summit in Bhutan and agreed on the need to normalize relations, the Pakistani side said.

Further complicating the situation, Islamic extremists are trying to capitalize on allegations that India is stealing water from glacier-fed rivers that start in the disputed territory of Kashmir.

Independent experts say there is no evidence to support those charges, but they warn that Pakistani concerns about India’s plans to build at least 15 new dams need to be addressed to avoid conflict.

“If you want to give Lashkar-e-Taiba and other Pakistani militants an issue that really rallies people, give them water,” said John Briscoe, who has worked on water issues in the two countries for 35 years and was the World Bank’s senior water adviser.

China and Pakistan stand together against their mutual enemy India. China has been given the green light to establish military bases in Pakistan and this regional water dispute seems to put more oil on the fire.


source
[edit on 1-5-2010 by Mdv2]