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=The Xiaolangdi Dam=

China is home to the great Yellow River, often referred to as "the cradle" of Chinese civilization. The river is seen as a symbol of the Chinese nation and holds a special place within the Chinese people. Some say the river itself encompasses the "whole" of the Chinese people's spirit. It is the country's second longest river, with a length of 3,395 miles and is the sixth largest river in the world. The river consists of three major parts: the mountainous upper area, the middle section across a plateau, and the lower area that sits across a low plain.The lower area of the river is a very turbulent stream that often overflows its banks creating massive flooding. This is the reason why the river is referred to as "China's Sorrow." Millions of people in China have been affected by the flooding. The 1931 Yellow River flood killed an estimated 3.7 million people on the North China Plain.

Photo courtesy of PBS http://www-tc.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/flood/images/yelriver.gif

Why Build a Dam along the Yellow River?
For the past few centuries, the lower area of the river has had many areas where floods, ice, sediments, and irrigation have become a large problem. The Yellow River carries along the highest concentration of sediment load of any river in the world, because of the continuing extensive erosin from the eroded loess plateau upstream of the project area. Several factors contribute to the high volume of silt build up which include the rapid flow of the river, the low amount of forested area surrounding the river and the steepness of slopes near the river. As the riverbed builds up due to sedimentation, the stream has continuously shifted its course causing flooding which has destroyed countless villages and lives. In the past,there had been a system of dykes and training works along both banks for flood protection; however the dyke system is very "precarious" only because the river bed rises 3-10 m above the surrounding areas. To keep this system going, it would be very costly and difficult to raise the dykes again because of foundation and structural safety problems. The river has changed course in recorded history over 26 times. Due to sedimentation, China is a country that is suffering from severe soil and water loss. The annual soil erosion in China directly related to the Yellow river totals 1.6 billion tons of sediment.

As the Chinese people started to develop agriculture on the North Plain the people started to protect themselves and their land against floods; they did so by building levees. Thousands of miles of levees were constructed over time but at most the flooding was only delayed and the levees failed due to the amount of silt depositions, annual rain fall and the rapid movement of the river. Floods continuously breached the levees three out of every four years up until the 1950s. A solution was desperately needed to reduce the flooding, soil and water loss which continue to have a potentially devastating affect on the social development and the overall economic conditions in China. If a massive flood occurred on the Yellow River, 1-3% of the total population of China could be lost.



Yellow River (2004) The author is Andre Holdrinet.

How Did They Control the Problem?
The solution came in the form of building rock filled dams. Construction on the Xiaolangdi dam started in 1994 and completed in 2000. The dam is located 40km north of the ancient city of Luoyang in central China's Henan Province. It is only one of many dams the Chinese have planned for the Yellow River. In order to save project costs, the dam was placed in an ancient sedimentary riverbed using local sand-gravel materials and heavy construction equipment. Before beginning the construction of the dam, there were several key objectives in mind for the project: flood control, ice jam control, siltation control, irrigation, water supply, as well as hydroelectric power generation. This project was designed to protect downstream population settlements, farms and infrastructure from the hazards of disastrous floods. The end result was to have a large expansion in downstream irrigation, provide electric power to support urbanization, enhance estuarine ecology, expand aquaculture and end the reoccurring floods that have made Yellow River a danger to parts of China.

Due to the dams being constructed in an effort to increase the storage capacity of the reservoirs on the Yellow River, large amounts of water have to be released to reduce sedimentation. Annually 20 billion cubic meters of water is used for flushing sediment into the sea to lower the river bed in the lower area of the Yellow River.  The operation is launched to clear up the sand laden at the multipurpose dam. [Newsphoto]

Pro's and Cons of the Project
The Xiaolangdi dam did not rise out of the Yellow River without controversy of course. One side of the argument is that there are many ways that the dam helps the Yellow River. After all, Xiaolangdi was said to be “a testament to China’s progress and would bring water and electricity to the country’s impoverished interior regions.” Looking at the pro-active side, dams can store rain water directly from the river itself. This is great because if the area was ever in a drought, the dam would still have water to use. About 100 million people benefit from the protection from large floods and about 3 million of some of the poorest people in China living between the levees and in flood detention areas benefit from this. The Xiaolangdi dam also generates 5.1 billion kWh of electricity annually, which lowers energy costs. The dam can be shut down manually if needed; which is a plus in case there is an emergency which required it to be shutdown. However, since dams have very few breakdowns they probably will never need to shut it down! Finally manually being able to manage irrigation and water supply will raise yields of crops to about double their levels now.

Although the Xiaolangdi dam has wonderful things to offer, there is always a flip side to every argument. One negative effect of the dam is that hydroelectric power production requires flooding of entire valleys and scenic areas. Upon completion of the dam and a 75 mile long reservoir hundreds of thousands of people were displaced from their homes. Residents of Guan Yang and the surrounding area were forced to move approximately 40 miles away to a resettlement village. They had to leave behind their homes and farmland so construction workers could begin the Xiaolangdi dam project. Some people from the village said that “the dam has turned out to be yet another monument to the giant miscalculations and injustices of reform-era China, bringing them nothing but poverty and other troubles.” The people of the village also commented, “This is a thriving government that’s taken away our entire life.” They told us to give up your small home in the interest of the big home (the country).” The dam also disrupts natural seasonal changes in the river, and changes the natural ecosystem. Lastly, the most negative argument of the production of the dam was the overall cost. The Chinese government spent over $3.5 billion dollars to build the dam and over $1 billion to relocated it's people. Although dams are very expensive and sturdy creations, they can break in a massive flash flood. If this happens, the purpose of the dam would be useless because the floods was what it was trying to stop in the first place. As of right now, huge mud walls are alongside the river, destroying everything in their path. “Xiaolangdi is supposed to slow the cycle of silting and death, by trapping some sediments and flushing others farther downstream. By controlling the flow of water, the dam will also keep the river from running dry in the lower reaches as it has in recent springs.” This statement came from U.S water news. People did realize that the sand laden was causing problems, so they created a reservoir to help. ( see below) This picture is of a Xiaolangdi Scenic Spot. This spot is very well know for its beauty it gives. The author of this picture is unknown. [].



This picture was taken behind the dam to show that the ecological aspect of the river is still very much available. Information Center of Xiaolangdi Multipurpose Project Construction & Administration Bureau ,YRCC. []

Was This an Overall Success?
The Xiaolangdi dam is only one small step in China's overall production plan to harness the great Yellow River. The country is making great strides in implementing water projects throughout the country along the Yellow River to help soil conservation measures to reduce silt flow into the river. By building these dams not only are the Chinese people able to control the amount of sediment that is washed into the Yellow Sea but they are also able to produce large amounts of power from the dams. Prior to the construction of the dams the only defense the people and the farm lands had were the ineffective levees. The area surrounding the Yellow River is precious to the Chinese people as it supports the agriculture of over 130 million people. Although dams such as Xiaolangdi are expensive to build, the cost of maintaining failing levees on a yearly basis, along with the billions of dollars worth of flood damage and thousands of lives lost the Xiaolangdi should be viewed as a new symbol of hope for the Chinese people.

For more information visit the following sites:
[] http://www.irtces.org/old/irtces/report/9isrs/Liuzhen.pdf [] [] [] [] [] []