Discuss The Impact Of The Three Gorges Dam

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The Three Gorges Dam

Throughout this report I will be speculating the importance on the advantages and disadvantages in the proceeding construction of the biggest dam in the world called the Three Gorges Dam. The dam is going to be built across the Yangtze River; this river runs from Shanghai and to Yibin. Also the Yangtze River is the third longest river in the whole world. First of all a dam is an artificial embankment or a barrier which helps control the pressure and speed of the water flowing through the river and also it prevents flooding from happening. Dam’s are also used to generate electricity. They produce electricity through the flowing water turning a hydro electric turbine, when the turbine turns the kinetic energy is transferred to electrical energy. This process of generating electricity benefits China because it is environmentally efficient.

The main advantage that China gain’s if the dam is built is tourism and the rise of the income into the country. Tourists will be attracted and want to visit the dam, lake and also the Yangtze River. These main attraction sites will intrigue tourists to come into the country and spend money on viewing the landscape and structure of the dam. Another factor why tourism will dramatically increase is because the Three Gorges Dam is the biggest project in china since the great wall. It also will be the greatest engineering feat in the world. This would also increase China’s income and this would allow china to recover from the economic crisis they are facing. But on the opposing side the amount of money raised from tourism will not compare to the 26 billion U.S dollars spent constructing the dam. Also the money used to construct the dam did not come from an official investor but must come from tax’s this mean’s that everyone who lives in China would have to pay a tax increase to pay for the construction of the dam. Even though the tourism will not be able to recover the tremendous amount of money spent constructing the dam but the dam will protect cities from flooding. Overall tourism would have a more positive impact than a negative, so this would advance China on regaining the money lost constructing the dam.

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Another social advantage which I presume will benefit china if the dam is constructed is the fact that it will prevent flooding from happening. The dam will prevent flooding from happening in cities to the west of the dam like Yichang, Nanjing and Shanghai. But on the other hand cities to the east of the dam are in risk and danger because if the dam broke the entire lake would flood all of the cities to the east side like Wanxian. So 250,000 people living in Wanxian will have to move house because the majority of Wanxian will be flooded ...

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