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156 and Counting
Early last week, the reservoir in front of the 3 Gorges Dam reach its level 2 plateau of 156 m. above sea level, up from 136 m., which it had been since June 2003.
The amount of garbage, flotsam, debris, and organic matter in the reservoir is overwhelming. There is talk of poking big holes in the dam to try to clear some of the refuse and prevent it from damaging the generators and clogging up the area just in front of the dam. Boats run by who used to be fishermen now get a small salary to haul in garbage in their big old fish nets.
It is bound to get better, not worse, as the water level stabilizes, but what about all the toxins and foul run off from the countless factories and towns that dot the river banks? They would need pretty fine filters to fish out all the chemicals.
last modified Oct 30, 2006 at 16:26
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