Study steered contentious Three Gorges, but warnings existed, Ian Johnson reports

"The problems at the Three Gorges aren't just a Chinese problem, as it's often portrayed," says Pat Adams of Probe International. "It's a world-wide issue, with responsibility in other countries, too."
 
The Canadian government-funded $14 million feasibility study in 1988 — the only official feasibility report on the dam — backed most of the Chinese engineers' assumptions, including the idea that one dam could achieve the disparate goals of flood control, power generation and improved shipping.

However, the report warned the dam's waters shouldn't exceed a depth of 160 meters.

"We thought 150 to 160 was feasible," Pierre Senecal, a Hydro-Quebec engineer who worked on the project, told The WSJ. "But we could not definitely say that 170 or 180 were feasible or infeasible, so we did not recommend going beyond 160."

Three years after the feasibility study was completed — despite the 160-meter recommendation — the dam was built to accommodate waters as deep as 180 meters and is currently operating with a water level of 156.6 meters. The water's height has become one of the defining problems with the dam, triggering the resettlement of millions, spiraling costs and serious pollution, says The WSJ.

But the Canadian government's involvement didn't end with its feasibility study. Though many Western governments initially refused to back the controversial project due to concerns of its viability and social impact, Canada's then Prime Minister Jean Chrétien announced his support of the dam in 1994. In 1997, China awarded turbine contracts valued at $320 million to General Electric Canada and two German companies and a few months later, Canada 's government-run Export Development Corp. guaranteed $160 million of the deal.

www.wsj.com

 

For more background on Canada's role in the Three Gorges dam project, see Probe International's book Damming the Three Gorges: What Dam Builders Don't Want You to Know.