Three Gorges Dam

Why Three Gorges Dam is special
It is the world's largest dam - and one of mankind's greatest engineering projects.

Three Gorges Dam tips and insights
Three basic parts
Each component (dam, ship locks, and shiplift) required a massive investment in time, money, and effort.

• Dam
  It's the long white object in my illustration's upper left corner. It may look small but it measures 185 meters (610 feet) high and 2.3 kilometers (1.3 miles) wide. Its middle section is the spillway (for letting water out). The left and right ends house massive hydroelectric turbine generators.
  
• Ship locks
  There are two side-by-side lock channels - the world's biggest. One handles upriver traffic, the other, downriver traffic (both were in full operation during my visit). Each channel has five sequential locks (stages). Each one of those locks can hold a dozen ships at a time.
  
• Shiplift
  A colossal elevator for hoisting and lowering small ships.

A controversy rages
Below is my brief summary of the arguments for both sides of the dispute.

• Proponents for the dam
  They argue that the dam creates needed electric power, controls floods (which saves lives), aids irrigation and improves navigation, among other benefits.
  
• Opponents
  They counter that the project, for example, relocates over a million people, inundates important sites, has environmental issues, and could be disastrous to hundreds of millions of people who live downriver should a severe storm, earthquake or terrorist attack occur.

Long and costly project
The Three Gorges Dam is a 15 year project. Cost: About US $30 billion.

Water level
The level of the water directly behind the Three Gorges Dam rose 155 meters (510 feet). The added water volume raised the water level of the Yangtze River as far as 600 kilometers (375 miles) upriver.

The reservoir effect not only raises the water level, it widens the river and slows down its current. This is transforming a fast moving river into a slow river lake.

Nearest major city
The Three Gorges Dam is 615 kilometers (380 miles) east of Chongqing city and 670 kilometers (420 miles) west of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province.