Biggest Drought in 71 Years Hit the Yangtze River Basin, 3 Gorges Reservoir: No Water to Discharge

On this day in previous years, the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River may have already experienced many floods, and the release of floods would’ve been non-stop. However, the situation this year is extremely abnormal. Due to the decrease in rainfall and continuous high temperature weather, the water level of the Yangtze River, which should have been in the flood season, was even lower than that in the dry season, and the water level at several water stations dropped to a record low. The water level of the main stream of the Yangtze River was about 6.0 meters lower than the same period of the previous year, which was the lowest value for the same period since the records began in 1951.

On August 13, the water level of the Hankou Station of the Yangtze River was 17.55 meters, which was the lowest level in the history of the Wuhan section of the Yangtze River since hydrological records began.

We have reported many times before that the Chinese government has built a large number of dams and reservoirs over the years, ostensibly claiming to be able to control floods, irrigate, and generate electricity. However, the actual situation is that a large amount of reservoir water is released when floods come, which cannot achieve the effect of flood control; during droughts, neither power generation nor water can be released, so it cannot be relied on in emergency situations. In addition, reservoirs and dams have seriously damaged the ecological environment. If they collapse due to long time usage with lack of maintenance, they will bring immeasurable losses to the lives and properties of people living downstream.