Floating garbage piling up in Three Gorges Dam

Several months of drought in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, China’s longest, had reduced its capacity to clean itself, Xinhua news agency quoted Cao Guangjing, vice manager of the Three Gorges Corporation, as saying.

The amount of floating garbage in the reservoir is expected to surpass 200,000 cubic meters (seven million cubic feet), Cao said.

Now as the water in the reservoir is set to rise to increase the hydro-electric potential of the dam, a lot of garbage on the banks will end up floating in its huge reservoir, he said.

“As the water in the reservoir is being raised 21 meters (70 feet) from 135 meters to 156 meters, the increase in floating debris in the reservoir is going to make clean up work much more difficult,” Cao was quoted as saying.

AFP