Three Gorges Dam: The World's Most Powerful Dam
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- čas přidán 15. 05. 2024
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With a reservoir so massive it even slows down the Earth’s rotation, the sheer scale of this structure is unlike anything the world has ever seen before. While it generates electricity for millions of people, it is also repeatedly criticized for being at risk of collapse. But what lies behind it, is the dam really in danger? In this video, we’ll explore one of the biggest megaprojects in the entire world - the Three Gorges Dam.
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0:00 Intro
0:48 World's Most Powerful Dam
1:38 Why was it built?
3:01 Construction Process
4:17 World's Largest Ship Lift
5:51 Benefits
6:45 Challenges & Problems
8:20 Risk of collapse
9:59 Future plans
11:04 Railway Upgrade
#megaprojects #construction #dam
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first
It bull shit it slow down earth .
Tofu building dam
Deformation of a concrete structure always occurs ... but that's deformation measured by engineers with tools ... not deformation visible from satellites. If the deformation in the satellite images is real ... the dam is doomed.
those satellite images are definitely distorted not the actual dam. if they were true we are talking about shifts of 50-100 feet and major cracks would emerge
"Slight bend", general rule of thumb: if you can see it from space, it isn't slight.
Another general rule of thumb for you: always go to the primary source yourself.
It's not bent. The bend in the image is a product of how the image was produced.
Your comment made you stupid.
I always thought it looked weak and chesp compared to other dams.
Retired architect here. We had problems with Chinese cement. It didn’t reach its design capacity on 90 day test breaks. If they built this dam with inferior cement then I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it breaks.
China produces products with all types of specs and qualities, at varying prices. If you buy cheap, you get low quality... The problem is many people buy cheap but expect Rolex quality, and when it breaks, it's China fault...
@@chinyongangyahoo That's clearly incorrect, it's Trump's fault...👎
👍👍👍😃😃😃👏👏👏
@@chinyongangyahoo China is also known for it's "tofu dreg" projects.......
@@chinyongangyahoo China is also popular with cutting corner...which is why even their top spec product have questionable quality.
It astonishes me most that of all the negatives of the three gorges dam, the one forgotten most frequently is the loss of temples, artifacts, and ancient Chinese heritage that occurred when the reservoir filled.
They lost so much culture in those old sites.
Communists dont care about anything that isnt their ideology
...and the river dolphin.
Over here we let radicals destroy them because they are offended
The government wanted the culture to die anyways. They’ve been doing this for decades
Oh well, they'll be right
While working in China in the late 90’s, my wife and I cruised the Yangtze from Chongqing to Wuhan while the dam was under construction. We saw the white/pink river dolphins and it was a beautiful cruise through the gorges. In addition to relocating residents from along the river, archeologists were frantically packing up artifacts from caves in the gorge cliffs which would soon be submerged. So glad we had a chance to cruise the river before the dam was complete.
Sad to think that Baiji river dolphin has gone extinct.
@@matiasluukkanen7718 If someone wasn't telling you about it then you would not even think or care about it.
@@adtopkek4826 It does not change the fact that it is sad that unique species are going extinct due to human actions.
@@adtopkek4826 So you know this person well enough to say that? Otherwise, you’re talking out of your ass.
Running people off their land isn't relocating them. It's displacing them.
I am surprised you did not mention the ongoing problem of the high sediment load in the Yangtze river. If not well-managed, it will make the dam inoperable.
That and the dam doesn't need to collapse in order to catastrophically fail. The land around it is being strained by the reservoir.
Nothing last forever!
Click bait thumbnail --------------------------------------------------- mis-leading and not true
Chinese bot@@7000fps
the dam is built to flush the sediment out the bottom and thats public knowledge so how come you dont know?
Back when it was being constructed I heard a lot of negative feedback from several friends of mine that are mechanical engineers specializing in hydro-electric power. They felt that the flat face of the dam was not an ideal form since great volumes of water tend to look for the weakest points and a flat surface tends to encourage that process. Two of them that were encouraged to visit the site during construction were quite amazed by the entire process and skill-sets of their engineering counterparts on the dam. However the dam construction engineers also advised them that there was quite a challenge with regard to quality of concrete components, forms and pours with many reported defects going unreported due to senior officials either being paid-off or, in one case, one of the quality engineers was also the owner of once of the concrete materials suppliers; an obvious conflict. There was a slow-down at one point to improve the concrete process but that quite-quickly disappeared when Beijing became concerned that the CCP's image was suffering from the slow-downs in the dam's completion.
Let us give credit to China. Their Railways, Roads, Buildings, Trains, Dams and now computer Chips are in another level. The ease of delivering Projects mean that China is now at the top of the world. They have overtaken Americans, Europeans and Japanese. We need to learn and also live with this fact.
@@josephkanyugi3799roflol, the only thing they do better is pump out cheaper stuff faster, “Made in China” printed on something only means it is cheap and likely to fail. Now what they do much better than the US is produce significantly more smog, and denser than the US too! The air quality in Beijing is so bad, that lung cancer not due to smoking is the number one cause of death under 70 years old. 🎉🎉😂 bravo China !!! 记住天安门广场
@@josephkanyugi3799Wouldn’t be a CCP shill would you? What a stupid set of statements! 😂🤣😂🤣
@@josephkanyugi3799 For all the positives there are also a lot of negatives which are ignored.
@@josephkanyugi3799 Ok clownbot 🤡
So many people here are suddenly dam experts.
the problem with a project on this scale is that if it fails the consequences will be massive aswell ...
when, not if
Not a single mention of the fault line that runs in that area, which has shown increased seismic activity since its construction.
Built on a fault line. Who’s does this ?
Makes sense; how many millions of tons does the water in that artificial lake weigh? it is pressing down on land that has never had that much pressure put upon it. Something has to give.
@@donpablo59 Come on, man! Fault lines are the best places to put a nuclear reactor. After all, are YOU a geologist? If not then let the smart people do the thinking.
/s/
@richardthomas: your comment is confusing. People are talking about the dam, the topic of this video, and you start about a nuclear power plant? And since when are geologists specialists in NPP placement?
@@mr-boo whooooosh!
Dam this is impressive.
😂😂😂
😆 🤣 😂 😹 😆 🤣 😂 😹 😆 🤣 😂 😹 😆 🤣 😂 😹 😆 🤣 😂 😹 😆 🤣 😂 😹 sure!
ಅಣೆಕಟ್ಟು
I knew there would be another dam pun.
Dam right it is
🐉
I recall a documetnary regarding small ancient villages. It was heartbreaking. These villages were clean as a pin. The women would come out each morning and sweep the cobble streets with handmade brooms. They were relocated into de-humanizing massive termite nest type housing. Most of the men became alcoholics and the families fell apart.
Your accusation should be supported by evidence. Can you show me the link of the video?
@@EvangelionNeonGenesis Good God man.....look it up yourself. You can start with "Up the Yangtze" but there dozens of documentaries. Besides no one was making "accusations." I was simply pointing out a reality. Maybe you think no villages, ancient sacred burial sites, entire cites are not gone from the map?
@@WayneTheSeine Firstly, before you comment / criticize, please quote the name of the documentary you watched. Internet is an uncontrolled place of creating gossip and rumors. Thank for your reply.
Do the film maker or you follow up after the short-film?
@@EvangelionNeonGenesis That has been at least 8 years ago I watched the documentary. Not sure if it was Nat Geo, PBS or who, but it was by a well respected channel. You might start with "Up the Yangtze" though. In looking for it, I ran across dozens of articles and videos but not specifically the one I had seen. The one I watched featured an awesome little ancient village....clean as a pin. The kind of place anyone who wanted to be away from all of the craziness of modern life, would love to live. All of the women would go out each morning and sweep the cobble streets with handmade brooms. The follow-up, after they were displaced, was heatbreaking. It is not "gossip or rumors" what the hell. Do you actually think the dammed the river and did not flood entire cities and villages? Surely you jest. Put forth a little bit of effort of your own, ease your head out of its shell....take a peak around and you will be enlighted instead of buried in your construct.
@@WayneTheSeine I watched a couple of documentary about Three Gorges Dam which was made by BBC / CNN more than ten years ago. The Height of Three Gorges Dam is 181 m. Of course it will flood many cities and villages below that level. Before the dam's body was completed in 2006, Chinese government had already relocate those villages up hill and help the people to find jobs.
It's been 17 years ago. why so sentimental ? Are you the original resident there?
Inside the above video, critics have also questioned the capabilities of the 3 Gorges in preventing major floods.
If you speak or read Chinese, please watch the following video explained by a true engineer：
1. 只發電不抗旱？三峽大壩為何“見死不救”？【工程師徐小刀】czcams.com/video/65IBfxp07XE/video.html&pp=ygUb5LiJ5bO95aSn5aOp5oiR5piv5bel56iL5bir
2. 世界第一的三峽大壩2008年完工，為何至今才整體竣工驗收？是誰拖了三峽的後腿？【工程師徐小刀】 czcams.com/video/it2CPEzJiU4/video.html&pp=ygUb5LiJ5bO95aSn5aOp5oiR5piv5bel56iL5bir
3. 三峽為何無視下游洪水成災！是事實還是另有隱情！？【工程師徐小刀】czcams.com/video/XcmAGvbyzws/video.html&pp=ygUb5LiJ5bO95aSn5aOp5oiR5piv5bel56iL5bir
4. 三峽水庫會被泥沙淤滿，從而報廢嗎？會不會成為第二個三門峽？【工程師徐小刀】 czcams.com/video/J1W3Q0Peg-4/video.html&pp=ygUb5LiJ5bO95aSn5aOp5oiR5piv5bel56iL5bir
My wife and I have seen the dam and had the opportunity to cruise the Yangtze after the dam was in place. It is too bad that there have been bad outcomes after the dam was in place. It has saved many more lives and helped many more people since it was built. Hopefully, it will never fail tragically, that would truly be awful.
9:10 has two SAT photos ( taken 3-400 miles above the target). The one on the left has optical correction to correct for atmospheric distortion and/or lens distortion; the one on the right is pre-filtered. Also, the dam is concrete poured. If it’s going to fail, or if the ground is shifting underneath, it not going to fail like a wavering line, instead we should see a an arc forming with deepest part in the middle.
I don't know about SAT filtering but concrete absolutely warps over time, term is called creep. If not accounted for in design or too dramatic difference of stress applied to (or quality of) concrete then could absolutely warp as early indicator of impending catastrophic failure.
If you look at the thumbnail of both photos, the cars on dam are in exactly the same place. They are in fact the same photo but the one on the right is manipulated.
@@stevenreyngold7121Or perhaps the one on the left is the edited one.
@@halemath Well, I just opened up google map, punched in ‘ 3 gorges dam’, select ‘satellite view’, and blow it up the resolution. There is no bent.
ccp requires google to obfuscate the country, so the entire map is randomly skewed a bit, as well as the street maps, so if you look at any random village, it's pretty wonky. There are landmarks and hight visibility areas that the CCP wave this protection, and I'm assuming google just geofenced the dam from the algorithm. even then I wouldn't be surprised if the street map had the road a quarter mile upsteam at a different angle than the dam
You did a very good video. One point maybe you missed. The mud in river is a huge problem. It’s accumulates year after year. The river is very muddy and I don’t know it will last until the reservoir is full of mud. This is a common problem of dams with muddy rivers.
No doubt. They must have considered the sediment load before construction. I'm curious how they plan to deal with siltation..
@@TB-zw7dt Why would the government of shortcuts consider the sediment?
@@Barefoot433 they got rid of all the people who didn't want to build this dam.. czcams.com/video/xJn35MTKCNY/video.html
it's going to fall not sure how long but it will
@@TB-zw7dt .... its China... no way in hell they did that accurately
@@zarthemad8386 What an uninformed and foolish statement. Have you ever been to China and seen the incredible infrastructure they have built and continue to build ? In many ways they put the western world to shame. What possible benefit could they have from shoddy materials/workmanship in the short, medium and long term ? This may have been the case in many instances in the past but not in today's major projects. Don't let the politics and western media narrative influence your opinions. Just for the record I am a white Australian and have travelled extensively in China.
The 2018 photo looks like nothing more than a distorted Google Earth screenshot.
I hope it last a long life. We want the thing we build to live a long useful life. That is the essence of humanity.
An article a few months ago said that the extra water put into the local weather patterns by the massive water surface area of this dam is responsible for higher than pre-dam rainfall.
Sounds plausible to me, although I would say "contributes to" instead of "responsible for."
Thanks for that. Gonna look it up. Sounds plausible to me too. I'm not going to rag on your word choice though. Cheers!
@@flagmichael🇨🇳
Interesting.
Now flooding from a typhoon.
Time to reset the 100 year likely hood of flooding.
Oh, there was already flooding?
I have seen theories of it causing flooding in some areas and droughts in others.
The James Bay dam in Canada produces over 15,000 megawatts. Yeah less than 3 Gorges, but then it was also built in 1971.
Looking at the aerial view of 3 Gorges, why didn’t they build it with an arced shape to better hold back all that water?
@@neerajwa I would think that any amount of arch would be better than none. I’m not an engineer but i do know a convex surface is stronger than a straight surface, everything else being equal. Might be more expensive, but not as expensive as that dam failing.
@@huejanus5505 true. maybe the terrain didn't allow arches. It was probably an engineering decision, not a financial one
The design of the dam was chosen by CCP officials from several provided from various engineering firms, most of which were foreign. They decided to build the straight dam because it represented the conquest and mastery of nature by the CCP, and would be the most impressive of the five final designs. They chose to build the dam in the manner that most complemented their propaganda goals, in preference to superior, but less defiant designs.
The arch shape is just one of the designs of a dam where the forces of water upstream are transmitted to the abutments. Due to the great compressive strength of Concrete, "Very Little" volume of Concrete is used. However the straight shape is called a Gravity Dam which means that massive quantities of Concrete are used such that the water behind the dam can't push it downstream. The Gravity dams could be more expensive than Arch Dams but again, this will depend on very many factors regarding the site conditions.
@@michaelfoye1135 if true, I learned something new today about the vanity of the self declared "people's republic" ... It is incomprehensible that any administration would choose using such criteria. CCP is a dinosaur
There has been flooding almost every year since its construction (including right now). The Egyptian Aswan dam can store over a years worth of rainfall so it is effective in flood management but the Three gorges dam reservoir is no where as capable of storing the annual rainfall of the catchment, plus the administrators inability to release water in a timely manner means that the Dam contributes to downstream flooding, not alleviates it.
Chính xác là vậy
Egypt is very dry. Not much rainfall. 1 to 2 inches per year. China has a wildly different rainfall probability. No real comparison.
well, in fact, if they didn't care about energy production, just let the water flow and when it rain too much keep it... It would definitely work.
@@alext8828 You are right in that the Three Gorges reservoir levels vary up to 61 metres pa whilst the Aswan dam varies up to 21 metres pa.
A year's worth of rainfall is considerable in both. You do realise that the Nile originates in the tropical great lakes of Africa and in the Ethiopian highlands. Africa is a massive place, rainfall overall in the catchment is huge.
@@rbanerjee605 Good point. Thank you.
Honestly, I didn't even think about that. The water level at the Aswan dam hasn't much to do with Egypt's climate.
While the three Gorges dam is an engineering marvel, it will also be the largest engineering disaster when it breaks. Notice I didn’t say if it breaks, but “when” it breaks. The fact that the Yansee river is now prone to land slides, also means the river is now prone to Tsunami's. There was a dam in California that had the same problem, that resulted in that dam failing and killing an entire town. The problem with the three Gorges dam, is that it is not thick enough to hold back trillions of gallons of water especially if a Tsunami happens and hits the dam straight on.
any enemy would make this dam a priority target.
Mulholand dam in LA?
@@u4riahsc Johnstown Flood too
Any one of the dozens of upstream tofu dreg dams failing will produce a domino effect and send a wall of water and mud downstream which that dam will not be able to resist.
@@johnstreet797 But this already happened in 2020.
They purposely allowed many villages to be flooded to protect the Three Gorges Dam.
You weren't clear exactly what you meant by 45%, so I assume you're talking about Capacity Factor (the GWh actually produced divided by the theoretical maximum GWh that could be generated if all generators were able to operate at full capacity for the entire period, e.g. a month or a year). A 45% Capacity Factor isn't that unusual for hydro plants. If you design for more than that, you'll miss out on the generation obtainable at times of seasonal high flows. However, if you design for lower than that (install more capacity) the periods of high flow to run all the installed plant will be too short to make economic use of the investment you made in capacity. The figures you quote look like they've got the sizing of the Three Gorges power plant round about right.
7:10 People don't realize how big of a deal for the relocation.
Some of those family had been living there for over a thousand years. Generations of family were buried on family lands and now it is underwater. In Chinese culture, that is a big no-no.
The fact that they were forced out created a lot of resentment and the false promises of better housing after relocation only make matter worse.
Kind of like the "American" indians.....
You're kind of ignoring the fact that they were living in the flood zone of the river, and the ancestors routinely went under water every year.
@@JohnSmith-cn4cw it is not the same thing when it flooded once a while vs underwater permanently.
@@stevesenick Give up your guns. The government will take care of you.
TVA did the same thing in the 30’s. Lot of towns are underwater now
Once the dam bursts open, 800 million voices will suddenly cry out in terror holding onto their last few grim seconds of life in this world, followed by a deafening, horrific silence.
More like 14 million. Don't go overboard.
@@robvegart It is said in the video that 400 million people live in the path of the river.
There are too many people. Need to control the herd
Was there in early 2000s and toured the site before taking a river cruise west to Chonqing. Very interesting. The other issue for the displaced people, their relatives buried in family plots. (I lived in Tianjin for 5 years)
Yeah well that's not an issue - in China, anyway.
the Itaipu Dam is the 3rd largest dam in the world producing almost as much power as the three gorges dam, unlike the three gorges it produces with overflow year round, whereas three Gorges produces according to seasons, which makes it inconsistent and the Itaipu more reliable to its users
Yes it was mentioned in the video
"The dam is a potential safety hazard. Should the unimaginable ever to happen, at least 400,000,000 lives could be in danger."
Reasoning from the CCP: "This nation has a population in excess of 1,400,000,000 people. We fail to see any problem here."
Brazil is rich in water resources, that's a fact. But the Itaipu Dam generates about the same amount of electricity as the Three Gorges Dam, but obviously not as much as the Three Gorges (as data in wikipedia). The bottom line is that the Three Gorges generates less than 2% of China's total electricity consumption. So it's not something that needs to be evaluated in terms of reliability at all. Most importantly, the Three Gorges Dam serves to intercept floodwaters.
@@justapeasant8949 and the population is a lie independent experts have reasonably calculated that they have 800 million, but they can't track the villages who didn't comply with the 1child policy so it COULD be as high as 1.2 billion. I agree that dam is way too long
@@jamiebennett6354 Well, those are the official numbers they've (CCP) provided. I've always known that Chinese authorities 🇨🇳 are big, fat liars. Alas, I didn't had the time to count the population myself😅
If this dam breaks, it would be the worst disaster China, or the world has ever seen.
It wouldn't be...
@@Monika-ft5bwit would though, they have predicted millions would die due to the flooding it would cause
No it wouldn't. What China is doing to the oceans and environment is. They dump trillions of tons of garbage into the oceans every year
Whoever believes this chunk of concrete changes the earth's spin is seriously delusional. It is big, but not even close to big enough
You can get on your knees and pray every day that this happens soon, hope you can live long enought SB!
I agree that in case of failure the curved dam will probably completely disintegrate while a flat one will only partially give way. However on a project this size, I would use the same amount of concrete as a flat dam would require but make it curved anyway. The safety factor would be greatly increased. Any failure would be catastrophic.
That red line is definitely more wobbly than the green one.
Actually, about the distorted Google Maps satellite image of the dam, China is known for having roads "underwater". The Google satellite map of China is seriously and purposely made distorted to keep her secrets and own map dominance (accurate public map only available in Chinese websites), not including other possibilities such as photographic errors. You can test this out just by looking at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge in satellite mode on Google Maps, which you can see the Hong Kong part has accurate mapping, but when exiting Hong Kong's legislative border, right away you can see the effect. That's the reason why a long stretch of structure like a perfectly straight road or this dam itself could look distorted. The dam in the image speculated for the collapse doesn't feel like going to stand for even a day, so it doesn't makes sense for standing steadily right now since the spread of that message. Well of course bends are normal for concrete that old to withstand that much water pressure, I don't think it's going to break that simply.
~ The more you know ~
Mainly own Map dominance. I assume China wouldn´t publish their Secrets on Chinese Maps either ;)
As far as i know there is a Law that only Chinese Comapnies are allowed to produce correct Maps. Google does have access to the Data, but not with the correct Coordinates. China uses its own Coordinate System with a different Modell of the Earth´s Shape but doesn´t tell how this one looks. Because this different Shape, it doesn´t help when Google would just move everything a few meters into one direction. That might work at one Place, but not at another. For example Downtown Chongqing would have to been moved 470m to the Northwest (310°), whereas Downtown Shanghai would have to be moved 490m to the WNW (300°). Downtown Beijing 550m t the WSW(254°).
Working in the land surveying. Its always annoying when you get Data from a different Company which uses a different Coordinate System on a Different shaped Earth. And you get funny results when you forgot to transform them into the one you use. If you´re lucky they are off by 3 Million Meters and you´ll notice it. But there are also Versions where its just a few Meters. You notice it immediately, something will just feel wrong.
@@lukasrentz3238 Very interesting to know about. Tq
The roads under water is an alignment issue between gps coordinates for the roads and map images. The image is not distorted because Google has its own satellites that take pictures of the earth.
@@christopherlizon5198 You can check out Google Maps for images of other DAMS, some are distorted. This lie has existed on the Internet for many years, and according to it, the dam burst in the early years. lol
@@christopherlizon5198 I can only say that this video is a hype of previous years lies and a lot of information in it is not right. For example, the Yangtze River flood in 2020, in fact, there is no, many of the flooded videos are from the Zhengzhou in 2021, and it is not in the Yangtze River basin. A lot of these channels on YTB are half-truths.
9:32 to be fair, that does seem to be the case, nearby streets and buildings showed similar distortions
Ahuh, I knew the "distorted" satellite image problem will be mentioned again and again here. My undergrad major is remote sensing and satellite. My university were involved in this three gorges dam monitoring project for years. The quality and accuracy of google map satellite images are not reliable for scientific research. They have a team of scientists monitoring the shape change all year round to prevent this. Including the analysis of upstream water amount. It's ridiculous to quote something like this if you are serious about this problem...
👍
Let's make a video of the low quality pictures instead.
What are the odds that China has better architects than the people commenting this video?
Two things. The quality control scientist looking at construction was unhappy but stated he didn't dare to make a report that the substructure has probllems. (If I recall correctly, not enough time was given to properly harden and spaces appeared.) An amazing item is that the new lake has altered the weather of the larger region and not in a good way. More precipitation. However, recent events may show more rain is part of cyclical pattern, but it wasn't this year.
More and heavier rain is also part of a changing climate. Hotter air holds more moisture.
@@RustOnWheelsGlobal warming is a lie. Miami would have turned into Atlantis decades ago if it were true.
Where did you get that from? What's the source?
If this dam is of the same quality as there skyscrapers, it's not going to end well.
Hopefully less Tofu in this one
I remember my wife and I taking a small boat trip on the Yangste in the very early years of construction. It was very memorable, amazing and sad to know what was happening. I Line that would be flooded to was marked on the gorges sides. We took side tributaries with crystal clear water and marvelled at the numerous communities that existed on the banks. A privilege to have seen it. Later I took an escorted tour of the near completed dam wall. Good Times.
Sounds like you had fun with our enemies.
You didn’t mention the silt needed for Shanghai soil. Shanghai land is already very volatile because it’s marshland - especially Pudong. With the massive building development and lack of silt from way upstream fortifying the soil, Shanghai is facing a lot of dangers with all their building structures over weak soil.
Also that silt is backed up by the dam, and if it simply collects there and is not managed somehow, that will change/raise the river bottom, and eventually will clog the dam and make water go over it. The dam is tall so probably that will take a good while, but it's a problem to solve nevertheless. You can already see this type of problems on the Yellow river.
很有趣，你会往你家房顶加淤泥吗
from all ive heard already, i don't think bejing is worried. they rather have a symbol of their regime. however lets be honest, china will probably use the three gorges dams destruction via nature as a excuse to war with taiwan, south korea, japan and the united states just because their giant bathtub is destroyed and many edited deep fakes are suddenly made to "show" the us and japan both launched cruise missiles at the dam.
I wonder if they counted in the possibility of a landslide causing a huge dislocation of huge masses of water. Such a landslide caused a dam to break in Italy. We can only hope nothing ever happens.
Nope the dam in Italy did not break. The water sloped over the top of it. The dam is still there.
Guess what, the three gorge dam is located in earthquake zone with high recurring strikes. So, they have to consider the possibility of huge landslides, haven’t they?
@@igibon8 You need to watch more engineering disaster video's if you really think they "have to". People make mistakes and miscalculations.
Clean electric energy to 4-5 million is a worthy goal but at a risk to 400 million people (and vast infrastructure) if collapse were to occur?
The dam in Italy was build despite it being well known that the risks were great. That dam was about building pride in a country that had been humiliated during the war. They built it anyway, a landslide happened and hundreds died horribly. The chief of project committed suicide.
Curiously, The dam itself did not fail. It's still there, to this day.
There's another video by someone I saw recently where they went into considerable detail about defects in the construction due to the push to achieve performance goals in, for example, the rate of laying concrete. With the usual nature of politically-driven projects especially in China, inspectors were concerned but afraid to raise red flags due to the potential consequences for them for doing so and there is evidence of really weak concrete having been laid in some places at least. China already holds the record for the worst dam disaster in history with the most fatalities. We will see if it ends up holding the first and second.
I’d say mother nature will win she always does so god help the ordinary Chinese people
"inspectors were concerned but afraid to raise red flags" ? 😀
Some people are always sure as if they were there with inspectors. Some even write down the dialogues inspectors had.
What is the consequence for inspectors raising red flag if they find a flaw?
@@DamirAsanov ... if they raise a red flag, their organs are harvested ... just a guess, but then I've also trained a couple dozen Chinese engineers ... they're really brilliant and they're really cowards. Not a good combo ...
Check out some of the Tofu Dreg videos, shortcuts like this are typical in China. Hell they mined populated areas so badly the roads collapse and swallow cars.
As for consequences, could be anything from being blacklisted everywhere including most forms of transportation to literally never being heard from again. You don't have to look hard to find examples of this.
The recent flooding over there have provided even more evidence of their government not giving a damn about the hardworking people in China.
I think that if there's one thing that is inevitable, for any dam, it's that one day it will break. The only question is how, when, and whether the process is properly controlled.
If it's deforming to a large enough degree, something will need to be done.
他是不过是用来吸引你观看罢了，那个扭曲的图片是谷歌地球拍摄拼接时候出现的错误，至于评论里说的很多问题，这是一个规划论证了超过四十年的项目
The ecosystem of that river must be in shambles.
It was before the dam. There was often flooding that kills many people
But the ecosystem of that lake is now wonderful!
With all the Tofu buildings and road infastructure being built in China, one has to wonder how well built this dam is and will it be able to withstand the insistant pressure of the vast volume of water it holds indefinately. One little crack and a half a billion people are endangered.
You seem to define all Chinese construction as Tofu. But realize that it is not an inherent to China, as it is a common problem in quality control. Given China's much greater population, more mistakes are bound to happen statistically, which builds into the Tofu reputation.
One would be right to speculate but given the immense scrutiny surrounding its construction and the awareness of fatal consequences, this dam is a last thing China would want to cheap out on.
@@sayple109 "...this dam is a last thing China would want to cheap out on."
And yet, it appears they did. Then again, China merely has to touch something and it's by definition, cheap.
Contractors and inspectors taking and recieving graft for passing substandard work happens way, way too often in China. One has to wonder if this culture of substandard construction was present during the construction of this mega project. Time will tell.@@sayple109
Google Maps satellite view does produce distortions and can make a straight structure appear to be warped. The satellite view of my neighbourhood shows some buildings to have slightly curved walls, fences, and property boundaries from above, when they are actually straight.
a fence is a bit smaller then a dam that is 2+km long.
If that shit breaks, all hell will loose upon the downstream.
i am doing a project and this really helped me understand the three gorges dam so thank you
Just checked Google map, the dam is perfect! Why did you post the photo with the twisted dam? Where did you get it from? Must be ps.
its a clickbait
Anti China propaganda
A couple of years ago it appeared like that on Google Maps due to image distortion (which is seen occasionally on Google Maps when Google's algorithm doesn't align together satellite images properly), then people who don't understand technology on social media passed it around at the time thinking it was "real". Since then Google went in and straightened out the image so it looks fine now. This is sort of explained at 9:30 in the video
It could be Clickbait but at the same time maps of a China are wacky. Also I think if it were to collapse it will be from retaliation from Taiwan when they go to “ reclaim Taiwan”
And my house still has my barn, that burned a decade ago
I remember hearing how the Hoover (aka Boulder) Dam had massive Refrigeration units that would cool the Concrete pours to ensure that they wouldn't crack.
In ALL of the videos I've seen of the 3G dam being built, I Never saw such units being used! In fact I remember where one (western) reporter doing a special on the dam asking about cracks, and then you didn't see him for the rest of the video, even though he did most of the onscreen work prior to that point! (Embarrassing the PRC has consequences!)
Time has passed. Do cars still use Ford Model T tech?
@@Jkl62200Yes. 4 tires, a drivers seat, a steering wheel. Looks like the same technology to me.
@@kryptokrypto702 duh.. 🙄. Finished high school ?
@@Jkl62200 Obviously you haven't if you have to ask if cars still use ford technology. Grow up.
@@kryptokrypto702 so.. model T uses wheels. According to you, how far back and how basic must we go in history ? Duh.
The ship lift has failed on several occasions and needed major servicing, maintenance, and repair. As with all other portions of the dam. And the locks have not been immune to failure. Cracks, cracks, cracks.
There will never be anything wrong with the dam until it breaks, probably within the next 10-20 years.
If the dam top alignment is actually changing then the dam is in very serious trouble!
It's not changing that photo's been kicking around for 4 years. I supposed deflection is artifact from how Google Earth stitches photos together
@@dirremoireexcactly and it has been debuncked alot of times. But clickbaiters stll use it to this day and millions believe it despite the facts it is fakenews.
you can check on google earth by yourself. it looks perfectly aligned. this video is all bullshit and misinformation.
@@dirremoire Jul 9, 2019 - BEIJING has admitted the Three Gorges Dam has become “distorted” and is in an “elastic state”
@@dirremoireDo you believe that ??
I hope he mentions the issue of the infrastructure being corrupt, there’s a policy in which hurts the locals, the officials are compensated when a dam breaks “naturally” during flooring times, they can discharge the water to save the locals but they don’t.
fake news bro. don't read from those uncensored channel, they are CIA front operating in newyork, check their funding.
Saw one of Jeremy's "river monsters" series on regards to the rivers and he traveled to this area. He also exposed the dificulty for migrating fish / dolphins to move across this dam
Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view !"
Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam ."
Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!"
Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window ? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..."
Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!"
Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky."
Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction."
Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment ?"
There's also the interesting situation from last year where they apparently had to stop the flow almost completely during the droughts so that the reservoir would still have at least some water in it, or something like that, which basically dried the whole river downstream.
Sounds as legit as your clickbait video thumbnail with a photoshopped satellite image of the dam being crooked. And you're also dumb enough to think Asia's longest river dried up.
I was unaware of the 3000 ton ship lift (bathtub elevator). An incredible addition to a landmark project. I understand that many innocent eggs were broken to make this omelet. If I were ever a tourist in China, this marvel, for good or bad, would definitely be on the to-be-seen list. I have camped just below the Grand Coulee Dam on a full moon, summer's night, bathing in the rainbow lights cast upon the spillway waters. I'll never forget that sight and sound. The works of man are able to strike me with awe.
This video fails to mention how the lift was under-engineered by a lot. This whole damn is garbage with many of its own scientists speaking against it.
You should write books made me wanna camp
Pity they didn't do the due diligence on the geology and engineering to build a damn that isn't a ticking time bomb.
@@caseycameron5370😅😂😅 I was thinking the same thing
@@caseycameron5370 I did that Grand Coulee stop camping out of the back of a '66 Chevy Nova wagon in 1975. Drove across the Hoover Dam on the same trip, setting up the tent in the dark on the rim of the Grand Canyon and waking to see the sunrise. I started out in Terre Haute, Indiana. Saw a lot of KOAs and parks. I'm all in on the B&B scene now. Soft beds with pillows and a breakfast, please.
The increase in landslides is interesting. Look up the Vajont Dam disaster which was a mega-tsunami caused by a massive landslide in Italy.
i used to live about an hour away from yichang so visited this place quite a few times
Many years ago I had a book about the consequences of the huge amount of water in the dams pressing on the surface and giving earthquakes around.
That book was right.
You are right. Even the ancient Egyptians pulled that off with an artificial lake they built. That hasn't stopped mankind building 1000s of dams all over the world.
Sometimes commiinism doesn't work D:
@@vice.nor.virtue Communism never works. And get this, Democracy is only slightly better but, it's the best we got.
@@PhilJonesIII socialism is doing pretty good these days at least
Well.....they've had more than one flood in a decade... So there goes the once in a century.
a dam on that scale is a massive risk, and it can't hold up forever, also (although i am hoping this does not happen as it would mean the deaths of millions) but if China makes a wrong move they will be playing one of the world's most risky games of "F around and find out"
At 9:40 the image is of the dam showing nonlinear shape. Additionally, the image includes a line (grey center with black trim) to the lower right that does not represent a physical object, and yet it too is not straight. This puts the validity of the image into question, regardless of whether it’s straight from google or altered by someone after the fact. The “reporting” is thus questionable.
see, you get it. This is disinfo.
We went through this issue 3 years ago. The satellite photos are distorted, that’s why the dam looks weakened. It ain’t going to fail.
Of course, finally someone with a brain.
I live right by the awesome Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State. Way more inpresive being that is was built in late 30s and very early 40s. Was largest concrete structure on earth for many decades and we built it with quaity the chinese can only dream of. I bet the Grand Coulee will be working far after that thing falls apart like most China/CCP infrastructure
I won't take the opposite side of that bet ;)
In the face of the size of the Chinese dam, the dam in your hometown is just a children's work😂
Lol, yankee dreams while Chinese achieves. comparing 2 different scales. Also, China/CCP infrastructure is cost effective and reliable. The bug in your yankee asses is that a shift on higher manufacturing to China will kill you and expose the US for the 10th world country it really is.
I recalled that different news media showed different version of a distorted dam a few years back. But I've just went to both Google Map and Google Earth to check, the distortions on the dam completely disappeared and is now perfectly straight. So, did the dam corrected itself, or did Google corrected their aerial views of the dam ?
I was in China for 30 years working in construction and engineering. This dam will break. It will take a series of circumstances but it will break…
Definitely impressive, but let's remember that it's china we're talking about... Corruption, cracking and sub-par construction is the norm rather than the exception. I do really hope for them that this won't reveal as a tofu-dreg megaproject like most of their more recent ones
Pls make a video about the severe pollution of Ohio derailment happened five months ago in the US. FYI, none of the major mainstream media reported this major incident.
what could you expect from US media ?
@@yl128pang3That was a problem caused by Washington and was heavily reported. China's massive countrywide pollution problem, however, is rarely reported on in U.S. media.
@@matthewmosier8439 , West enjoyed Low Inflation and Clean Air for the last 3 decades after China joined WTO and were flooded with Western factories.
China got the Bad Name of world largest carbon emissions country, but the REALITY is that most of the goods were exported to the West!
Plastic waste too, West shipped TOXIC Plastic waste to China until China stop it few years ago. Now, West ship them to India, Vietnam, Indonesia... to make West Clean and to Poison Others!!
@@matthewmosier8439 Ohio was absolutely not heavily reported... tell me, how are they fairing today? With all this coverage you should know....
@@123pietasty321 My point was that an incident in Ohio was not a similar comparison to the destruction of C hina's countryside, it's tofu dregs, etc.
President Trump visited Ohio and I watch Conservative media so I knew quite a bit about it
I had no idea 3 Georges had a boat lift. That's pretty awesome.
I had no idea it was breaking already cause if it was built straight and now is not that means it is breaking cause concrete does not bend it cracks and breaks so it is in the process of breaking plain and simple this is the warning sign it's happening before it finally breaks completely and fails catastrophically so they have to fix it now while there still is time to fix it
It also has a boat dropper too. 😂
Should have made a lift like that for salmon in damned rivers in United States.
It is straight now on google earth lol😂@@raven4k998
czcams.com/video/lMEloNvALiA/video.html
Even the Three Gorges Dam looks like a bloody Tofu Dreg Constructions disaster.
This aged well as that 100 year flood is happening a week after the video was released.
The main issue is that if the lateral deflection of the dam is getting beyond or has gotten beyond what is allowed
They never anchored the base of the dam into bedrock, it is only being held in place by weight of the structure itself but that structure isn't set on bed rock.
You do know the damn was designed and built by Western contractors. All China did was pay for it. PS, no dam ever built is 'anchored' to bedrock.
@@Enonymouse_ which is exactly why a gravity dam is safer than a dam that depends on support from surrounding structures.
@@Enonymouse_ Yep, it's just a big ol' gravity foundation. I wouldn't have done it.
@@xuansu9036 I think it's safe to say there may be both benefits and drawbacks
Concrete eventually busts with strong amounts of water, they’re not even focused on trying to fix that, they’re only focusing on how to get more ships in and out and how to get more power over safety 😔
I can't help thinking that this is a catastrophe waiting to happen.
You forgot to mention all the archaeology covered by the reservoir.
Also: no mention of silt. All dams accumulate silt. Dredging helps somewhat, but can't allay the problem. There's a large dam in Sudan, on the Blue Nile, which has silted up, .....and there are others.
@@brahmburgerslol, yeah. Taiwan forgot to remove the silt, thus causing false data during draught season. Hillarious.
They removed it.
Theres a temple thats removed, brick by brick, to higher elevation.
I remember when the image surfaced and how many people put their 2
cents in about it's imminent collapse. Funny part was a look on Google
Earth over the last year showed it was the image distorted not the dam.
Not to mention the distorted minds of many naysayers.
you have no idea how ignorant you are.
I don't think you need to mention this which is so obviously. People who believe this either with their brain dead or just lives under heavy anti china propaganda for so long that they cannot process logical thinking anymore.
here is my 2 cents...it's gonna fail. I hope someone remembers your comment, and holds YOU to task for disregarding such a deadly scenario. Same way with everyone saying it's AMAZING...yeah, it's going to be AMAZING the # of deaths this will cause. Where will the nay-sayers be when it happens? We need to hold these folks accountable...people who trust comments like this, put themselves in imminent danger. I hope they DON"T listen to people like YOU...sayin' there's nothing wrong. Maybe it's a bad image, but what you don't see is what you need to be very worried about.
@@patriciareid437 People will soon forget you ever said anything about it.
A couple other negatives concerning the dam (not exclusive to Three Gorges) is
obstructing sediment from continuing downstream which carries nutrients for animals and plants downstream,
Reducing the water temperature upstream,
And increasing evaporation on the reservoir surface which may contribute to odd weather patterns.
Rivers are meant to flow not be dammed. Mankind's so called progress ignores the Earth's ecological balance for himself and all other living creatures. Then again. We don't care/love what we don't see. They're just obstacles to power, profit 🕊
I vaguely remember some papers discussing that the increased evaporation rate is paradoxically inducing more severe flooding due to the increase in induced severe rain from the higher water vapor volumes
i hope u know what u are talking.......... evaporation over reservoir surface contribute to odd weather pattern?????
@@kenho-wr5ul2rh7m the main issue was that due to the increased volume of water in the local region from the resevoir, the rains have become more intense from being fueled by the increased surface evaporation. This leads to a feed back loop causing the surrounding area to become more saturated, which prevents rain from being absorbed and leads to floods. Also the soil structures and geology in the area surrounding the 3 gorges are types prone to extreme creep and displacement at the ground water levels that are building up.
@@GunnarKennedy 1) u realize the dam is built on rock base 50-75 meters underground, not on the soil?
u can literally say the dam is "nailed" on the tectonic plate, movement of soil/water in the soil does not really affect it
2) chinese have experience building dam and making new water canal for 5000 years
they are very experience on these things
You did not mention all the archeological sites that were submerged because the authorities refused permission to excavate. As previously mentioned the Yangtze River is very dirty with sediment which will eventually fill the reservoir. Curved dams are much stronger than flat ones so I wonder why it was not built that way like all the other major dams in the world?
Curved dams require less concrete to get same strength, but I guess there is a maximum size for that design. Also, I am pretty sure that in case of catastrophic failure, this design will do better than a curved dam. There is a lot more concrete a the bottom and the foundations are better protected and will not so easily wash away when part of this dam breaks. So I think a total collapse is less likely with this design, while a curved dam would be completely washed away.
"all the archeological sites that were submerged because the authorities refused permission to excavate."
Well, those sites are now pretty well preserved for future archaelogists to excavate, it will get buried in sediments to really seal it in and protect it. The dam wont be there for all eternity after all.
Flammable cladding imo 11:17
Super interesting and so well put together and narrated 🙂
CCP sh!t is usually like that. 🤣
@@taunteratwill1787 lol was that sarcasm, CPP would hang this guy for suggesting sub par concrete
How are you ? I have made a video on Bhasha Dam in Pakistan, watch it and How is the video? Comment on it. Honest civil technical construction ❤ Thanks
Wonder if this is uncorrected parallax error caused by the lens of a camera! I ran into this problem and was forced to use a parallax shift lens to correct the error of my cameras lens. The longer the distance the greater the parallax error unless corrected mechanically or optically. I used a Zukio Olympus Shift Lens to correct parallax errors.
If you could see the deflection failure has already happened. It’s an illusion
The permission for the archeological excavations was reluctantly approved late during the construction phase. I wonder what would have been preserved if given more time?
The thumbnail is a myth - the image of the Three Gorge Dam buckling is a distortion via the limitations of satellite photography. From the ground, the dam itself is straight and sturdy; however, what the officials forget to mention or do not mention is the unforeseen engineering and geographical forces threatening the dam itself. Let me present concisely.
One of the most immediate problems is the dam’s shape. In basic physics and engineering terminology, an arch/curve evenly distributes pressure and stress, whether it is weight or fluids. By contrast, a triangle or rectangle has sharp corners, which creates pressure and stress; however, these issues can be harnessed as an advantage in other applications, such as Leonardo Da Vinci’s Miter Lock.
The Three Gorge Dam was built as a straight line, a simple structure to build (arches/curves are harder to master); however, the entire dam is bearing the full might of the Yantze River, the stress and pressure unevenly distributed and nowhere to go. Chinese officials try censoring or downplaying the severity of the damages (i.e. cracks, leakages, etc), but engineers and geologists - Chinese and international alike - know the bitter truth(s), and can do nothing other than monitoring and reporting their findings. While the dam itself has provided copious amounts of electricity for the Chinese nation, the hazardous rush to harnessing the Yantze River is a disaster waiting to happen.
This was from 3 years ago. This month Beijing had a Flood of the century. Bridges and roads being washed away with people in the vehicles.
Do u know how far from Beijing to Three Gorges Dam? It seems like make a joke that your room got flooded due to the rain from 1000km away
北京跟长江之间隔着一条黄河，中国第二长的江，北京是个少雨的城市，非常干旱，你已改听说过北京沙尘暴，干旱的表现，加上是古老 的城市，排水系统不是多好，下了一场北京前年一遇的雨，就淹了
honestly, the burning of the amazon does just about as much damage, and i don't hear as much people talking about that stuff💀this just my opinion
Who said that, no one complain?
I never said NO ONE was complaining, here in the US, I hear more about China than anything in the world when it comes to this stuff@@Kfcng60
The apparent bend isn't a defect in the dam design or materials used. In fact it doesn't actually exist. The 3 Gorges Dam i!age on the left (the straight one) is a 2D terrestrial image. The apparent Bent image is a Google Earth OH image overlaid on a 3D layer to mimic terrain. The problem with this is that the Terrain in the 3D model is the River surface so the Dam image gets bent to conform to the 3D base map. For a similar situation look at the Hoover Dam...Lake Mead bridge in 3D Google Earth
It would be neat to see you do a video like this on the WAC Bennet Dam, Peace Canyon Dam or the Site C dam up here in Northeastern BC. Its three dams that are all in line on the Peace River and the Site C dam has just finished its construction with reservoir filling to start this fall.
I'd pay a dollar to see it break and im sure alot of other people would too.
Bigger sweatshops and bigger nets for people jumping. Truly amazing
You should also highlight emerging researches that suggest such big dams could be contributing to earthquakes down stream
This is why big dams are built rounded against the flow, and not straight line. Only small dams, that don't have to deal with a large flow can be straight
The turbines of Three Gorges Damn were made by Alstom in my hometown of Taubaté. 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷
Thanks for pointing that out, so we know the turbines are shlt in addition to construction of the actual dam.
@@mtmadigan82 - at least China don’t condemn and fine Alstom like US did when can’t compete.
Some of the turbines are also GE. Then the Chinese copied them so the last installs are Chinese made
@@InformedKiwi - such huge projects, it will be naive if the Chinese can’t manufactured their own turbines towards the last phase of the project. In fact the have build factories nearby towns just to manufacture turbines & parts dedicated for the 3 Gorges.
And now Alstom is the Leading Company in Hydrogen Fuel and Train running on H2 Technology.
To me, the most amazing part of this video was where you "slipped a commercial" in and pulled a fast one on us - simply brilliant! Sorry I didn't stay around for the 2nd half. But thanks. You RoCk.
One negative issue would be security during war - an enemy could drop a MOAB (Bomb) on it and severely damage downstream infrastructure & cities, kill tens of millions of people and destroy (or go a long way towards it) the Chinese economy. That said: as an structural engineer who worked (in the past) in China for many years; I have great respect for the ability of Chinese engineers (some brilliant) to ensure a MOAB would never be able to do it.
I always think back to the song by Nevermore called The River Dragon has Come. I almost think it's inevitable that it will give way.
The distortion is a digital glitch in the google maps photos. It cant move that much and still be standing
Amen. It would fail long before it got to that level of deformation. That was just clickbait really.
It's not even that, someone modified it for clickbaiting. Looks straight as expected on actual google maps.
@@holydamien A couple of years ago, many straight lines looked like that on Google Maps. It was far, far worse on Apple Maps when it was relatively new. Sometimes iPhones asked you to turn left or right off a bridge onto the road below on their GPS app. Mapping software has underwent many growing pains in the past, but it's pretty impressive now.
@@happycamper6352This is a new video, that's not an excuse.
@@holydamien I agree it's not an excuse, but it might be where the image came from anyway. The image may have been acquired for other reasons and stored and eventually used on this video. Or, they just 'shopped it to look like he old Google squiggles.
SAD TO SAY BUT NATURE WILL ALWAYS WIN. THIS DAM IS A TICKING TIME BOMB
…just like every other dam in the world. :)
@@MrScandinavio They won't have anywhere near the cataclysmic effect this one would upon breaking.
Also, the dams you're talking about are structurally designed to last. This one, a flat BDOA structure was the absolute worst methodology you could possibly use here but they were limited due to the span.
Hoover benefits from the gravity arch that's held structurally by the bedrock mountain on either side. It has no risk of collapse but over a few hundred years, if left unmaintained, the flood gate channel locks may allow water through.
All that would end up doing is slowly, over 30-100 years nominalize the flow rate back to how it was before the dam.
Even a Nuke wouldn't break the dam.... The damage would be superficial and quickly and easily repaired....
My father designed and directed the building of 7 dams, and the design of Iacireta, huge dam at 3-frontiers of South America, plus 2 harbours + 2 bridges + 3 nuclear plants. He was invited by China, with other foreigners specialists as him, to give their opinion on the project. Half of them (my dad included) said they would have chosen to build 3 dams (3 rivers) instead of one huge. To be "the builders of the biggest of the biggest...". Coming back, my dad told me "I will not see it, you maybe not, but for sure, your children will see its collapse."
From a flood control standpoint, it seems that the dam isn't big enough since China has experiences both major flooding and low water levels below the dam just in the past few years.
The flood happen upstream 280km before 3 gorges Dam. the Dam itself managed to control the flow downstream
also, The dam itself only control Yangtze. aside from case in 2020 - most flood you see in news is not at Yangtze.
Usual flooded region was North east - North west - which is Yellow river - the river has flooded more than any river in history that its have nickname "sorrow of China"
it also cant be simply tamed by Dam. as the Name suggest, Yellow river is Yellow because it carry a lot of sediments. in fact 17% sediement discharged into ocean - come from this river alone.
so, the river bed is always raised by sediments - making it prone to overflow
one funny thing was, that at some point in 1990. the river has so much Silt during draught. that one Hydrology expert say "it has more soil than water, technicaly its not a river" :v
@@thehumus8688 Thanks for the info. Unfortunately the news cannot or will not take the time to thoroughly explain the network of rivers in the watershed and the effects of all the various dams on flooding.
Last year, it was heavily reported that the water levels at the Three Gorges Dam were close to capacity which would render the dam ineffective for flood control. This report failed to mention the water levels at the dam prior to the typhoon and subsequent flooding, but one would infer that if flooding in Beijing was being mitigated by the dam, that it was holding back on the release of water and either it was able to do so because the water level of the reservoir was not too high OR perhaps reservoir water was allowed to flow out of other dams to travel down other rivers. But, in any case, the system of rivers and dams is obviously not capable of fully controlling flooding.
Yes that’s happened on the Yangtze for 1000 years
When you pointed out how catastrophic a failure would be I immediately thought about a war scenario which is increasingly becoming likely. I cant see any way this dam could be protected from a conventional warhead missile strike.
Yes but you have to think that a lot of our things in the modern world aren't built with war in mind. For example, the same thing can be said for any common nuclear power plant.
Nuclear plant in NY was built to withstand an attack.
@@Leonhart_93 NO, the same thing cant be said for nuke plant. It is not holding back an enormous force water. A reactor is not a bomb as much as HBO wants you to believe that with their Chernobyl story
@@silentvoiceinthedark5665It's not a bomb and Chernobyl was never a bomb story as you claim, which shows your ignorance. The danger is the immense potential of radioactivity. Even today Chernobyl is uninhabitable. Although the modern power plants are not as dangerous.
you don't have to protect it, it 115 meter wide, even if you nuke it, a nuke doesn't penatrate beyond 20m... they will just patch it up the next day.
I visited Wuhan the nearest city to the construction site, in about 2001, as a member of the America's People to People program. The site was still being surveyed while I was there. My group, about 25 transportation engineers and planners, after the site tour, boarded a Viking river boat to visit three historical cave sites which were to be flooded following completion. We docked someplace overnight and continued on to Chongqing, the site of General Stillwell's HQ during WW II. After continuing to Beijing by train, we, after breaking into small groups, participated in giving presentations on U.S. transportation systems. I spoke on public transportation systems in northern California focusing on the post Bay Bridge collapse. I also took a side trip to visit the Xian terracotta soldiers.