New Delhi:
Our race for rapid development often pushes us into a blind race whose initial benefits are visible to us but we often ignore the long-term consequences. We consider big hydropower projects as one such standard of development, which provide us both electricity and water, but sometimes their adverse effects on the environment force us to repent later. Such big hydropower projects come at a huge cost to the environment. China has gone ahead in preparing the project, which has built the world’s largest Three Gorges dam. This dam is so big that it has also reduced the speed of rotation of the Earth on its axis.
Let us tell you that China is going to build a dam three times bigger than the world’s largest Three Gorges Dam on the Brahmaputra River, which is going to become a new and big cause of concern for India. The Brahmaputra River, which originates from the Chemayungdung Glacier near Lake Mansarovar in China’s Autonomous Tibet Province, is called Yarlung Tsangpo in China. China has already built several big dams on this river. Now preparations are on to build the world’s largest dam.
Dam will be built before Brahmaputra river enters India
Overall, the Yarlung Tsangpo river, about 2900 kilometers long, flows west across the Himalayas on the Tibetan Plateau for a distance of 2057 kilometers and then enters India through Arunachal Pradesh. After India, it goes to Bangladesh and then joins the Bay of Bengal. But just before entering India, this river takes a sharp U turn. This is the area where China is going to build the world’s largest hydropower dam, which is also being called Great Bend Dam.
Although many dams are already built and many more are being built on the Yarlung Tsangpo River and its tributaries, which flows about 2000 kilometers in Tibet, but the biggest dam is now going to be built in Medog County. According to the report, by the year 2023, the largest dam to be built on Yarlung Tsangpo will have a power generation capacity of 60 thousand MW. This dam will provide 300 billion units of electricity annually. This will be enough to meet the annual electricity needs of 30 crore people. Its capacity will be more than three times that of the world’s largest Three Gorges Dam. This dam is likely to cost $137 billion.
Hydroelectric project on steep river gradient
China considers this area to be the most suitable place for hydropower because the Yarlung Tsangpo River forms the world’s deepest valley. Before entering India, the slope of Yarlung Tsangpo is very steep. After a distance of 50 kilometers this river comes down to 2000 meters. That means its altitude decreases very rapidly. The power of water generated by this steep slope is very suitable for generating hydroelectric power and China is preparing to use it. According to the information, for China’s new dam, at least four twenty kilometer long tunnels will be built in Namcha Barwa hill, into which water from Yarlung Tsangpo river will be pumped.
Danger from big dam in earthquake sensitive area
Many questions are being raised regarding this project of the world’s largest dam. India and Bangladesh have their own concerns, and lakhs of people in Tibet Autonomous Region itself will be displaced by this. When the Three Gorges hydropower dam was built on China’s Yangtse River, about 14 lakh people were displaced. A dam three times larger than that would cause further displacement of people in Tibet’s Medog County. Apart from this, there are big questions related to the environment. The area where this dam is being built in the Tibetan Plateau is one of the most naturally rich areas in the world and the dam will also interfere with the river and its surrounding ecosystem. Apart from this, the place where this dam is being built is very sensitive to earthquakes. Here, the Indian tectonic plate and the Eurasian plate collide under the earth, due to which tectonic activity continues and there is a danger of a major earthquake. In such a situation, building this dam will also be a big challenge for engineering. But China claims that it has decided to build this dam in this area after decades of study. He claims that it will not have any major impact on the environment.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said China has always been responsible for the development of cross-border rivers and hydropower development in Tibet has been studied in depth for decades. Safety measures have been taken for the safety of the project and to protect the ecology and environment.
Fear of China’s control over the water of Brahmaputra river
The world’s largest dam being built on the Brahmaputra river has created concern in India too. It is feared that with this China will be able to control the waters of the Brahmaputra. The large reservoir of the dam will be able to hold water as per its need and release it as per its need. If China suddenly releases water, the areas around the Brahmaputra in India may be flooded. The lack of trust with China further increases such concerns. The Brahmaputra becomes equally ferocious during the rainy season. This dam will affect the entire ecosystem of the Brahmaputra river. It is certain to have an impact on the aquatic animals living in it.
Brahmaputra’s ecosystem may deteriorate
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that, as far as we are concerned in Assam, we have already told that if this dam is built, the ecosystem of Brahmaputra will become completely fragile, will dry up and only Bhutan And Arunachal Pradesh will depend on rain water.
A report published in 2020 by the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, said that by controlling the rivers of the Tibetan plateau, China could trouble India and affect its economy. But China does not consider such concerns as legitimate.
China termed the apprehensions of neighboring countries as unreasonable
China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said the mega-project would have no impact on riparian countries and that its safety concerns had been addressed through decades of study. He said China will maintain communication with low-lying countries through existing channels and advance international cooperation on disaster prevention and relief.
Whatever be China’s cleanliness, the impact on the environment due to the construction of such a large scale dam cannot be denied. But the question is how much water can China stop from India? According to the Central Water Commission, 60% of the water in Brahmaputra river comes from India and 40% from Tibet. The areas through which Brahmaputra flows in India are very rich in terms of rainfall. Despite this, if the river dries up in the upper areas, it will definitely affect the ecosystem in the lower areas.
China’s water bomb!
Another big concern is that if China suddenly releases water from its dam, there could be a terrible flood in the areas around the Brahmaputra in India. That is why some people are calling it China’s water bomb. According to experts. To prevent China from ever doing this, India is also preparing to build the country’s largest dam in Upper Siang district of Arunachal. According to estimates, about 9 billion cubic meters of water can be stored in the reservoir of this 11 thousand MW dam during monsoon days. This will also fulfill the needs of drinking water and irrigation. However, opposition to building a dam in such an environmentally sensitive area is also increasing.
However, an Expert Level Mechanism (ELM) has been working between India and China since 2006 regarding cross-border rivers, under which China provides information to India related to the water level of Brahmaputra and Sutlej rivers originating from Tibet. On December 18, this issue was also raised between the special representatives of India and China, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi. In the meeting of both the representatives, positive instructions were given regarding mutual cooperation and sharing of information regarding the rivers crossing the border.
Three gorges dam slowed down the earth
China has built the world’s largest hydro electric dam, Three Gorges Dam. Would you believe that this dam project built on the Yangtze River is so big that according to NASA, it has even slightly slowed down the speed of the Earth’s rotation on its axis. This dam, completed in 2006, has filled the 600 km long valley behind it with water, which means its reservoir is so big. This dam submerged 13 cities and 1300 villages, displacing approximately 12 lakh people. The environment had to suffer huge losses.
The dam’s huge lake shifted the earth’s mass
How is it possible that a dam of such a large size can affect the rotation of the Earth on its axis? You must have often seen the scene of spinning on one’s feet while dancing in ballet dance. In this, as soon as the dancer brings his hands closer to the body, the speed of his rotation, which is called angular velocity, increases. As soon as the hand comes closer to its body, i.e. the axis, its rotation speed increases. And as soon as he extends his hand, the speed of its rotation decreases, that is, the angular velocity decreases. By spreading the hands, the mass of the body gets transferred outside. By the way, you too must have felt this many times when you would rotate with outstretched arms and then feel the speed of rotation of the arms closer to the body increasing. China’s Three Gorges Dam has also done the same. Its huge lake shifted the mass of the earth slightly apart and upward.
The Earth is rotating on its axis at a speed of about 1600 kilometers per hour. What has happened now is that the 175 meter high Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River has shifted a mass equal to 40 billion cubic meters of water. This has affected the speed of the Earth’s rotation on its axis; it has slowed down, even if very slightly. Due to this, the Earth’s rotation time has increased by 0.06 micro seconds in a day. Besides, the position of the Earth’s axis has also been affected by about 2 centimetres. This shows that our construction activities can also affect the Earth’s rotation.
However, this can happen due to many other reasons, such as very big earthquakes, increase in the earth’s temperature and melting of ice at the poles, the earth’s mass is also being redistributed, water in the ocean is increasing. The mass is increasing around the equator compared to the poles. This is also slowing down the speed of the earth somewhat. Although it is very minor, but even minor things gradually become big and become a worry.
