China's Drought Threatens Farm Income, Drinking Water, Wildlife and Hydropower

The world's third-largest river -- stretching from the Himalayas thousands of miles to the east meeting the sea -- has been experiencing its worst drought in decades. The drought is withering farmers' wallets, threatening a Chinese species even rarer than the panda and raising questions about a clean energy source that China hopes to bank its energy future on.

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To cope with the drought, Beijing ordered the Three Gorges Dam -- the world's largest hydroelectric plant, built at the upstream Yangtze River -- to sacrifice its power generation for irrigation and drinking water.

Over the last three weeks, every minute, some 600,000 cubic meters of water -- equivalent to the volume of seven Olympic-size swimming pools -- was released from the dam to the drought-stricken areas. But this is viewed as a late gift.

"The dam operators lack experience in managing the water flow," said Yang Fuqiang, a senior adviser on climate and energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "They waited for too long until the drought impact reached extremes. And when they finally released water, the natural connection between the river and surrounding lakes was already broken, making it difficult to refill the lakes."

http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2011/06/14/14climatewire-chinas-drought-threatens-farm-income-drinkin-63459.html?pagewanted=all

oversight soon enough.