bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Stephen Chen

On the Tibetan plateau, a super dam will harness the roaring river of Yarlung Tsangpo, generating triple the electricity of the Three Gorges Dam.
But politicians in India, sitting downstream, have voiced fears the dam could be a “water bomb” exacerbating floods in monsoons, or that it could steal water in dry seasons.
Since Beijing approved the project in December last year, there have been lots of discussions, but little proof.
Now a joint study by Hohai University and China’s Ministry of Water Resources suggested the dam’s impact on the Yarlung Tsangpo could be opposite to India’s fears.
The study draws data from two large dams already working upstream: Zangmu and Jiacha. Measured since 2014 at hydrological downstream, the results are clear: dry seasons get wetter.
Low flows were up more than 50 per cent in February. Water rose significantly throughout the dry season. India feared drought – the dams brought more water instead.
And floods became smaller, with peak flows down by 2 per cent. In August, the riskiest period for flooding, water levels remained moderate.

The Yarlung Tsangpo River, situated in the southeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, possesses immense hydropower potential – second only to the Yangtze River in China.
But dams came late to Tibet, said the team led by Dr Zhang Jianyun, China’s dam safety chief.
“Harsh climates, technological limitations, economic challenges and political factors have constrained large-scale reservoir construction in this high-altitude region,” wrote Zhang and his colleagues in a peer-reviewed paper published in the Chinese journal Advances in Water Science on May 15.
With the implementation of the West-East Power Transfer strategy, hydropower development is now booming.
And so are the dams’ environmental impacts.
“Research on how reservoir operations in extreme cold environments affect downstream hydrological and thermal regimes remains limited due to scarce long-term observational data,” wrote Zhang, who is also the water ministry’s director of climate change research.
“Yarlung Tsangpo is an ideal natural laboratory for studying river system responses to global climate change and human activities, particularly under cascade hydropower development.
“Quantifying the impacts of large-scale water infrastructure on river hydrology and thermal behaviour in alpine zones is now a critical research frontier.”


Zhang’s team has detected some alarming signs, but they are likely caused by global warming, not the dams.
Glacial melt adds a significant amount of water into the river between June and October, as air warms at a pace of 0.05 degrees Celsius per year in the region.
And water heats oddly. In cold months, the chill goes more deeply while warm months get hotter – fish feel it.
“Against the backdrop of global warming, the joint operation of the Zangmu and Jiacha reservoirs has amplified the hydrothermal lag effect downstream to some extent,” Zhang’s team said.
“Peak flood flows decrease, while dry season flows increase, thereby altering the hydrological rhythm of river ecosystems and disrupting habitats and life cycles of aquatic organisms.”
“Findings from such studies will provide essential references for sustaining river ecosystem health and optimising water resource management in the Yarlung Tsangpo basin,” they added.


Chinese team’s hydrogel coating boosts solar panel power output 13%, ideal for hot regions

North America’s top computer vision scientist Liang Jie returns to China

Frost in 20 seconds: can this supercooling tech give China an edge in AI race?

UCLA virologist Xia Xian joins Wuhan lab studying highly pathogenic virus

Science

Will China’s mega dam in Tibet bring a water crisis to India? New study gives hint

Water gushes out from the Three Gorges Dam through nine of its flood discharge gates to spare more capacity for incoming floods from upper reaches of the Yangtze River, in central China’s Hubei Province, July 15, 2024. Photo: Xinhua

Aerial view of the Yarlung Tsangpo River. Photo: Getty

China tells India Yarlung Tsangpo mega dam in Tibet will not be at ‘expense of neighbours’

The proposed dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo River is expected to produce three times the electricity generated by the Three Gorges dam. Photo: Xinhua

Millions of people in India rely on the Bramaputra River for water. Photo: Reuters 

China’s Himalayan mega dam deepens India’s water worries

The Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon in Tibet. Photo: AFP

Water gushes out from the Three Gorges Dam in central China’s Hubei province. Photo: Xinhua

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi shakes hands with Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval in Beijing last month. Photo: Xinhua/EPA-EFE

An Indian paramilitary soldier stands guard at checkpoint along a road leading to Ladakh. Photo: EPA-EFE

Rescue teams in Tibet work amid rubble in the aftermath of an earthquake in this still from a video released on January 7. Photo: Tibet Fire and Rescue/Reuters

Children ride bicycles along the banks of the Brahmaputra river in Guwahati, India’s Assam state, on December 31. Photo: AFP

China approves Tibet mega dam that could generate 3 times more power than Three Gorges

China’s Three Gorges Dam, shown here, ranks first in the world for generating capacity. But a planned project in Tibet could produce triple the amount of electricity. Photo: Xinhua

Tibet’s quake is a seismic warning to China and India over their mega dam ambitions

The project in Tibet will dwarf the Three Gorges Dam. Photo: Xinhua

News

China

China’s planned super dam will see water levels rise during dry seasons and control flooding during high-risk periods, data shows


China’s planned super dam will see water levels rise during dry seasons and control flooding during high-risk periods, data shows.


India

Will China’s mega dam in Tibet bring a water crisis to India? New study gives hint

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}China’s planned super dam will see water levels rise during dry seasons and control flooding during high-risk periods, data shows

China’s planned super dam will see water levels rise during dry seasons and control flooding during high-risk periods, data shows