Dam not sole cause of Chinese drought

摘要

China's Yangtze River is suffering its worst drought for more than 50 years (Nature doi:10.1038/ news.2011.315; 2011). Although people blame the Three Gorges Dam for making matters worse, other factors have also contributed. In response to April and May's severe water shortage, central government ordered the release of 50 billion cubic metres of water from reservoirs in the Yangtze basin, most of which came from the Three Gorges Reservoir, with some from other reservoirs used for power generation. The result is a cumulative toll on the river's large-scale hydrological balance.