Protests drowned in biggest project

In his years as an environmental activist, Wu Dengming has been roughed up and threatened. His researchers have been arrested. His petitions...

In his years as an environmental activist, Wu Dengming has been roughed up and threatened. His researchers have been arrested. His petitions have been ignored. But Wu, 64, a former officer in the People8217;s Liberation Army, is accustomed to a good fight. Wu8217;s battle is to stop the pollution of the reservoir created by the massive Three Gorges Dam, the world8217;s largest hydroelectric project.

On June 1, engineers blocked the flow of the Yangtze River and began filling the reservoir, which when completed will cover 254 square miles, submerging two cities, 11 county seats and 1,352 villages under its chocolate-coloured flow.

Wu is the president of the Green Volunteers League of Chongqing. Wu8217;s environmental activism also seeks to establish the right of citizens to have input when it comes to matters of public health and welfare. But as with other organizations seeking independence from government control, he has faced roadblocks from the ruling Communist Party.

On June 6, the government shuttered 63 independent organizations because they did not meet strict registration requirements. The message was clear: While Communist Party leaders might be contemplating extremely limited political reforms at the top, no one is considering giving citizens a broader role.

The Three Gorges Dam measures 7,600 feet across and 600 feet high, making it the world8217;s largest hydroelectric dam. The reservoir behind it is so vast that more than 1.3 million people will have been moved from their homes by the time it is finished in 2009.

Despite government promises of a cleanup, Wu and other activists and experts are concerned that the reservoir will become a cesspool for sewage, wastewater and agricultural runoff from the surrounding countryside, where more than 15 million people live.

Each year, an estimated 350 million cubic metres of residential wastewater and 400 million cubic metres of industrial waste will flow into the reservoir.

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At that rate, the reservoir would be filled to the brim with muck in 50 years, he said, and the addition of so much solid material also will slow the flow in the reservoir beyond the water8217;s ability to clean itself.

Concern about the pollutants brought Wu to Pulu, a teeming city of Chongqing. Here along the banks of the Xiaoanxi River, seven chemical plants and paper mills discharge untreated industrial waste into the river. On a recent day, one of Wu8217;s researchers got into trouble. The researcher was interviewing farmers about the pollution problem when Wu Xiangyang, the GM of the Pulu Chemical Factory, arrived and told him to leave the area. LAT-WP