Three Gorges Dam, the largest water conservancy project ever undertaken by man. The Dam is now being built in Sandouping, which is in the middle of the Xiling Gorge, the longest of the three gorges on the Yantze River.
The Three Gorges Dam will be 2,335 meters long, 185 meters high, 18 meters wide on the top and 130 meters wide at the bottom. The dam will raise the river to a level of 175 meters above sea level, creating a 600 kilometers long reservoir with storage capacity of 39.9 billion cubic meters extending from the dam site all the way to Chongqing. 570,000 acres of farmland, villages in 19 counties and cities will be flooded, causing 1.5 million people to be relocated.
The estimate for construction of the project is 70 billion US dollars. The building of this huge dam is for the purpose of flood control, electricity, navigation, and irrigation.
The construction of the dam formally began in 1994. The body of the dam was completed in 2003, and the whole construction will be competed in 2009.
