Yarlung Tsangpo River Dam: Impact

As I have already discussed on my earlier post that about People’s Republic of China (PRC) wants to divert water of river Yarlung Tsangpo the upper reach of River Brahmaputra of India and River Jamuna of Bangladesh. China has a large demand for energy to fulfill their peoples need. As the population of China is huge, this is four times bigger than the population of United States of America.

Now question is where is Yarlung Tsangpo River and is it important to Tibet, India, Bangladesh?  The Yarlung Tsangpo River is the main river of Tibet and is known as the mother river of Tibet. It is the river in the highest place on the world. It is also the longest river in Tibet. It should also be mentioned that Yarlung Tsangpo canyon made by Yarlung Tsangpo River is the deepest canyon in the world. The Yarlung Tsangpo River flows across southern Tibet to break through the Himalayas in great gorges and into Arunachal Pradesh (India) where it is known as Dihang. After Arunachal Pradesh enters in the Assam Valley as Brahmaputra and after Assam, India it enters in Bangladesh from south as the Jamuna. In Bangladesh the river merges with the Ganges and splits into two: the Padma and Meghna River.  Now it is known to everyone that Yarlung Tsangpo (Brahmaputra in Assam and Jamuna in Bangladesh) is the main river and almost main source of water in Tibet, Assam (India) and in Bangladesh.

Actually China has almost decided to construct a dam on Yarlung Tsangpo River. They have prepared their project plan too; may be at this moment while you are reading this post they, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), have finished their Dam project on Yarlung Tsangpo River. The major plan of the dam is to harness hydroelectric power and divert 200 billion cubic metres of water annually to the Yellow River to fulfill the water shortage to other areas in China. The size of the dam in the Tsongpo gorge would exceed that of Three Gorges Dam. This hydroelectric power plant will generate 40,000 megawatts electricity, more than twice the output of Three Gorges. According to their unofficial sources the hydroelectric power plant project has been going on since 2009. There is no doubt that after completion of the big dam hydroelectric power plant project that there will be displacement of local populations, destruction of ecosystems, and an impact for downstream people in India and Bangladesh. The construction of big dam is a major threatening to the ecology in India and Bangladesh within the next few years. The project is criticized by India because of its potential negative impact upon the residents downstream.

According to the International experts and environmentalists Assam (India) and Bangladesh will turn into a desert in the near future as water flow of Brahmaputra-Jamuna River will fall drastically to 40%. As the 60 per cent of the total water flow of Brahmaputra-Jamuna River will divert by China to the Yellow River to fulfill the hydroelectric power and the water shortage to other areas in China, by constructing large Dam on it. Above all China hardly shares their data’s of Rivers, Dams, Rainfall to the other country.