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BEIJING (AP) -- Waterlogged levees along China's flood-swollen
Yangtze River have started to collapse,
wreaking death and destruction on a massive scale, state
media said today. Other reports said more than 1,000
people were missing.
Torrential rains in southwest Sichuan province also have
triggered flooding that killed at least 20 people,
pushing the known death toll from floods caused by unusually
heavy and early summer rains to 1,288.
With a tropical storm and another flood tide expected,
the threat mounted of further breaches along the
weakened levees that protect millions of people and rich
farmland from the Yangtze, the world's third-longest
river.
Main Yangtze dikes remain intact but secondary levees
were breached in at least two counties and a city in
central China's Hubei province, ``causing huge loss of
life and property,'' the official China Youth Daily
reported.
The newspaper gave no casualty figures. But a human rights
group said 150 soldiers and hundreds of villagers
were swept away when a levee suddenly collapsed Saturday
in Hubei's Jiayu County, about 40 miles upriver from the
industrial center of Wuhan.
As of Monday, the bodies of nine soldiers had been recovered,
said the Information Center of Human Rights
and Democratic Movement in China. The Hong Kong-based
group said more than 1,000 people were believed missing.
Local officials have barred foreign journalists from visiting
the worst flood areas, and state-controlled
media tend to provide delayed or conflicting accounts
and downplay casualties.
The official Yangcheng Evening News said 400 soldiers
were swept away when the levee that had been protecting
56,000 people in two towns collapsed. Soldiers and police
pulled nearly 20,000 people from the water, the
newspaper said.
In a bid to lower the Yangtze's waters, Hubei authorities
abandoned 11 small dikes to divert
floodwaters, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said. The
strategy caused $48 million in flood damage, but helped
protect Wuhan.
More than 100,000 people lost their homes when a levee
burst in Anxiang, in neighboring Hunan province, on July
24, Xinhua reported. Victims were living in tents, ``without
adequate food and drinking water,'' the agency
said.
In all, the 3,900-mile-long Yangtze was threatening to
burst its embankments in 3,200 places, and 1,800 of
these possible breaches were ``major,'' Xinhua said.
``The flood control situation along the Yangtze remains
extremely serious and will remain so for the foreseeable
future,'' it reported.
Millions of soldiers and civilians have been working the
dikes, watching for signs of collapse and plugging
leaks, as waters on the Yangtze reached levels unseen
since floods in 1954 killed more than 30,000 people.
Aside from killing 20 people, the floods in Sichuan province
in recent days also injured 370 people and left
two others missing, Xinhua said.
A flood peak, the fourth this year, was forming on the
upper reaches of the Yangtze, the China Youth Daily
said.
International Rivers Network
Doris Shen
Three Gorges Campaign threegorges@irn.org
1847 Berkeley Way tel: 510.848.1155 ext.
317
Berkeley, CA 94720 fax: 510.848.1008
27.07.98 : International Coalition For River Restoration Formed
Dam Decommissioning Key Element in Strategy
Eighteen environmental and social activist groups from
seven countries in North America, Europe and Asia have announced the formation
of Living Rivers: The International Coalition for the Restoration of Rivers
and Communities Affected by Dams. The coalition will focus on restoring
rivers and the well-being of the communities which depend on them by working
to change the operating patterns of dams, drain reservoirs and remove dams.
The decision to form the coalition was reached at a workshop on dam decommissioning held at Walker Creek Ranch, Marin County, California, on July 23-25, 1998. The workshop ended with the endorsement of the Walker Creek Declaration, the founding statement of the Living Rivers coalition.
The Declaration notes that:
""Worldwide . . . rivers are degraded by hundreds of thousands of dams, which have flooded huge areas of the world's most beautiful and ecologically rich habitats and the lands and homes of tens of millions of people . . . the promised benefits of many dam projects have never been realized, and their adverse effects are more serious than predicted . . .
"Many dams provide services for society, including the generation of electricity, the storage and diversion of water, flood protection, navigation and flat-water recreation. But we now know that these services . . . often can be met in less damaging ways . . . "
"Many dams are now obsolete. Many have reached the end of their functional life span and no longer serve a purpose that justifies their negative impacts. Many are unsafe, threatening the lives of millions of people, as well as property, fish and wildlife.
"For many dams the cost of maintenance and of environmental and social mitigation exceeds the benefits to be gained from dam operation. The cost of removing dams is in many cases proving less than the cost of continuing to operate them . . . removing dams is an economically, technically, socially and environmentally viable and sensible option for . . . restoring living rivers."
The Declaration states that the "continued existence and operation of individual dams must be justified on the grounds of ecological and social impacts, economics and safety". It calls for a number of measures relating to dam decommissioning, including:
* Evaluations of which dams should continue in operation, which should have their operations altered to mitigate adverse impacts, and which should be decommissioned or removed.
* The preparation of decommissioning plans for all dams, whether existing, planned or under construction. These plans should include dam removal and restoration of the river, reservoir zone and floodplain.
* Dam owners and the beneficiaries of dams must be held responsible for the costs of mitigating the impacts of their continuing operation, paying reparations for past damages, and where relevant decommissioning or removing the dams. Funding mechanisms must be established for the ecommissioning of abandoned dams or where the owner has insufficient financial resources. International agencies which have financed dams, such as the World Bank, should share the responsibility for their decommissioning.
* Rigorous dam safety standards must be developed and enforced, including the preparation and publication of maps of areas to be flooded in the event of a dam failure, emergency evacuation plans for areas at risk, and the purchase of liability insurance. The safety records of dams must be made public.
* Watershed management and energy plans must be developed in a participatory and transparent manner. Watershed management plans should integrate sustainable agriculture and fisheries, urban planning, flood management, water supply and environmental restoration. Regional energy plans should incorporate demand-side management and the most environmentally benign and cost-effective forms of generation.
Living Rivers will start by disseminating information on successful dam decommissioning case studies and on river restoration. It will also work to ensure that the newly-formed World Commission on Dams will assess in depth the issue of dam decommissioning.
For more information contact:
EUROPE:
Roberto Epple, European Rivers Network, France,
+33 471 02 08 14,
www.rivernet.org
USA:
Patrick McCully, International Rivers Network, USA
+1 510 848 1155,
patrick@irn.org,
www.irn.org
-Sara Johnson, River Alliance of Wisconsin,
+1 608 257 2424,
wisrivers@igc.apc.org,
www.igc.org/wisrivers
INDIA:
Shripad Dharmadhikary, Save the Narmada Movement, India
+91 265 382232,
nba@lwbdq.lwbbs.net
AUSTRALIA:
Helen Gee, Pedder 2000, Australia,
+61 3 6257 5155,
thomtec@hotmail.com
From: "Jozsef Feiler" <jfeiler@zpok.hu>
To: "Patrick McCully" <patrick@irn.org>
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 11:47:04 +0200
Subject: fyi: Danube
The cabinet headed by Viktor Orban on 23 July annulled
a decision
by Gyula Horn's government to go ahead with the construction
of the controversial Gabcikovo-Nagymaros dam, Reuters
reported. It said the decision of the former cabinet,
taken
in the wake of the ruling of the International Court
of
Justice in The Hague in September 1997, forced the country
into an uneconomical "prestige project" that was also
a "huge
environmental risk." The statement said the new government
wants to "do everything" to reach an agreement with Slovakia
and to "uphold Hungary's legal obligations" in line with
the
decision of the court. But it stressed that Hungary will
do
so only after carrying out studies on environmental effects.
MS
------------------------------------------------------
Jozsef Feiler
Policy Coordinator, CEE Bankwatch Network
c/o ETK, Budapest
Vadasz u. 29., H-1054, HUNGARY
Tel/fax: +361 311 78 55
e-mail: jfeiler@zpok.hu
URL: http://www.zpok.hu/mirror/bankwatch
------------------------------------------------------
"You must be the change you wish to
see in the world."
Gandhi
Le Comité syndical de l’EPALA a voté ce jour la suspension de tout engagement financier nouveau de l’EPALA dans le cadre du plan Loire, assortie d’une demande d’indemnité correspondant aux dépenses de l’EPALA sur l’opération de Chambonchard. L’EPALA considère, en effet, comme une rupture unilatérale du partenariat du plan Loire, l’absence de déblocage du financement de l’Etat en faveur du barrage de Chambonbchard.
Pour justifier sa décision, l’EPALA énumère les différentes décisions prises en faveur de Chambonchard depuis le protocole d’accord entre l’Etat, l’EPALA et l’Agence de l’Eau de 1986, ce qui est encore le meilleur moyen d’éluder la question de fond qui est : un barrage pour quoi faire ?
Les interrogations exprimées à l’Assemblée Nationale et à Montluçon par Madame Voynet, Ministre de l’Aménagement du Territoire, ont au contraire le mérite de poser ces problèmes.
Comme nous ne cessons de le répéter, les besoins en eau potable, industrielle et agricole ne nécessitent pas la création d’une nouvelle retenue et l’amélioration de la qualité de l’eau passe par un renforcement des efforts de dépollution et non par le recours au soutien d’étiage.
En transformant un débat d’utilité publique en marchandage avec l’Etat, l’EPALA réduit le plan Loire à une dimension strictement politicienne et démontre une nouvelle fois son incapacité à être l’acteur d’une gestion moderne des besoins des populations dans le respect des équilibres naturels.
Avec la menace de l’EPALA de ne plus financer les études sur la Loire moyenne et les mesures environnementales, ce n’est pas la nécessité de poursuivre le plan Loire qui est en cause. C’est en revanche la question de l’utilité de l’EPALA qui est posée !
POUR PLUS D’INFORMATIONS:
Christine Jean, Comité Loire Vivante
02 40 48 05 73
Roberto EPPLE, SOS Loire Vivante
06 08 62 12 67
04 71 05 57 88
Date: Thu, 2 Jul 1998 11:11:32 +0200 (MET DST)
From: WWF Infostelle <info@WWF.DE>
Sender: owner-wwfnews@pixelpark.com
Hochwasser-Vorsorge an der Oder genuegt nicht
WWF warnt: Bei der naechsten Flut wieder hohe Schaeden
/ Ueberflutungsflaechen fehlen
Rastatt, 2. Juli 1998. Ein Jahr nach dem katastrophalen
Hochwasser an der Oder stellte das Auen-Institut der Umweltstiftung WWF-Deutschland
noch immer erhebliche Maengel beim Hochwasserschutz fest. "Selbst eine
schwaechere Flut als die im letzten Sommer wuerde heute aehnlich hohe Schaeden
verursachen", urteilte Georg Rast, Referent fuer Wasserbau und Wasserwirtschaft
im WWF-Auen-Institut.
"Wie nach jeder Katastrophe hat man sich bisher nur darauf
konzentriert, die entstandenen Schaeden zu beheben", erklaerte Rast. Das
heisst, es wurden vor allem gebrochene Deiche repariert. Dies ist nach
Ansicht des Hochwasser-Experten zwar notwendig, doch es reicht nicht aus
fuer eine langfristige Vorsorge. Noetig sind zusaetzliche Ueberflutungsflaechen
in den Anrainerlaendern Brandenburg und Polen, um kuenftige Risiken zu
entschaerfen.
Kritik richtete Rast an die Politik sowohl in Brandenburg
als auch in Polen. Kurz nach der Flut seien vor allem Betroffene auf der
polnischen Seite bereit gewesen, aus hochwassergefaehrdeten Gebieten wegzuziehen.
"Entsprechende Signale aus der Politik haben jedoch gefehlt", betonte Rast.
Nun sei es dazu fast zu spaet, denn viele der Bewohner haetten ihre geschaedigten
Haeuser renoviert. "Indem man jedoch die bestehenden Zustaende wiederherstellt,
zementiert man einen mangelhaften Hochwasserschutz", fuegte er hinzu.
Um Hochwasserschutz erfolgreich umzusetzen, muss man
die oekologischen Potentiale der Flusslandschaft einbinden, d. h. Auen
wieder als natuerliche Rueckhalteraeume nutzen. . "Dies zeigt das `Integrierte
Rheinprogramm´ des Landes Baden-Wuerttemberg ganz deutlich", unterstrich
Rast. Dort erhalten ausgedeichte Auenstandorte wieder ihre Funktion als
"Puffer" bei Hochwasser, indem sie an den Rhein angebunden werden. An der
Entstehung dieses Programms war das WWF-Auen-Institut massgeblich beteiligt.
Auch an der Oder versucht der WWF nun, ein solches Programm
voranzutreiben. So gibt es gerade dort hervorragende Moeglichkeiten fuer
Deichrueckverlegungen, die dem Hochwasserschutz dienen und zugleich optimale
oekologische Verhaeltnisse schaffen wuerden. Um die negativen Folgen rein
technischer Flussbaumassnahmen und die Chancen eines oekologischen Hochwasserschutzes
zu demonstrieren, hatten Rast und seine Kollegen im Juni 45 Fachleute aus
Deutschland, Polen und Tschechien eingeladen. Wie Rast erlaeuterte, habe
man damit die Ebene erreicht, die solche Massnahmen auch tatsaechlich umsetzen
kann.
Momentan sieht es in Polen jedoch nicht nach einer oekologisch
orientierten Loesung aus. Mit dem Ausbauprogramm "Odra 2006" plant die
Regierung den Bau weiterer Staustufen. Dies koennte den Hochwasserschutz
sogar verschlechtern, befuerchten die Experten vom WWF-Auen-Institut. Aehnlich
schaetzt auch die Weltbank die Folgen ein. Sie will sich an der Finanzierung
des Programms beteiligen, zoegert jedoch aufgrund dieser offensichtlichen
Planungsmaengel.
"Auch in Brandenburg muss mehr passieren", mahnte Rast.
Wenn Polen seine Deiche so gruendlich ertuechtigt wie Deutschland, werden
kuenftige Hochwasser Brandenburg staerker als zuvor treffen. Bisher hatten
die Ueberschwemmungen in Polen die Folgen fuer das flussabwaerts liegende
Gebiet abgeschwaecht. "Fuer dieses Problem gibt es zwei Loesungen", erlaeuterte
Rast. Zum einen kann Brandenburg selbst mehr Raum schaffen, zum anderen
kann es Polen unterstuetzen. Denn in Polen stehen Flaechen zur Verfuegung,
doch es fehlt vor allem an Geld. "Am sinnvollsten waere es, beide Moeglichkeiten
zu kombinieren", empfahl Rast.
Fuer weitere Informationen wenden Sie sich bitte an
Anja Rech, Pressereferentin im WWF-Auen-Institut
Josefstr. 1, 76437 Rastatt
Tel. 072 22/38 07-14, Fax -99
oder Georg Rast, Tel. 072 22/38 07-22
Internet: http://www.wwf.de
Mercredi 24 juin à 17 heures, le barrage de Saint-Etienne-du-Vigan sur l’Allier supérieur a été soufflé par l’explosion des charges réparties sur l’ouvrage. C’est la première fois en France qu’un barrage EDF est démantelé pour restaurer une rivière à saumons.
Situé dans le département de la Haute-Loire sur le Haut-Allier, le barrage de Saint-Etienne-du-Vigan stérilisait depuis un siècle une trentaine d’hectares des meilleures frayères à saumon du bassin de la Loire. Avant que cet ouvrage de 12 mètres de haut ne soit construit à la fin du XIXè siècle, les villages voisins exportaient environ 10 tonnes de saumon par an vers le sud de la France, un apport considérable pour l’économie locale. Le barrage ne produisait les dernières années que 1,5% de la production du département de la Haute-Loire.
C’est à l’automne 1997 que la retenue a été vidée, profitant d’une crue de 80 m3/s permettant de diluer les sédiments accumulés dans la retenue et de minimiser l’impact sur les écosystèmes en aval du barrage. L’impact de cette vidange totale a été minime, en raison du bas niveau de pollution de la retenue, située très en amont, dans un environnement peu industrialisé. Le coût global du démantèlement est estimé à 14 millions de francs, comprenant notamment 7,2 millions de francs pour des mesures d’accompagnement destinées à combler le manque à gagner pour la commune de la taxe professionnelle auparavant payée par EDF et à valoriser le patrimoine saumon et le site.
La décision de démanteler Saint-Etienne-du-Vigan a été prise dans le cadre du Plan Loire Grandeur Nature lancé par par le gouvernement le 4 janvier 1994, à la suite du débat provoqué par le réseau Loire Vivante et l’association SOS Loire Vivante sur la question de l’aménagement de la Loire. Ce programme de gestion du bassin de la Loire, qui vise à concilier la sécurité des personnes, le développement économique et la protection de l’environnement, comporte un volet de restauration des populations de saumons. Ce volet inclut la destruction d’un autre barrage sur le bassin de la Loire, la construction d’une salmoniculture sur le Haut-Allier, l’interdiction de la pêche au saumon et l’élimination d’autres obstacles à la migration du saumon.
L’autre barrage à être démantelé est celui de Maisons-Rouges, sur la Vienne. Le processus a été retardé par l’opposition de certains élus locaux, mais le gouvernement actuel a annoncé que les travaux de démolition de cet ouvrage hydroélectrique de 5 mètres de haut, qui a détruit environ 800 hectares de frayères sur l’ensemble du bassin de la Vienne, débuteraient début septembre.
Le but du volet restauration des populations de saumon est de faire revenir 6 000 adultes dans l’estuaire de la Loire dans 10 ans. Au XIXè siècle, environ 100 000 saumons atlantique revenaient en Loire jusqu’à leurs frayères des hauts bassins, après une migration d’environ 6 000 km depuis le Groenland dans l’océan Atlantique nord.
En 1997, ce sont seulement 389 saumons qui ont franchi la passe à poissons de Vichy, sur l’Allier moyen, le seul affluent de la Loire où les saumons viennent encore se reproduire. Les barrages ont été la cause principale de cette chute spectaculaire dans les effectifs de saumon. Les jeunes tacons qui se dirigent vers l’océan se perdent dans les eaux calmes des retenues ou se font hacher menu par les turbines, tandis que les adultes remontant vers leurs zones de reproduction n’arrivent pas à franchir les murs des barrages.
Le saumon atlantique a disparu de tous les grands fleuves européens : le Rhin, la Tamise, l’Elbe, et d’autres. Ceci rend le reliquat de population de saumon de l’axe Loire-Allier particulièrement précieux du point de vue génétique. En effet, le saumon de l’Allier est le seul à pouvoir parcourir de longues distances dans la rivière, et il sert de reproducteur pour les programmes de réintroduction du saumon dans les autres grands fleuves européens.
english version:
The Saint-Etienne-du-Vigan dam on the Upper Allier river, the main tributary of the Loire river, collapsed on June 24 at 5 P.M. It is the first time in France that a dam operated by Electricité de France (the French state-owned electricity utility) has been destroyed in an effort to restore salmon habitat.
Located near the sources of the Allier River, Saint-Etienne-du-Vigan sterilized 70 acres of the basin's best salmon (Salmo salar) spawning grounds. Before this 44-foot-high dam was built in the late XIXth century, the surrounding villages produced approximately 10 tons of salmon per year, which contributed heavily to the local economy. The dam produced just 35 megawatts/hour per year, a tiny fraction of the nation's electrical output.
In the fall, the dam reservoir was emptied when a flood of about 2,800 cubic feet per second (80 cubic meters/sec.) occurred, which washed out the accumulated silt in the reservoir and minimized damage on the ecosystem downstream. Studies found no evidence of sudden pollution downstream, due to the low level of pollution of the reservoir sediments, as the reservoir is located in very little urbanized area and suffers hardly no pollution. The global cost of the demolition is an estimated FF14 million ($2,3 million*), including FF7,2 million ($1,2 million) to replace professional taxes formerly paid by EDF. This money will go for measures to improve the village’s habitat and tourism infrastructures.
The decision to remove the dam was taken on January 4, 1994, when the « Plan Loire Grandeur Nature » was launched by the French government. This program, spurred by widespread opposition coordinated by the Loire Vivante network to a series of projected dams on the Loire river basin, planned several measures to save the remaining salmon population of the Loire basin, including demolition of another dam on the Loire basin, construction of a hatchery on the Upper Allier, suspension of all fishing and elimination of other obstacles to salmon migration.
The other dam to be dismantled is the Maisons-Rouges, on the Vienne river, another tributary of the Loire river. The process has been slowed by the opposition of local politicians but the current French government has now scheduled a timetable for taking down this 15-foot-high hydroelectric dam which destroyed the Vienne river basin's entire 1,900 acres of spawning grounds : the works will begin next September 1998.
The goal of the program to restore salmon population on the Loire basin is to have 6,000 adults return to the Loire estuary in 10 years. In the XIXth century, approximately 100,000 Atlantic salmon would make the annual journey to their spawning grounds in the headwaters of France’s Loire River and its tributaries. After travelling an amazing 4,000 miles from Greenland in the North Atlantic ocean, they would swim upriver to spawn in clear waters.
In 1997, only 389 salmon were counted on the middle Allier River, the sole tributary in the Loire basin where salmon still return to spawn. Dams were the main cause for the spectacular drop in the salmon population. Young smolts swimming downstream to the ocean get lost in the slack waters of the reservoirs or chopped up in turbines or pumps; adults swimming upstream are foiled by dam walls or indequate fish ladders. Numerous dams in the Loire basin have destroyed habitat and blocked the fish from their spawning grounds.
Atlantic salmon have disappeared from all large
rivers on the European Atlantic coast: the Rhine, the Thames, the Elbe,
and others. This makes the tiny Loire stock a precious genetic pool for
reintroducing salmon in other large European rivers because it the only
salmon in Europe which is able to swim upriver for such long distances
(more than 600 miles).(* rate used : 1$ = 6 FF)
.
Shripad Dharmadhikary
Narmada Bachao Andolan
Ph.& Fax : +91-265-38 22 32 Email : nba@lwbdq.lwbbs.net
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