"China's Three Gorges Dam will discharge more water to alleviate the extreme drought in the downstream Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake, refuting speculations that the project is responsible for the lake's recession.
The China Three Gorges Corporation said it will ""take full advantage of its reserves from the flood season and gradually increase its compensation standard to downstream rivers during the dry season to alleviate the dam's impact on Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake regions ,"" news portal caixin.com reported Tuesday.
Poyang Lake's water level has dramatically declined since October this year, with water hitting low levels about 54 days sooner than the average of previous years. The lake also suffered from periods of extreme drought in the past decade, with experts suspecting the Three Gorges Dam is to blame.
China Three Gorges Corporation, however, denied the accusations, saying its reserves take place in September and October, while the dry season for Poyang Lake is from December to February.
""The dam actually provides more water than the natural flow during the dry period,"" Caixin quoted the company as saying.
""During the reserve period … demands and conflicts from various sides begin to emerge. Since the dam is located at the end of the Yangtze River's upper reach, the construction of other reservoirs in the upper reach has had an impact on the flow of water and sediments into the dam,"" it said. "
Source：
GLOBAL TIMES
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