Enveloped in Secrecy, China’s Reservoirs Threaten People’s Lives and Property

This aerial photo shows flooded areas after storms in Guilin, Guangxi Province, China, on June 20, 2024. STR/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

Catastrophic floods swept through southern China in June, causing substantial loss of life and property. Official reports indicate that the hardest-hit regions, including Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, and Anhui, were all hit with a once-in-a-1,000-year flood. Experts say the sudden release of reservoir water, which left unsuspecting downstream residents with insufficient time to evacuate, contributed to the casualties.

The unfolding tragedy has elevated concerns about how China should balance the benefits and drawbacks of its dangerously enormous reservoirs.

Floods are classified according to their frequency and depth. A 1,000-year flood means a flood of that magnitude has a 0.1 percent chance of occurring in any given year.

Chinese Citizens Uninformed of Flood Risks

Renowned hydrology and environmental expert Wang Weiluo, currently residing in Germany, said crucial information, such as reservoir discharge data, is classified as a state secret in China. The secrecy extends to detailed maps indicating potential floodplains.

“Such maps and information are readily accessible online in countries like the United States but remain classified in China under the control of China’s military. This lack of transparency leaves residents unaware of their vulnerability in the floodplains they unknowingly inhabit,” Mr. Wang said.

From 2020 to the present, Guilin has experienced severe annual flooding. These floods have been exacerbated by urban development strategies, including the so-called sponge cities intending to retain up to 70 percent of rainfall for farming and water resource management. However, such initiatives have unintentionally impeded natural water flow, contributing to flood risks within urban areas.

Previously, the left bank of the Li River was farmland, allowing water to flow through. But now, urban development prevents floodwaters from passing through and instead floods the cities.

According to the Guilin Daily, there are 448 reservoirs in Guilin, including Qingshitan Reservoir, one of the four largest reservoirs upstream of the Li River.

Mr. Wang said a causal factor in Guilin’s recent flood was the Qingshitan Reservoir, classified as a dangerous reservoir within the Pearl River Basin Plan. Rather than curtail the potential for flooding, this reservoir contributed to flooding by discharging water on June 19. Residents said the water level suddenly increased by two to three meters (6.5 to 9.8 feet) within 30 minutes on the afternoon of June 19 after the rain stopped and questioned whether it was caused by the discharge of water from the upstream reservoir.

An official responded, “The main reason is that the upstream reservoirs are already full, so the amount of water that comes from upstream must be passively released.”

Netizens have said that this was an official acknowledgment of the reservoir contributing to the flood.

Guilin’s Water Resources Bureau acknowledged an increase in discharge flow to 300 cubic meters (approximately 10,594 cubic feet) per second without specifying the original reservoir levels or the total discharge on June 19. The reservoir’s original design allowed up to 3,400 cubic meters (approximately 120,069 cubic feet) per second of flood discharge. However, a peak flow of 6,100 cubic meters (approximately 215,419 cubic feet) per second of discharge was recorded downstream at midnight on June 19, indicating that the reservoir was the major source of flooding, according to Chinese state media, the Paper.

“Due to its dangerous classification and strained capacity, the reservoir was ineffective as a flood control resource,” Mr. Wang said. “The lack of transparency on this matter gave the downstream residents a false sense of security, contributing to a preventable human-made disaster.”

Mr. Wang also said the nighttime reservoir discharges from the Changtan and Huangtian Reservoirs directly contributed to sudden and severe flooding in Guangdong’s Meixian, causing considerable damage.

Sudden rises in water levels, up to six meters (19.6 feet) in one hour, and at least 48 people deaths were reported on June 21.

Residents said they thought that coordinated discharges from these reservoirs caused significant downstream harm and demanded that the government explain. Zhou Yunkui, deputy director of the Office of Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said that “after consulting with the water resources department, the main reason is that the upstream reservoirs are already full, so they have no choice but to release as much water as comes from upstream.”

Mr. Wang said that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) “attributes all casualties and property losses to natural causes, distorting the concept and labeling the human-caused damages and casualties as natural disasters.”

The hydrologist noted that “China’s reservoir capacity, with its 10,000 reservoirs, can hold the country’s annual water usage.”

“However, frequent floods are increasing,” he said.

He said global perspectives on reservoir construction have evolved considerably since the era of mega-projects like the Hoover Dam, built in 1936 in the United States. While such structures initially spurred regional economic growth and employment, subsequent projects like Egypt’s Aswan High Dam have highlighted their profound ecological and societal effects, prompting global reconsideration of extensive dam construction. This led to a halt in extensive dam construction in the West while China continued building them.

Reservoirs as Potential Military Targets

Recent geopolitical tensions have also caused many countries to reexamine the vulnerability of their reservoirs.

Mr. Wang said that “in 1969, during the China–Soviet border conflict, the Soviet Union threatened to bomb Beijing.”

“The CCP realized that its potential targets were the Miyun, Guanting, and Huairou Reservoirs around Beijing, indicating that reservoirs were primary targets in wartime,” he said. “Former U.S. President Trump proposed a similar threat in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. More recently, during the Russia–Ukraine conflict, Ukraine’s Dnieper River reservoir was bombed, causing severe consequences.

“Reservoirs pose significant risks in conflicts, especially with China’s current adversarial stance towards the world, making its dams critical vulnerabilities.”

Shishan, a senior editor at The Epoch Times, said that “while reservoirs offer undeniable benefits, the burdens are disproportionately borne by the public.” He critiqued the Chinese communist regime’s longstanding practice of reaping economic advantages from reservoir projects while disregarding the associated risks imposed on its citizens.

Dam Collapse Killed 230,000 During China’s Cultural Revolution

Guo Jun, editor-in-chief of The Epoch Times Hong Kong edition, discussed the observations made by British historian Arnold J. Toynbee.

“Mr. Toynbee believed that the emergence of despotic systems in agricultural societies was related to water resources. Controlling water required a centralized power structure. Conversely, controlling water meant controlling agriculture, which in turn meant controlling society,” Ms. Guo said. “In China, the construction of large-scale reservoirs involved significant investment, land acquisition, and electric power generation, creating vertical benefit structures. During the Cultural Revolution, the wealthiest sectors were not enterprises but water resource departments. Even after China’s economic reforms, reservoir projects remained inextricably linked to investments in land and real estate development.”

She pointed out that the CCP’s ideology of struggle, including against natural elements, has historically driven China’s extensive reservoir construction efforts, reflecting a deep-rooted Communist mindset evident in past slogans.

Ms. Guo recounted a tragic incident during the Cultural Revolution. In August 1975, more than 60 reservoirs in Henan’s Zhumadian region collapsed, resulting in the deaths of more than 230,000 people. The collapse of the Banqiao Reservoir during heavy rainfall triggered failures in 62 other reservoirs, causing widespread devastation.

While official reports initially cited 26,000 deaths, a 1987 article authored by eight members of the Sixth CPPCC puts the death toll at approximately 230,000. This catastrophic event, akin in scale to the 1976 Tangshan earthquake death toll, was heavily censored by the CCP, prohibiting investigation or public reporting.

She continued that the Banqiao Reservoir, constructed during China’s Great Leap Forward, was a poorly built earthen dam that succumbed to heavy rains, setting off a chain reaction of failures among nearby reservoirs—a tragic consequence of governmental oversight. Despite local pleas to discharge excess water, central authorities failed to act promptly. It echoed similar human errors in water management witnessed during the 2021 floods in Zhengzhou, which claimed more than 380 lives, largely because of water mismanagement related to real estate development.

Ms. Guo also said: “The disasters caused by reservoirs are not only visible but also invisible. Historically endowed with abundant water resources, Beijing and Tianjin have gradually become semi-arid due to the construction of reservoirs in the western and northern mountainous regions. This has disrupted natural water flows, necessitating projects like China’s South-to-North Water Diversion.

“Such man-made disasters underscore ongoing challenges in China’s water management practices.”

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.