Questions and Concerns About China's Mega-Dam

Designed to withstand 100-year storm events, recent rains have caused surges in the Yangtze River, which have caused stress on the $25 billion dam.

"A year after the dam went into full operation, cracks are already showing in the public image of the project. This year's torrential rains, the nation's worst in a decade, have severely tested the project's capacity to control the surging Yangtze, the world's third-longest river.

Last month, when floodwaters poured into the dam's 400-mile-long reservoir at 565,000 cubic feet per second, a government official acknowledged that 'the dam's flood-control capacity is not unlimited' and hinted that more severe flooding could even risk the structure's collapse."