China small hydropower closures, Yangtze Economic Belt
- Auditors found my flow interrupted over more than 1,017 km in 333 rivers because of small plants. The Paper
- More than 90,000 km of my rivers were polluted.River sections where flow had been reduced or cut and water was restored, per the ministry.
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
China's Ministry of Water Resources said in May 2021 that a rectification of small hydropower plants in the Yangtze Economic Belt had closed more than 3,500 plants by the end of 2020. It said water had returned to more than 90,000 km of river sections where flow had been reduced or cut.
Figure from China's Ministry of Water Resources, covering the Yangtze Economic Belt, not the whole country.
Status As of May 2021: the Ministry of Water Resources reported 3,500+ plants closed and 90,000+ km of river sections regained water by end-2020; no later update on record.
- Owners of the closed small hydropower plants (not named in the sources) — Plants closed China Ministry of Water Resources
What happened
China carried out a rectification of small hydropower plants in the Yangtze Economic Belt, a region of the country rather than the whole of it. In places, small plants had reduced or cut the flow of rivers.
In May 2021 China's Ministry of Water Resources reported, as carried by Science and Technology Daily, that by the end of 2020 more than 3,500 plants had been closed in the rectification. The closed plants were in the core and buffer zones of protected areas. More than 20,000 further plants had been rectified.
The ministry said that river sections of more than 90,000 km, where small plants had reduced or cut the flow, had regained water by the end of 2020.
A separate finding attributed to China's National Audit Office, reported by The Paper, said flow was interrupted over more than 1,017 km in 333 rivers in the Yangtze belt because of small hydropower plants.
A cleanup campaign in 2018–2020 reviewed about 25,000 small plants and closed about 3,500, according to a record summary that gives no source link.
- 2018Cleanup campaign on small hydropower plants in the Yangtze belt begins (2018–2020)
- 2020By year-end, more than 3,500 plants closed and more than 20,000 rectified; ministry says 90,000+ km of river sections regained water
- 2021Ministry of Water Resources announces results (reported 11 May)
How it looked
Shown
- More than 3,500 plants closed and more than 90,000 km of river sections regained water by the end of 2020China's Ministry of Water Resources, as reported by Science and Technology Daily · China Ministry of Water Resources
Recorded
- More than 3,500 plants closed, in the core and buffer zones of protected areas; more than 20,000 rectified
- More than 90,000 km of river sections where small plants had reduced or cut flow regained water by the end of 2020
- Flow interrupted over more than 1,017 km in 333 rivers in the Yangtze belt because of small hydropower plants, per the National Audit Office as reported by The Paper (secondary source)
Who gained
Reached nature or the ground
Gained elsewhere
Responses on record
- china-ministry-water-resources (May 2021): More than 3,500 small hydropower plants closed and more than 20,000 rectified in the Yangtze Economic Belt; more than 90,000 km of river sections regained water by the end of 2020. · China Ministry of Water Resources
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Court
- None on record No court case on record.
Record
- None on record The owners of the closed plants are not named in the sources reviewed.
- None on record No penalty on any plant owner is on record in the sources reviewed.
- None on record The two official figures are not reconciled in the sources reviewed: flow interrupted over more than 1,017 km in 333 rivers, and more than 90,000 km of sections where flow had been reduced or cut.
- None on record A current official count of dams and reservoirs in the basin is not on record; an older record gives more than 48,000 reservoirs and 2,441 hydropower stations in 2005.
- Not measured No independent ecological evaluation of the restored river sections is on record in the sources reviewed.
Did the harm stop?
The ministry reported that plants in protected-area core and buffer zones were closed and that water returned to more than 90,000 km of river sections by the end of 2020.
Who paid?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Government and regulators
- Ministry of Water Resources statement on small hydropower rectification in the Yangtze Economic Belt (Science and Technology Daily, via rmzxw.com.cn)China Ministry of Water Resources · 2021-05-11
Press and investigations
Connected cases
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- National Audit Office (Public authority) — here: Auditor whose finding on interrupted flow was reported; there: Auditor; 2019 estimate reported
- Plastic waste imports into Türkiye (Adana) Türkiye · 2016–2026
- National Audit Office (Public authority) — here: Auditor whose finding on interrupted flow was reported; there: Audited the UK packaging recycling obligations (2018)
- Sellafield decommissioning and Hanford cleanup budgets United States · 1943–2086
- National Audit Office (Public authority) — here: Auditor whose finding on interrupted flow was reported; there: UK auditor reporting on Sellafield
- UK packaging recycling notes (PRN) system and export fraud United Kingdom · 2009–2025
- National Audit Office (Public authority) — here: Auditor whose finding on interrupted flow was reported; there: Auditor of the PRN/PERN system