On September 15, the Three Gorges Dam along the Yangtze River in central Hubei Province began to increase its water reserve. The hydroelectric dam’s water level is expected to reach 574 feet early this month.

The filling of the reservoir to its peak capacity means less water downstream. And it comes at a time when 1.5 million people along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are suffering from drought. In October, Chinese state-run media reported that provinces downstream of the Three Gorges Dam are experiencing the worst water shortage in decades.

At the Jiujiang segment in Jiangxi Province, large cracks in the riverbed have been formed by from rapidly falling water levels.

Chinese officials argue that the main cause of the drought is a decrease in rainfall—not the Three Gorges Dam.

But water expert Professor Wang Weilou believes the dam has upset the ecological balance.

[Prof. Wang Weilou, Water Expert]:
“If you put all of this water in the dam, it will cause tremendous damage to the country’s ecological environment. If the water is kept in the land—becomes a reserve in the land—then a drought of this magnitude would not have occurred.”

The lack of water downstream in the Yangtze River is also endangering the livelihood of residents. China’s second largest freshwater lake—Dongting Lake in Hubei Province—is at its lowest recorded level in 60 years. In October, during what was supposed to be the golden season for local fisheries, there were no fish to be found.