At least 20 (new) reservoirs will be put into operation by 2020, vice minister Hu Siyi said.
An explosion of dams in the Yangtze drainage basin has drawn heavy criticism from local and overseas experts who have warned of a series of environmental and seismic risks.
Much of the criticism has been centered on the massive Three Gorges dam project in Hubei province.
Government reports in recent years have warned that the dam’s huge reservoir had trapped huge amounts of pollution dumped into the river system and that the reservoir’s weight on nearby terrain was triggering landslides.
Yangtze Water Resources Committee director Cai Qihua as telling a water conference in Shanghai that presently just 36% of that potential was now being exploited.
But it also noted the proliferating dams and reservoirs, aimed at meeting China’s skyrocketing electricity needs and flood control, were posing threats to the ecology of the Yangtze River.
