'Rising runoff, flood risks': Fresh warning over China’s mega Brahmaputra dam

Chinese researchers have warned that the Brahmaputra River could witness increased runoff and a higher risk of floods over the course of this century, raising fresh concerns over the potential implications of Beijing’s $168-billion mega dam project on the river in Tibet.Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan University reconstructed the river’s runoff history from 1325 to 2020 using tree-ring width data collected from the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Combining the reconstruction with climate data, they developed a model projecting an increase in river runoff under future climate scenarios, alongside a possible rise in high-runoff events such as floods.The findings were published in the journal China Science Bulletin on October 8, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Monday, according to PTI.The river, known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet, flows into India as the Siang in Arunachal Pradesh before becoming the Brahmaputra further downstream.