Xiaonanhai Dam total of 338 freshwater fish species have been identified on the Yangtze. 189 live in the area — currently a preservation — and many of those are found in no other river basin in China. An official study by the Yangtze River Commission in 2003 concluded that the Xiaonanhai dam could not be recommended due to its "unremarkable economic returns". According to "Chongqing Daily", project cost per-kilowatt is triple that compared with other projects along the Yangtze: with total investment estimated at ¥32 billion, the project will cost ¥16,000 per-kilowatt of capacity, whereas the Three Gorges dam, Xiluodu Dam and
Three Gorges Dam the land in the area is experiencing erosion, depositing about 40 million tons of sediment into the Yangtze annually. Because the flow is slower above the dam, much of this sediment will now settle there instead of flowing downstream, and there will be less sediment downstream. The absence of silt downstream has three effects: Erosion in the reservoir, induced by rising water, causes frequent major landslides that have led to noticeable disturbance in the reservoir surface, including two incidents in May 2009 when somewhere between of material plunged into the flooded Wuxia Gorge of the Wu River. Also, in the