Water level indicator signs are posted frequently along the river. The white "steps" you see in these pictures are actually numbered signs to show the progress of the rising waters as the river backs up from Three Gorges Dam. The final depth will be 175 meters (574 feet). Reading upward from the waterline the lowest sign is "144." Each sign is higher by 2 meters, reading 146, 148, etc. . . . to the topmost "174." Air pollution made it impossible to make a very good picture of this scene as you can see in the original shot. Yetch!
See the marker on the ridge of the third picture? All that farmland below the marker will be lost when the river rises to the level of the sign. The hardships brought on rural people of the Three Gorges as a result of the dam are simply unfathomable. Over a million people were relocated. Think about it. Everything at the waterline in all the pictures I took in the Three Gorges will be gone in a few years.
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