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Water diversion project to benefit 300 million Chinese
( 2001-12-26 10:27 ) (8 )

The Chinese government has unveiled the ambitious south-to-north water diversion project to balance the nation's water supply.

The project, a result of 50 years of investigation and research, aims to divert water from the Yangtze River valley to the reaches of Yellow River, Huaihe River and Haihe River so as to ensure the water supply for farming, industry and life there.

Estimated to cost more than 100 billion yuan (US$12 billion), the project will have three water diversion routes, namely the east route, middle route and west route.

Once it is completed in five to ten years, about 38 billion to 48 billion cubic meters of water will be transferred yearly to the areas with a population of 300 million.

The once torrential Yellow River was the inspiration of poets hundreds of years ago, but now it has turned into little more than a stream in sections near Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan province. In neighboring Hebei province, once watery lakes are covered with withered weeds.

North China has long been a populous area and an industrial and agricultural base. As industrial and agricultural production develops and population increases, the per capita water resources in the region keep falling.

Statistics indicate that the river-to-land ratio in north China is no more than 0.35 percent, down drastically from five percent half century ago. Over 5,000 hectares of arable fields in Beijing have been deserted because of lack of water, and about 2.53 million hectares of farmland in Henan and Hebei are suffering from drought.

Liu Zhenbang, a scholar experienced in water projects, said that many areas in north China have to exploit groundwater excessively due to serious water shortage.

"It's a vicious circle," he said.

Tianjin, a port city neighboring Beijing, has reported that two meters of land subsidence have been caused by over-exploitation of underground water in recent years, the fastest rate in the world.

In 1952, late Chinese leader Mao Zedong said during an inspection tour to the Yellow River, "The north of China needs water and the south has plenty; if possible, the north may borrow some water from the south."

Two decades later, the Danjiangkou reservoir was built on the Hanjiang River, the longest branch of the Yangtze, laying a solid foundation for the water diversion project.

In 1992, President Jiang Zemin required the government to give full priority to the water diversion, demanding careful preparation and concern for the project, which he views as an integral part of the nation's overall development strategy.

Wen Fubo, a member with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that according to the design for the middle route, scientists will increase the height of the dam at the Danjiangkou reservoir, which enables the water automatically to flow to Beijing, Tianjin and other areas in north China through special channels.

In the east route, water will be transferred from the lower reaches of the Yangtze to aid Shandong province and the northern part of Jiangsu province. In the west route, about six provinces in northwest China will get water from the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze.

After completion, the project will relieve water shortages in over ten provinces in north and northwest China, affecting about 300 million people, said experts from the Yangtze River Water Resources Committee.

The middle route will also bring north China economic benefit of about 80 billion yuan (US$9.6 billion) a year, according to experts.