China Inaugurates South-North Water Diversion Project

China Officially Inaugurated the Largest Water Diversion of Project in the World, Which Will Channel 44.8 Billion Cubic Meters of Water from Yangtze in Southwest to North China

Approximately $79 billion has already been spent for the plan, making the South-NorthWater TransferProject one of the most expensiveengineering projectsin the world

With rapid growth of cities, development of heavy industries and demand for irrigation, North China has faced water shortage problems that may have a seriouseffect onthe development of the country.

The project started with a comment from Mao Zedongin the 1950sduring an inspection tour where he said: "The south has plenty of water but the north is dry. If we could borrow some, that would be good."

The diversionproject planconsists of three sections: the eastern line, running from Yangtze to Tianjin; the middle line, from Danjiangjou to Beijing; and the western line, from Yangtze to Yellow River.

Althoughthe transferproject will solve the uneven distribution of water in China, it does not completely solve water scarcity. Moreover, it creates more problems as the project goes more massive.

This project faced a lot of objections as many problems arise. As it transfers water in long distances, many of it could bewastedwith leaks in pipelines and evaporation.

In addition to this, the construction of the central route caused around 330, 000 residents from Hubei and Henan provinces were relocated. The large number of migrant residents include farmers whose livelihoods were destroyed to give way to the canal route.

The huge cost of the water diversion project will only make the water expensive for consumers. Jennifer Turner, the director of china Environment Forumin Washington DC, referred to the projects as a "Band-Aid" solution.

Source: China Topix

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