The middle route's first-stage project supplies more than three billion cubic meters of water annually to the province, said Yuan Fu, chief of Hebei's office of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project.
It will alleviate water shortage in Hebei and help promote sustainable development in local society and economy, provincial governor Zhang Qingwei said.
The middle route's first-stage project starts at Danjiangkou reservoir in the central province of Hubei. It was officially put into operation on Dec. 12..
It will supply 9.5 billion cubic meters of water per year to the northern regions, including the cities of Beijing and Tianjin, and provinces of Henan and Hebei.
Sources: Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
18/12/14
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South-north canal starts flowing to ease water woes. (video: South to North Water Diversion Project)
Doubts as China's giant water project flows to Beijing ...
ReplyDeleteA towering dam in central China holds back a vast expanse of water destined to travel over 1,000 kilometres north to Beijing, but critics say it will only temporarily quench the capital's thirst.
The city is expected Saturday (Dec 27) to receive its first flows from the South North Water Diversion Project, one of the most ambitious engineering projects in Chinese history.
After decades of planning and at least US$33 billion of investment, over a billion cubic metres of water will flow from the Danjiangkou reservoir to the capital every year, through more than 1,200 kilometres of channels and pipes - the distance from London to Madrid. Another 8.5 billion cubic metres - equivalent to 3.4 million Olympic-sized swimming pools - will reach provinces along the way, planners say.
The Chinese government says the project, which will ultimately have three routes and an estimated US$81 billion total cost, will solve a chronic shortage in China's northern cities.
Water availability per person in Beijing is on a par with Middle Eastern countries such as Israel, threatening economic growth, a key source of support for China's ruling Communist party.
"This water needs to go to the North," said a tour guide at the reservoir surnamed Chen, standing atop the 110-metre-high dam at the reservoir in the central province of Hubei, fed by the Han and Dan rivers.
Among the engineering feats involved are a 7.2 kilometre-long tunnel beneath the Yellow river - China's second biggest waterway - described in official reports as "the most enormous river crossing project in human history". To carry the flow over one river in Henan, Chinese engineers built a 12-kilometre aqueduct - the longest in the world.
But critics say that the scheme's success is jeopardised by declining rainfall in the south, and it will only act as a temporary stopgap in the north's insatiable demand....................http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/doubts-as-china-s-giant/1552018.html
27/12/14