- Title: CHINA: WATER DIVERSION PROJECT ALONG THE YANGTZE RIVER AIMS TO ALLEVIATE DROUGHT
- Date: 22nd May 2004
- Summary: (L!1) BEIJING, CHINA (RECENT) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF SOUTH-NORTH DIVERSION PROJECT HEADQUARTERS SOUTH-NORTH DIVERSION PROJECT CHIEF ENGINEER WANG YISEN TALKING ON PHONE IN OFFICE MAP SHOWING BRANCH OF SOUTH-NORTH DIVERSION PROJECT 25. (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) WANG YISEN, CHIEF ENGINEER FOR SOUTH-TO-NORTH WATER DIVERSION PROJECT, SAYING: "Our goal is to basically resolve th
- Embargoed: 6th July 2005 23:01
- Keywords:
- Location: JIANGSU PROVINCE, HEBEI PROVINCE AND BEIJING, CHINA
- Country: China
- Topics: Disasters,Environment,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA9BUL87Q91LWS63I8XODWCMCWF
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: Water diversion project along Yangtze River aims to alleviate drought around Beijing.
China is racing to slake the thirst of the nation's north plain with a mammoth water project conceived fifty years ago by Mao Zedong.
Standing on the banks of the Yangtze River, he noted that the south had too much water and the north too litte. Diverting southern water north was the obvious solution.
And the government is spending a hefty 100 billion yuan (12 billion USD) to do just that.
A series of snaking canals and pumping stations that will shunt water from the Yangtze to the parched rivers on the north plain, the project eclipses the Three Gorges dam in scope and price.
But like the Three Gorges project it has already provoked an outcry by critics alarmed at the environmental havoc that moving 44-billion cubic meters of water per year up north could create.
At the site, project managers insist that the most serious environmental issue, dirty water, has already been taken into account.
"Our water, Jiangsu water from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, is polluted. It is different than the other two branches of this project.
But the water that we will be working with is purified water and clean water. So it won't affect the ecology or environment," said construction site manager Ji Xianbao (pron: djee hsee-ehn bah-ow).
But with billions of tonnes of industrial and residential waste dumped into the Yangtze each year--byproducts of an economy on fire, critics say cleaning the water is no small task.
Today pollution runs a close second to drought for causing water shortages in China.
Dirty Yangtze River water has left the south hard pressed to take care of its own needs let alone the 200 million peasants tilling the arid north.
For now the government is applying a series of stop-gap measures to water the plains around the capital city.
Beijing's first rainy week of the year was the result of overcast weather and a 17-hour government-engineered cloud seeding project.
And in spite of a rapidly falling water table, city officials anxious to present a "green Olympics" to the world are tapping underground water resources.
With little real relief in sight, the nation doesn't seem set to put the brakes on the massive project, which will take nearly 50 years to wrap up.
"Our goal is to basically resolve the water problem along the line of larger cities in the north, and relieve the water demands and shortage of water there by 2010. Then by 2030 we want to have delt with the shortage of water along the Yellow River's middle to lower reaches. By 2050 we want to have resolved the water problem in China's western part," said the project's chief engineer Wang Yisen (pron: wahng yee sehn).
The project's eastern arm--a string of pumping stations that will increase the volume of water already flowing north through a network of old canals, is already close to being completed.
But critics insist it is not too late to implement solutions more appropriate for a developing nation.
"The most important things for us to consider are to use water sparingly, and to treasure the water we have. In Beijing for example, we should protect trees around the city, and change the way we use water rather than doing this water diversion. For example we should water the grass with recycled water rather than using our underground water resources. Everybody here needs to get used to the idea of using water frugally," said environmental activist Dai Qing.
Today China is struggling with a per capita water availability only one quarter of the global average.
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