China
Water transfer project helps balance resources and conserve ecology
By Lu Yan  ·  2021-06-16  ·   Source: NO.24 JUNE 17, 2021
  
A fisherman sails on the Baiyangdian Lake in Xiongan New Area, Hebei Province, on May 25 (XINHUA)

Song Zihan, a mother of two living in Beijing's Fengtai District, remembers that years ago she had to clean the kettle on a regular basis because of the thick incrustation hiding inside, formed from boiling water in it. Also, the rice she cooked with tap water always tasted a bit "off." "After the South-to-North Water Diversion Project went into operation, I have witnessed the changes in water quality. I bought a new kettle when the water from down south came all the way up to Beijing; a year later, it still looked brand new," Song told Beijing Review. 

Beijing is among those northern cities plagued by water shortage. In 2014, the water diversion project started to supply water to the capital. According to the Beijing Water Authority, by mid-May, over 6 billion cubic meters of water had been transferred to Beijing, directly benefiting more than 13 million people.

During an inspection tour of Henan Province in mid-May, President Xi Jinping inspected the water diversion project and convened a symposium on advancing its high-quality follow-up development. He spoke of the importance of the project in allocating water resources, and emphasized strengthening

environmental protection, particularly pollution prevention and control in areas along the water transfer routes and in water-receiving regions.

Thirsty for more 

The water transfer project was originally conceived by Mao Zedong when he inspected the Yellow River back in 1952. The State Council finally approved the project in December 2002 after nearly half a century of debate.

Under the world's biggest water transfer project, the water diversion was planned via three routes, the eastern, middle and western ones, each serving separate areas, except for the coastal city of Tianjin near Beijing, which receives water from both the eastern and middle routes. The first phase of the eastern route, from Yangzhou in Jiangsu Province in the east all the way to Tianjin, went into operation in 2013. The western route is still under planning.

Data from the Ministry of Water Resources showed that by this March, the project had transported over 40.8 billion cubic meters of water over the past six years, directly benefiting more than 130 million people.

The Danjiangkou Reservoir in Hubei is the source of water for the middle route that eventually runs all the way into the capital city. It is located on a major tributary of the Yangtze River—the Hanjiang River that enjoys well-conserved water and stable year-round runoff volume.

Up to now, the reservoir has supplied more than 38.4 billion cubic meters of water to the north, allowing more than 20 large- and medium-sized cities like Beijing and Tianjin, as well as those in Hebei and Henan provinces, to use southern water, subsequently alleviating their water shortage and long-term groundwater depletion.

According to Tang Wenfu, an official with the Construction and Administration Bureau of South-to-North Water Diversion Middle Route Project, water from the south has become the main source of water in the capital, as 70 percent of the water supply in the central urban area of Beijing hails from the project's water supply.

The Shahe Aqueduct in the middle route of the water diversion project is located in Lushan County of Pingdingshan City, in Henan Province. Starting operation in 2014, the 12-km-long project is a major infrastructure along the central route of the water diversion project, with its length, width and size ranking first in the world. The sophisticated engineering enables the aqueduct to withstand an earthquake up to 8.0 magnitude.

Located on the middle route, Pingdingshan is also a place that has benefited from the water transfer. In 2014, Pingdingshan suffered the biggest drought since its establishment.

"At that time, the water level of the Baiguishan Reservoir, the main water source of Pingdingshan, was below the level of dead water, meaning the whole city had almost no water to drink," Wang Hai, deputy head of the Pingdingshan South-to-North Water Diversion Project Operation Guarantee Center, told Xinhua News Agency.

Fortunately, some 50 million cubic meters of water was delivered via the middle route within the first 46 days, quenching the thirst of millions of locals.

Chen Huan, 37, was born and raised in Pingdingshan. She remembered that before the project started, she rarely wore white dresses because they would easily get dingy, and the rampant water shortage prevented her from washing her clothes too

often. "Now I can wear white whenever I want. Not only the water supply has been guaranteed, the water quality also got better," Chen told Beijing Review. 

  
Students learn about water conservation and hydraulic engineering at an educational base at the Shahe Aqueduct in Pingdingshan City, Henan Province, on May 22 (XINHUA)

Ecological benefit 

Chen Junfei, a professor at the Business School of Hohai University in Nanjing of Jiangsu Province, believes that the water diversion project not only improves the spatial balance of water resources in the country, but also plays a crucial role in promoting the ecological protection and green development within the source area and along the routes.

"The water compensated to places with water depletion can help increase the area of rivers, lakes and wetlands, thus the ecological environment improves, and the species diversity, too, becomes richer," Chen Junfei told Xinhua.

For example, since the transferred water first flew into to Baiquan Lake in Huixian, Henan Province, many bird types, such as black and white swans, as well as a large variety of fish, have settled there, according to Cai Xinrong, head of the Baiquan Scenic Area.

In Xichuan County of Henan, hundreds of polluting companies have been shut down to ensure the safety of the water source for the diversion project. The county has invested more than 600 million yuan ($93 million) in the treatment of industrial waste. Catering, fishing and animal husbandry have all been banned from both reservoir and river areas.

Locals have sought new ways to earn a living, such as growing honeysuckle, a Chinese herbal medicine ingredient. To ensure the quality of honeysuckle and protect the water quality of water sources, organic fertilizers are used across all fields, and physical insecticidal methods are used to kill pests.

With the advancement of the project, the people's consciousness of saving water has augmented. At the Shahe Aqueduct, an educational base with an exhibition center for primary and middle school students has been established to learn more about the project and how to save water in everyday life. During the World Water Day on March 22, a number of activities took place both online and offline to promote water conservation, including seminars and webinars on water conservation and its relevant technologies, as well as a live-streamed tour of the project site.

(Print Edition Title: Quenching the Thirst) 

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon 

Comments to luyan@bjreview.com 

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