Background
China has been facing water scarcity across nations for a long time. Water resources are very unevenly distributed with southern China’s abundant water resources from nearby rivers and rich rainfalls. Whereas in northern China, according to statistics, there is only a fraction of souths’ water availability. As one of the most populated countries, the increasing population also exacerbated and diminished accessible water resources with no exception. Climate change is also triggering severe water scarcity within the country. The massive water project, dams are being constructed to mitigate this crisis, bringing water back to people, society, and the environment.
There are more than 1.3 billion people in China, estimated conservatively. Nearly one-third of people live in north china which is also considered as the core of China’s development. For example, three northern provinces- Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, when combined with each of the productivity they are able to compete with other world class economic regions such as New York areas. However, with limited amounts of water resources, the economic growth in those provinces would be largely confined. Speaking of the agricultural aspect, water is the major source to promise food security. With this very uneven distribution of water resources in china. Maintaining food production in northern regions becomes especially vulnerable.
In 1952, the idea of diverting south water north was first brought out by China’s Chairman Mao Zedong. He discussed the idea for a massive engineering project as the answer to the water crisis in China to alleviate water shortages in Beijing and Tianjin, as well as the northern provinces of Hebei, Henan, and Shandong. He reportedly said: “The south has plenty of water and the north lacks it, so if possible, why not borrow some?” On 23rd August 2002, after extensive research, planning, and discussion, the project was approved by the State Council and work began in December. This project called: South-North water diversion” as its name implies, involves extracting water from southern rivers and delivering it to the dry north. This project, which is now being expanded and is scheduled to be completed in 2050, would eventually transfer 44.8 billion cubic meters of water yearly to the population centers of northern China.
Project summary
This massive project intended to connect and link up China’s four main rivers—the Yangzi, Yellow, Huaihe, and Haihe rivers, then diverting water along three routes, so-called eastern, Central, and Western routes. The Eastern route will be used to divert a portion of water from the Yangzi River, then water will be pumped and drawn into the Grand canal, then flow through a tunnel under the Yellow River and down to the city of Tianjin. Construction on the Eastern route began officially on December 27, 2002, and water was expected to reach Tianjin by 2012. The Central route will carry water from the Danjiangkou reservoir on the Han River to areas of Hubei, Henan, and Hebei provinces, and many cities among them Beijing and Tianjin. The major challenge has been to elevate the height of the Danjiangkou dam by increasing the dam crest elevation from 150 to 170m above sea level. By doing this, it allowed the flow into the water diversion canal to begin “downhill”, pulled by gravity, to the lower elevation of the canals. The Western route plans to divert about 200 billion cubic meters of water annually from the upstream sections of six rivers in southwestern China, including the Lancang River,Nu River, to the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, and ultimately to the dry areas of northern China through a system of reservoirs, tunnels, and natural rivers. The project was considered too immense and costly to be undertaken at the time.IT is still in the planning stage. Technical analysis for it has been conducted; however, a start date for it has not yet been announced and it is not slated for completion until 2050.
Advantages of the Project
The advantages of the South-North water transfer project include:
- decreasing water scarcity and promoting economic growth in the north
- Food security can be improved as more water is available for agriculture
- enhanced water quality benefits health
- increased water availability for industry will help China cope with climate change.
- The amount of groundwater being withdrawn is decreasing.
Disadvantage of the Project
The disadvantages of the South-North water transfer project include:
- hundreds of thousands of people were forced to be relocated from the construction of dams and reservoirs
- ecological damage to the natural environment
- the region is prone to earthquakes, which could cause extensive damage to the scheme
- the project costing a significant amount of money to taxpayers
- antiquities have been lost
- considerable evaporation from canals and reservoirs
Several issues occur during construction, including heavily contaminated water entering the lake. At least 330,000 people in central China had to be relocated as part of the project. Environmentalists have warned that the water diversion will harm the ecosystem and even increase the water evaporation rate. The exact amount of evaporation loss remains unknown but it may be improved in the future as more water is transferred and the flow rate increases. The quality of water remained questionable. According to the Guardian, the city of Tianjin was supposed to be the main city that benefits from the eastern canal and reported that the contamination level was so high and the water is barely usable even after treatment. It is hard to escape the conclusion that planners either massively underestimated the cost of the clear-up or that local governments have skimped on taking the necessary measures. Beijing encountered the same problem with no surprise, the water entering Beijing was too polluted not safe to drink.
Messages to take away
Building massive canal and water projects across nations are especially hard and require a large amount of time to plan ahead. So far, I have looked at two big water projects around the world. There were problems during construction due to a lack of planning. However, I agree that there will be unexpected issues during the construction period that are unpredictable and unavoidable such as weather, natural disasters, etc. If we are planning to develop a canal across the UK. Besides thorough research, we also need to consider the weather factor, to avoid the wet season when there is a high chance of flooding delaying the progress. From the grand contour canal, I’ve learned that there are various contours in the UK, which means there will be more challenges of changing the canal elevation. Last but not least. The south-north water diversion project rang the bell for countries that are also considering building such a vast project. The environmental impact needed to be considered and our goal is to minimize the environmental effect on people, especially local residents who live nearby the project site.
Sources:
https://www.internetgeography.net/topics/the-south-north-water-transfer-project-in-china/