SouthNorth Water Transfer Project

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it. (December 2013)

The SouthNorth Water Transfer Project, also translated as the South-to-North Water Diversion
Project (Chinese: ; pinyin: Nnshu Bidio Gngchng) is a multi-decade
infrastructure mega-project in the People's Republic of China. It aims to ultimately channel 44.8
billion cubic meters of fresh water annually from the Yangtze River in southern China to the more
arid and industrialized north through three canal systems:
[1]

[2]

[3]

The Eastern Route through the course of the Grand Canal;

The Central route flowing from the upper reaches of the Han River (a tributary of Yangtze
River) to Beijing and Tianjin; and,

The Western route which goes from three tributaries of Yangtze River near the Bayankala
Mountain to provinces like Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Ningxia.
[4]

Mao Zedong had discussed an idea for mass engineering project as an answer to China's water
problems as early as 1952. He reputedly said, "there's plenty of water in the south, not much water
in the north. If at all possible; borrowing some water would be good." The complete project was
expected to cost $62 billion more than twice as much as the Three Gorges Dam. By 2014, more
than $79 billion had been spent, making it one of the most expensive engineering projects in the
world.
[5][6]

[7]

[8]

Contents
[hide]

1 Eastern route

2 Central route

3 Western route

4 Financing

5 Project controversy

Eastern route[edit]
The Eastern Route Project (ERP) consists of an upgrade to the Grand Canal, and will be used to
divert to Northern China a fraction of the total flow of the Yangtze River. According to Chinese
hydrologists, the entire flow of the Yangtze at the point of its discharge into the East China Sea is, on
average, 956 km per year; the annual flow does not fall below around 600 km per year even in
driest years. As the project progresses, the amount of water to be diverted to the north will increase
from 8.9 km /year to 10.6 km /year to 14.8 km /year.
3

[9]

[9]

Water from the Yangtze River will be drawn into the canal in Jiangdu, where a giant 400 m/s (12.6
billion m /year if operated continuously) pumping station was built in the 1980s. The water is then
pumped by stations along the Grand Canal and through a tunnel under the Yellow River and down
3

an aqueduct to reservoirs near Tianjin. Construction on the Eastern route officially began December
27, 2002, and water was expected to reach Tianjin by 2012. However, water pollution has affected
the viability of the route, in addition to construction delays. The route is expected to initially provide
water for the provinces of Shandong, Jiangsu and Anhui, with trial operations to begin in mid-2013.
As of early 2013 no date has been set for when the water would reach Tianjin. Tianjin is expected to
receive 1 billion m /year. The Eastern route is not expected to supply Beijing, which is to be
supplied by the central route.
3

[10]

The completed line will be slightly over 716 miles (1,152 km) long, equipped with 23 pumping
stations with a power capacity of 454 megawatts.
[7]

An important element of the Eastern Route will be a tunnel crossing under the Yellow River, on the
border of Dongping and Dong'e Counties of Shandong Province. The crossing will consist of two 9.3
m diameter horizontal tunnels, positioned 70 m under the riverbed of the Yellow River.
[7][9]

Due to the topography of the Yangtze Plain and the North China Plain, pumping stations would be
needed to raise water from the Yangtze to the Yellow River crossing; farther north, the water will be
flowing downhill in an aqueduct.
[9]

Central route[edit]
The central, or middle, route is from Danjiangkou Reservoir on the Han river, a tributary of
the Yangtse River, to Beijing. The project involves raising the height of the Danjiangkou dam
(increasing the dam crest elevation from 162 m to 176.6 m above the sea level), in order to raise the
water level in the reservoir from 157 to 170 m above the sea level.
[11]

The middle route is built on the North China Plain. The canal is to be constructed so that water can
flow all the way from the Danjiangkou Reservoir to Beijing by gravity, without the need for pumping
stations. The main engineering challenge is to build a tunnel under the Yellow River. Construction
on the central route began in 2004. In 2008 the 307 km-long northern stretch of the central route was
completed at a cost of US$2 billion. Water in that stretch of the canal does not come from the Han
River but from reservoirs in Hebei Province, south of Beijing. Farmers and industries in Hebei had to
cut back water consumption to allow for water to be transferred to Beijing.
[11]

[12]

The whole project was expected to be completed around 2010. This has recently been set back to
2014 to allow for more environmental protections to be built. A problem is the influence on the Han
River (below the Danjiangkou Dam), from which approximately 1/3 of the water is diverted. One
long-term consideration is to build another canal to divert water from the Three Gorges Dam to
Danjiangkou Reservoir.
[5]

Another major difficulty is the resettlement of around 330,000 persons near Danjiangkou Reservoir
and along the route of the canal. On October 18, 2009, Chinese officials began to relocate residents
from the areas of the Hubei and Henan provinces that will be affected by the reservoir. The
completed line will be approximately 1,264 km long, initially providing 9.5 km of water annually. By
2030, it is expected to increase its water transfer to 12 to 13 km annually, although in dry years the
annual transferred amount will be less (at least 6.2 km , with 95% guarantee rate).
[13]

[7]

[11]

Industries are prohibited to locate in the watershed of the reservoir to keep its water drinkable.

[14]

Western route[edit]
The western route, called the Big Western Line, is in the planning stage. It aims to divert water from
the headwaters of the Yangtze River (the Tongtian, Yalong and Dadu Rivers) into the headwaters of
the Yellow River. To move the water through the drainage divide between these rivers, huge dams
and long tunnels are needed to cross the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and Western Yunnan Plateaus.
This route is designed to bring 3.8 billion m of water from three tributaries of the Yangtze River
about 450 km across the Bayankala Mountains to northwest China. The Tongtian diversion line
3

[7]

would be 289 km long, the Yalong 131 km, and the Dadu 30 km. The feasibility of this route is under
study; this project won't start in the near future. Environmentalists have raised concerns about
potential flooding. The respective rivers are entirely within China.
[15]

In addition, there are long-standing plans to divert about 200 billion cubic metres of water annually
from the upstream sections of six rivers in southwestern China, including the Mekong (Lancang
River), the Yarlung Zangbo (called Brahmaputra further downstream) and the Salween (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. The respective rivers are transboundary and a diversion would
affect India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
[16]

Financing[edit]
Construction costs of the eastern and central routes was estimated to be 254.6 billion yuan ($37.44
billion) in 2008. The government had budgeted only 53.87 billion yuan ($7.9 billion), less than a
quarter of the total cost, at that time, including 26 billion from the central government and special
accounts, 8 billion from local governments and almost 20 billion in loans. As of 2008, around 30
billion yuan had been spent for the construction of the eastern (5.66 billion yuan) and central routes
(24.82 billion yuan). Costs of the projects have significantly increased.
[7]

Project controversy[edit]
Opponents object to it on the grounds that it is a waste of resources; it could create a large number
of migrant people; it could waste massive amounts of water through evaporation and pollution; the
project's huge cost would make the water prohibitively expensive for consumers; the dry season
could cause the Yangtze River to suffer from water shortages; it would be detrimental to the Yangtze
River's transportation; and it could cause an environmental disaster. Additionally, some villagers
being relocated for the central route claim they were forced to sign relocation agreements.
[13]

In the summer of 2013, complaints arrived from the fish farmers on the Dongping Lake (on the
project's Eastern Route, in Shandong), reporting that the polluted Yangtze River water entering the
Dongping Lake is killing their fish.
[17]

Government officials and defenders of the project claim the Yangtze River has a plentiful supply of
water, with 96% of the water currently flowing into the Pacific Ocean. They argue that transferring
one portion to the poorly irrigated areas of the north could solve the north's water scarcity issue.
[14]