Project Name: China North-South River Diversion (Three massive 1000 kilometer water channels connecting Yangtze and Yellow river )
Project Start Date: The end of 2002
Expected Finish Date: 2050
Expected Cost: $60 billion USD
Description:The river diversion mega-project is the largest ever planned.
Quotes from NY Times:
link
"Even for the nation that built the Great Wall and the Grand Canal, the scale of construction is extraordinary."
"The Three Gorges Dam, designed to tame the mighty Yangtze river and generate the power of 18 ordinary nuclear power plants, was for years considered the world's most expensive project, with a price tag of $30 billion. It has now been eclipsed by China's latest engineering colossus, a $60 billion system of channels and pump stations to divert water from the Yangtze in the central part of the country to the Yellow River in the north. In late December, Chinese officials broke ground on the first phase of the project, which they say will alleviate desertification and drought."
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New Scientist Article
A hugely ambitious, multi-billion dollar river diversion plan has been given the go-ahead by the Chinese government.
The 50-year project involves creating three channels to connect the Yangtze river with the Hai, Huai and Yellow rivers further north. These channels will each be over 1000 kilometres long and designed to carry about 48 billion cubic metres of water every year to drought-stricken northern regions. This is the same amount as the entire current outflow from the Yellow river.
The first phase of work on the eastern and middle channels will cost about $19 billion, take five to 10 years, and begin by the end of 2002. "After nearly half a century of study and planning, we can now start putting the project that the late Chairman Mao Zedong envisioned into reality step by step," said water resources vice-minister Zhang Jiyao in China Daily.
The ultimate cost of the river diversion China Daily.
In April, the government said the water crisis in northern cities, including Beijing, was the worst since communist rule bemega-project - the largest ever planned - is expected to exceed that of the controversial $24 billion Three Gorges Dam. The dam is being constructed on the Yangtze to the west of the proposed channels and will produce hydroelectric power and reduce flooding.
Crossing continents
The Chinese government argues that the river diversion project is badly needed. Water shortages affect two-thirds of China's 600 major cities, costing $14.5 billion each year, according to gan in 1949. An estimated 33 million people were affected.
These northern areas have one third of China's population, gross national product, farmland and grain output. "The south to north water diversion project is a mega-project that is strategically aimed at realising the optimal allocation of water resources," Zhang said.
Critics have argued that simpler ways to address water problems, such as water-saving agricultural techniques, should be introduced instead. Many thousands of people are also likely to be forced from their homes, adding to the hundreds of thousands displaced to make way for the Three Gorges Dam.
Major river diversion projects are frequently proposed, but rarely implemented. For example, a blueprint for diverting Siberian rivers to Central Asian states such as Uzbekistan was formed in the 1980s, but continues to be debated. And recent proposals to divert Australian rivers prompted fears that salinity changes in their estuaries would damage fisheries.
Project Start Date: The end of 2002
Expected Finish Date: 2050
Expected Cost: $60 billion USD
Description:The river diversion mega-project is the largest ever planned.
Quotes from NY Times:
link
"Even for the nation that built the Great Wall and the Grand Canal, the scale of construction is extraordinary."
"The Three Gorges Dam, designed to tame the mighty Yangtze river and generate the power of 18 ordinary nuclear power plants, was for years considered the world's most expensive project, with a price tag of $30 billion. It has now been eclipsed by China's latest engineering colossus, a $60 billion system of channels and pump stations to divert water from the Yangtze in the central part of the country to the Yellow River in the north. In late December, Chinese officials broke ground on the first phase of the project, which they say will alleviate desertification and drought."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Scientist Article
A hugely ambitious, multi-billion dollar river diversion plan has been given the go-ahead by the Chinese government.
The 50-year project involves creating three channels to connect the Yangtze river with the Hai, Huai and Yellow rivers further north. These channels will each be over 1000 kilometres long and designed to carry about 48 billion cubic metres of water every year to drought-stricken northern regions. This is the same amount as the entire current outflow from the Yellow river.
The first phase of work on the eastern and middle channels will cost about $19 billion, take five to 10 years, and begin by the end of 2002. "After nearly half a century of study and planning, we can now start putting the project that the late Chairman Mao Zedong envisioned into reality step by step," said water resources vice-minister Zhang Jiyao in China Daily.
The ultimate cost of the river diversion China Daily.
In April, the government said the water crisis in northern cities, including Beijing, was the worst since communist rule bemega-project - the largest ever planned - is expected to exceed that of the controversial $24 billion Three Gorges Dam. The dam is being constructed on the Yangtze to the west of the proposed channels and will produce hydroelectric power and reduce flooding.
Crossing continents
The Chinese government argues that the river diversion project is badly needed. Water shortages affect two-thirds of China's 600 major cities, costing $14.5 billion each year, according to gan in 1949. An estimated 33 million people were affected.
These northern areas have one third of China's population, gross national product, farmland and grain output. "The south to north water diversion project is a mega-project that is strategically aimed at realising the optimal allocation of water resources," Zhang said.
Critics have argued that simpler ways to address water problems, such as water-saving agricultural techniques, should be introduced instead. Many thousands of people are also likely to be forced from their homes, adding to the hundreds of thousands displaced to make way for the Three Gorges Dam.
Major river diversion projects are frequently proposed, but rarely implemented. For example, a blueprint for diverting Siberian rivers to Central Asian states such as Uzbekistan was formed in the 1980s, but continues to be debated. And recent proposals to divert Australian rivers prompted fears that salinity changes in their estuaries would damage fisheries.
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