PRC South to North Water ProjectAn April 2000 report from US Embassy BeijingSummary: The Chinese government has long been interested in a large-scale water transfer project to move millions of tons of water from the wet southern regions to the water-starved In recent months the government has started to move from considering the merits of such a massive， expensive infrastructure project to studying the engineering questions of how it could actually be Despite strong support from the Ministry of Water resources and the State Council， opposition exists in many quarters from the State Environmental Protection Administration to university experts who question many of the basic assumptions on which the project is This cable reports on the government's current thinking and some reasons why some officials and academics oppose the End summaryThe South to North Water Project Must Go OnChina for many years has been considering a south-to-north water project to move water from areas in the South which suffer from over-supply ( frequent flooding) to large， thirsty， drought prone northern cities such as Zhengzhou (Henan's capital)， Shijiazhuang， Beijing and T Three routes are under The three routes are not Each has a different Some proponents of the south to north water transfer project believe that all three should be built some The central route that brings water from the Danjiang Dam in Hubei Province north through a narrow gap in the mountains of southern Henan has been surveyed and the route agreed upon as far as the southern bank of the Yellow River near Z Crossing the Ever Higher Yellow River is DifficultGetting water across the Yellow River will be difficult because the bottom of the river in much of Henan Province runs above the level of the surrounding Transporting water on an aqueduct across the river may be impractical since the level of the river rises as silt accumulates on its One alternative under consideration is tunneling under the Yellow R Preventing the accumulation of materials that might block the underground channel may present a problem with this Central Government: Not Whether But How to Build ItRegardless of the difficulties it appears the central government has decided that the project must be Conversations with officials of the Ministry of Water Resources in recent months revealed that they are concentrating their efforts on overcoming the engineering difficulties required to complete the project， not considering whether or not the project makes sense from an economic or political MWR officials also note that they expect the South to North project to figure prominently in the Tenth Five-year plan， 2001 to 2005， with substantial commitment of central government Water Minister on Transfer Project Office， Water Needs: Many Social and Environmental Issues Must Be SolvedMinister of Water Resources Wang Shucheng [STC: 3076 1859 6134] announced recently that the South-to-North Water Transfer Project Bureau had been reestablished within the Ministry of Water Resources in order to organize scientific work on the In an April 12， 2000 China Economic Times front page article， Wang said that China has an annual shortfall of 30 billion cubic meters of irrigation water and 6 billion cubic meters of urban Eighty percent of the water used in China is dumped into bodies of water without being As a result， 50 percent of China's rivers and over 90 percent of its urban rivers are If China's population reaches 6 billion and 70 percent urbanization by mid century per capita water availability will fall by 20 Wang said that Chinese people need to stop treating water as a free good but should consider it a resource that must be managed， protected and used Wang stressed that the south-to-north water transfer project involves many complex technical， economic， social， and environmental issues that must be addressed under the leadership of the Some Officials and Academics Disagree HoweverSome Chinese environmentalists and scientists have said that water conservation， not the south to north water transfer project， is the solution to water shortages in northern C Although the government continues to gradually raise the price of water in China's cities， in many places the price of water remains below This not only perversely encourages waste but also makes water-conserving technologies less See the 1997 Embassy Beijing report "PRC Water: Waste A Lot， Have Not: The Problem Is Policy Not Technology" available at -/english/sandt/Water Transfer Projects in China: SEPA is UnenthusiasticFrom published reports the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) doesn't like the idea of south to north water It may not be easy for them to get a fair hearing for their views， however， given the Chinese leadership's expressed strong commitment to the The 1998 State Environmental Protection Agency book "Survey of Environmental Protection" [Huanjing Baohu Tonglun] edited by Xie Zhenhua and Zhang Kunmin is remarkably unenthusiastic about large-scale water transfer An informal translation from 160 of this book:"(2) Cross watershed water transfers are a very expensive way to increase water Water is transferred from a watershed in which water is plentiful to a watershed that has less Because such projects involve very large investments and have severe environmental consequences， many countries no longer undertake large-scale cross-watershed transfer "In foreign countries， there is already a completed west to east water transfer project in Pakistan and the Snowy River water project in A China has in recent years done projects to move water from the Yellow River to the bed of the Jishui [Translator's note: Ji River -- the downstream portion of the Yellow River from Henan to the sea was originally the bed of the J End note]， the diversion of the Luan River (Hebei) to T Work has already begun on the south to north water transfer " [End translation]University Experts Question Availability of Water for South to North Transfer ProjectBeijing Meteorological University (Beijing Qixiang Xueyuan) professors Zhang Yan， Jiao Jirong and Lin Mianrui in a February 2000 Keji Daolun [Science and Technology Review] article warned that the middle route of the south to north water transfer project has extremely variable Both floods and droughts are In some dry years such as 1965 - 1966 and 1991 - 1995， water levels at the Danjiang Dam The authors argue that any south to north transfer project design should not only consider the lowest water supply of the past thirty to forty years but also the frequency of consecutive drought years even further in the Floods along the middle route of the transfer project are The Xiaolangdi Dam now under construction on the Yellow River will not hold back flood waters that come from other Designing for flood survivability will increase construction Former MWR Engineer Critiques South-to-North Water Transfer LiteratureXu Qianqing， former vice chief engineer at the Ministry of Water Resources critiqued the Chinese literature on various types of south-to-north water transfer schemes in the May 1999 issue of Keji Daobao [Science and Technology Review] Xu remarked:-- Many articles in their estimates of water requirements for north China fail to take into account improved water conservation and The north-to-south water project only makes sense as a supplement to water conservation and anti-pollution -- How much water is needed? The experience of the developed countries shows that rapidly rising water treatment rates create strong pressures to reduce water use and increase recycling to the extent that even as GDP grows water use may Chinese economists estimate that the Chinese population will stop growing at between 5 - 6 billion around When will water consumption stop growing? -- Many interior areas that are short of water are mountainous and cannot support a large In such regions small scale rather than large projects would be more cost- Transfer is a Systems Project: Includes Water Treatment as Well as ConstructionXu Qianqing wrote that increasing water supplies without first improving conservation and pollution control will spread pollution and promote Eighty percent of urban water is sent back into the environment If this polluted water is reused in agriculture， it will accelerate salinization and produce Although the salinity of soils in north China has been reduced over the past two decades， if irrigation is not done properly this problem could Financial Risk Assessment Must Be Based On the True Delivery Cost of WaterXu wrote that financial risk assessments must be based on the true delivery cost of water in any south-to-north water Any north-to-south water project is a very expensive system consisting of the project itself， the water network connecting to it， and waste water All these things must be Under a market system， water must be supplied at a price related to the cost of producing and delivering the The water price that users can accept determines the scale of the The south-to-north water transfer project faces two The first risk is that capital may not be used properly and that there may be a great deal of waste or poor quality construction or that construction might never be completed at The second risk is that once constructed， the price of water might be too high for users to If this occurs the project might not earn enough for operation and How will Project Affect Qinghai-Tibet Plateau? Potential Transboundary ProblemsXu wrote that little research has been done on the effects on the region from which water is This is especially true for the western route of the south to north water transfer Except for water taken from the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze， most of the water comes from the eastern portion of the Qinghai-Tibetan These rivers cover an area of 600，000 square kilometers and include high plateaus and ecologically fragile mountain Development in some watersheds will affect the water rights of foreign countries Very little research has been done on the effects of the export of water from this area to the south to north water transfer The south to north water transfer project cannot be examined in isolation， argued X Many different regions and rivers must be considered together with Scientific research must precede the design of a large infrastructure project rather than flow from such a If scientific research is locked into the preconceptions of an existing plan， a great deal of wasted effort may How to Plan for a South to North Water Transfer ProjectXu wrote that any examination of the need for and the feasible scale of a south to north water transfer project should be based on China's economic strategy， pace of development， and research on the water resources and development Each south to north water transfer scheme should be examined in the light of the overall use and control of China's water Each province and region should establish its own water supply and demand estimates based on high water utilization efficiency， the development of the market economy and the full use of local water
1， to reduce water consumption: At present， China's water use， water resources are tight on the one hand， on the other waste are very Compared with the industrialized countries， many of our products unit water consumption is much Large water not only cause a waste of water resources and water pollution is caused by an important Through the technological transformation of enterprises， promote clean production and reduce consumption of water products unit， a water use， improve the utilization ratio of water to repeat， are in practice has been proven 2， the establishment of urban sewage treatment system: In order to control water pollution， development， industrial enterprises also must actively the problem of water pollution， particularly toxic pollutant emissions must be dealt with separately or With the industrial layout， adjustment of the layout of cities and urban sewage pipe network construction and improvement， the progressive realization of the focus on urban sewage treatment， urban sewage and industrial wastewater treatment 3， industrial restructuring: the natural water purification capacity is limited and reasonable industrial layout to take full advantage of the natural environment of the natural ability to change a vicious circle for a virtuous circle， a development of the economy， the role of pollution Guan， stop， and， to those water consumption， heavy pollution， pollution control companies with high To the water consumption of large agricultural structure adjustment， particularly in arid and semi-arid areas to reduce rice cultivation area， and take water-saving agriculture and sustainable 4， controlling agricultural non-point source pollution: agricultural non-point source pollution sources， including rural life， agricultural sources， livestock and poultry breeding industry， aquaculture To solve non-point source pollution than industrial pollution and sewage medium and large cities is more difficult， through comprehensive prevention and the need for eco-agriculture demonstration projects and other measures to 5， the development of new water sources: China's industrial and agricultural use of water and life saving potential of small， need to do a good job saving water， reducing waste， to reduce unit of GDP water The implementation of water projects， for ease serious water shortage in north China Shandong plays an important The construction of reservoirs， exploitation of groundwater， water purification， and so can ease the growing tension in the water pressure， but the construction of reservoirs， underground water exploitation， should give full consideration to the ecological environment and social 6， to strengthen the planning and management of water resources: water resources planning is the regional planning， urban planning， industrial and agricultural development planning a major component of， and other planning at the same Development must also be reasonable under the water supply and demand， a fixed water and surface water， groundwater， sewage and unified development and utilization of resources， to prevent depletion of surface water， groundwater level dropped， effectively rational development， comprehensive utilization， active protection， science管理
