Water Diversion: No Polluted Water 'to Be Transported' from the Yangtze

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, February 27, 2002

Water Diversion: No Polluted Water 'to Be Transported' from the Yangtze

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According to the news of Feb.26, 2002 from Beijing, in the water-diversion project from south to north no polluted water will be conducted to North China, said the authority. The drinking water for the northerners including the residents in Beijing will be the absolutely "clean water from the Yangtze River".

"For the water diversion project from south to north to solve the serious drought and water shortage in north China the guarantee of water quality proves to be one of the crucial matters measuring the success or failure of the project," said Weng Lida, Director of the Bureau in Protection of Water Resources of the Yangtze River in an interview with the reporter.

"The state has invested hundreds of millions of yuan in the water diversion project. We should in no way tolerate it to happen that the water conducted from south to north is the polluted water, expressed Liu Changming, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Therefore, we must save the water first, draw the water afterwards; treat pollution first, conduct the water afterwards and protect the environment first and use the water afterwards."

As learned the water-diversion projects along the middle and eastern channels will all be kicked off this year. According to the newest plan, hundred million of the inhabitants in the Yellow River and Huai River reaches and in the northern cities and provinces of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong and Henan are expected to share the water from the same river with the people in southern land by the year of 2008 should the projects be carried out smoothly.

Weng Lida pointed out: to make the above-mentioned realized the quality of water must get guaranteed first and followed with the protection of water against pollution in the course of transportation.

As introduced, the water-transportation from south to north China on the middle line is to start from the Danjiangkou Reservoir in the upper reaches of the Han River. The annual conduction of water will reach a volume of over 9 billion cubic meters, being mainly for industrial use and the daily water supply for the people. The water transportation along the eastern line starts from the sluice gate at Jiangdu near the city of Yangzhou and the water will be conducted through the Beijing/Hangzhou Grand Canal all the way to Shandong and Hebei, being mainly used for agricultural irrigation and biological protection.

Though the water-head area along the middle line for water-conduction is from the Danjiangkou Reservoir of a better water-quality with its surface water to be always above Grade 2 standard, as Wen Lida introduced, yet still the peripheral areas round the reservoir have been included in the key areas of the Yangtze River reaches for the protection against water and soil erosion. And the water quality can thus be further protected by way of returning farmland to forests, planting trees and grasses for keeping well the quality of water.

And a fully lined, full-viaduct and enclosed water channel will be built all the way through Hubei, Henan, Hebei and Tianjin to Beijing so as to make sure that the water is not polluted in the course of transportation. As introduced, a full viaduct over or a tunnel under the Yellow River will be built to prevent from the confluence of the two waters by an investment of hundreds of million yuan when the conducted water is to go through the Yellow River.

However, the water transportation project along the eastern line is confronted with a very heavy task of water-pollution treatment as the water-source along the line is located at the mid-lower reaches of the Yangtze River where sees a ceaseless increase of pollutes emission owing to the speedy economic development in these areas.

According to the "Report on the Yangtze River Water-source Protection Plan" recently assessed and approved by experts, introduced Weng Lida, requirements will be brought forward in line with the plan for the whole area in the Yangtze River reaches to carry out. And measures will be taken by readjusting the industrial structure, reasonable disposition of sewage outlets, and overall control on pollutes emission, thereby gradually reducing the pollution in the mid-lower reaches of the Yangtze River area.

Moreover, China has worked out a special "Program for Pollution Treatment along Eastern Line of South - North Water Transportation", in which an investment of RMB 23.4 billion-yuan is injected to put up 130 plants for sewage-water treatment and 3 projects of sewage stopper and conductor. The stresses will be laid on the treatment of the Hongze Lake and other lakes of relevantly heavy pollution, shutting down the heavily polluted enterprises so as to realize by and by the target for pollution treatment, in which there is no outlet for pollution matters along the water transportation line.

"The water quality of the Yangtze River with an abundant water supply is much better than that of the Yellow River, the Hai River and the Huai River," said Weng Lida. "This means the water quality conducted to north China from the Yangtze River will be better than that the local people are now drinking. And by the time when the 2008 Olympic Games is going to be held the drinking water for the northerners will be much cleaner and purer."

By PD Online Staff Han Rongliang

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