By+Yin+Pumin

After 10 years of construction， the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion （SNWD） Project is set to start supplying water later this year， according to the State Councils Office of the SNWD Project Commission.

All construction work for the channel， which brings water from the Danjiangkou Reservoir in central Chinas Hubei Province to the municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin， as well as the provinces of Hebei and Henan， is expected to be completed in May. Trial operations are scheduled to begin in June， and full operations will start after September， said E Jingping， Director of the office， at a meeting on January 15.

“The route will provide up to 9.5 billion cubic meters of clean water to 19 large and medium-sized cities and more than 100 smaller towns in the arid northern part of China every year，” E said.

The main part of the first phase of the middle route was completed last December and the first phase of the eastern route of the project has already started to supply water to Jiangsu， Anhui and Shandong provinces since November 2013.

“The project will focus on operational stability， efficiency and coordination between the multiple stakeholders this year，” E added.

Large-scale endeavor

The SNWD project， the largest water diversion program in the world， has been designed to divert water from the Yangtze River in the south via eastern， middle and western routes to satisfy the water demand in the drought-prone north- ern regions of China. It aims to transfer 44.8 billion cubic meters of water every year.

The three routes as planned will have a combined length of 4，350 km， with the eastern and middle routes accounting for 2，899 km. In 2002 and 2003， construction of the eastern and middle routes began successively.

The western route， also known as the Big Western Line， will transport water from the headwaters of the Yangtze River into the headwaters of the Yellow River. However， there is not yet timetable for the routes construction with the research necessary still underway.

Zhang Ye， Deputy Director of the State Councils Office of the SNWD Project Commission， estimated that the eastern and middle routes will directly benefit 110 million people and 253 cities along the route， providing opportunities for the cities economic restructuring.

Additionally， the project will fuel Chinas economic growth by 0.2 to 0.3 percentage points per year and create 500，000 to 600，000 jobs， according to Zhang.endprint

On December 19， 2013， the Ministry of Environmental Protection released the results of an inspection， saying that water samples collected from the eastern and middle routes of the SNWD project showed that the water is suitable for drinking and other uses.

“Though being suitable for drinking overall， the water quality still holds hidden dangers from both the source reservoirs and along the routes，” said Wang Dongqing， Deputy Director of the ministrys Environmental Supervision Bureau.

Zhang Jiyao， former Director of the State Councils Office of the SNWD Project Commission， also warned that improving water quality is a tough task as the middle route crosses more than one province.

“We have built lots of polluted water treatment facilities， closed polluting factories，upgraded the industry and tackled the problems of agricultural pollution，” Zhang said， adding that the authorities have set up environmental protection zones within 1 km of the waterways， which prohibit heavy industry and polluting factories.

From July to September last year， three inspection centers affiliated with the Ministry of Environmental Protection， together with environmental departments from five provinces along the routes—Jiangsu， Shandong， Henan， Hubei and Shaanxi—conducted inspections on potential dangers in the water.

The inspections focused on the progress of water-pollution-control projects in the region， the discharge of pollutants by local enterprises and water quality.

A major problem discovered was the slow progress of pollution-control projects along the middle route， Wang said.

According to Wang， 474 pollution control projects are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2015， but only around 10 percent have actually been finished and only 3 percent are functioning. These projects are mainly sewage treatment plants planned for towns and villages along the diversion waterway， which are designed to improve water quality in the long run.

Wang said that although some of the projects may be postponed， most of them should be completed as planned before 2016.

Inspectors also found 15 enterprises from the 95 checked during the three-month campaign had discharged more pollutants into local rivers than allowed.

These companies have already received punishments such as fines and halt of production from local environmental departments， according to Wang.endprint

Another challenge

Another concern has emerged along with the completion of the first phase of the SNWD projects middle route—whether or not the oncewater-rich south has enough excess supply to help ease shortages in the arid north.

The worry was kindled after the Danjiangkou Reservoir， the water source used by the middle route， failed to store water as had been scheduled on account of a dry autumn season last year.

After eight years of construction， the height of a dam originally completed in 1973 has been raised by 14.6 meters， making it now 176.6 meters tall， so as to enable the Danjiangkou Reservoir to store up to 29 billion cubic meters of water. At full capacity， the reservoir has an area of 1，022 square km and is the second largest in China， surpassed only by the reservoir at the Three Gorges Reservoir on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River with a full capacity of 39.3 billion cubic meters.

The heightened dam passed quality checkups organized by the State Council in August 2013. Afterward， the reservoir was ordered to start storing water from the Hanjiang River， the largest tributary of the Yangtze River， during an expected autumn flood season in September and October.

The autumn flooding， did not come as expected however， as the Hanjiang River Basin， which stretches westward to Shaanxi Province， experienced a rainless autumn and many upstream dams had to hold more water to brace for potential severe winter and spring droughts.

As a result， the volume of water flowing down into the Danjiangkou Reservoir averaged just 446 cubic meters per second in September last year， down 70 percent from the average for that period annually.

Meanwhile， the reservoir was ordered to discharge no less than 800 cubic meters of water per second last September and no less than 600 cubic meters per second in the following October to meet demand in downstream of it. The gap drove water levels in the reservoir down by more than 3 meters over the twomonth period， reducing the depth of the water in the reservoir to 144.15 meters， roughly 5 meters lower than its dead storage level.

The reservoirs water reserves were reduced to a historical low of 134.7 meters in May 2011 when areas of the country were hit by a oncein-a-century drought.

Historically， Chinas south has always been rich in water resources and often battled severe flooding while the north often suffered from severe water shortages. However， over the past couple of years， drought hit many regions in the south more frequently while the northern regions have begun to receive more rain.

In addition， rapid urbanization and robust economic growth along the Hanjiang River have boosted the local demand for water.

Wang Hao， Director of the Water Resources Department with the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research， suggests putting tributaries and reservoirs that lie upstream under the control of integrated water regulation so as to balance supply downstream to the Danjiangkou Reservoir.

Several water resources experts also propose that， with the authorities planning to increase the volume of water diverted from the Danjiangkou Reservoir to 13 billion cubic meters a year， building a canal to divert water from the Three Gorges Reservoir to supplement the Danjiangkou Reservoir should be considered.endprint