South-North Water Diversion By: Logan B, Dylan G, and Nick M

Background The South-North water diversion project is located in China. The water is moved from the Yangtze River in the South to the Yellow River basin in the North. This is all being funded by the Chinese government. There are three different routes that the water will be moved by.

Who does it effect? The United Nations estimate that with the building of all the routes and canals that about 330,000 people will be moved from their current homes. People that are in the South will notice water restrictions and will notice a lot less water in the Yangtze River People in the North will notice of course more water and they will be able to use it any way that they want.

Why do they need it? The Chinese government believes that the moving of water will boom the agriculture and industry in the north. The North is known as the breadbasket of China − The farming industry in China only 40% of the water is used effectively − While in the United States of America 80% is used effectively

Why does the North need the Water? Northern China also has a lot of the country’s industry in it. China’s major cities in the North are Beijing and Tianjin, major providences are Hebei, Henan, and Shandong and they will all need to be supplied with water.

When and why will it run out? The North China Plain will dry up in around 30 years. This is because they are trying to supply 200 million people and factories with just 3 rivers. 60% of Northern China’s water comes from the ground. Chinese industry uses about 4 to 10 times more water for industrialization than any other country in the world. Irrigation accounts for 70% of the water use.

How will the water get there? The water will move through three different routes. (Central, West, and East). The project was introduced by Chairman Mao and as of 2014 the expected cost was up to US $79 billion. The canals will ship about 12 trillion gallons of water per year. The goal is to finish the project by about 2050.

About the Eastern Route The Eastern route will consist of an upgrade to the Gran Canal. Will be used to divert the flow of the Yangtze river. The completed line will be about 716 miles long with 23 pumping stations. There will also be a tunnel that goes under the Yellow river.

About the Central Route Runs from the Han River (tributary of the Yangtze river) to Beijing. This involves raising the height of the Danjiankou dam. The route is constructed so that gravity lets the water flow so no pumping stations are needed. This will be not only a way to cut costs now but in the future so they do not have to pay to keep the pumps running.

About the Western Route This is the largest line and most expensive. The plan is to divert water from the headquarters of the Yangtze River into to the Yellow River. There is the need for huge dams and long tunnels. This will be the most expensive and controversial route costing china about US$50 billion. This route will not be done for a while because it will be expensive. It is also still in the planning stage.

Controversy Some major points are: − Waste of resources. − Create a large number of migrants. − Waste a lot of water through evaporation and pollution. In the summer of 2013, fish farmers on the eastern route reported that the Yangtze water was entering the Dongping lake and killing their fish. The western route is expected to increase flooding in that region by a lot. So many people are having to be relocated because of the building of the dam

Point of View We believe that the routes are unnecessary to make. The three routes will cost way too much money. We think that the water that is being pumped from the Yangtze River will be over pumped and now the Southern portion of China will be in need of water. We don’t understand why they did not just do this when they built the Three Gorges Dam.

Point of View (cont.) Yes the project will move a lot of water and do what it needs to do but it will cost way too much and displace a lot of people. Its also going to take so long to build the western part they could just forget about that and the price of the build will go down tremendously. The effects will not only be the migration of people from the south to the north but also the cost that the people will have to pay with taxes.

Our plan of action Our group came up with the idea that they should only build one route and the route that would not only be the cheapest but also cause the less damage. We think that if they would have done that along with putting restrictions on the water consumptions in the North will be just fine. They could have just stuck with the Central Route and have been fine.

The Aral Sea We chose to relate this to the Aral Sea because if China continues to remove all of this water from these rivers, then the rivers will eventually decline in size like the Aral Sea has done.