The set date was confirmed by a leading water official Tuesday in Beijing at a meeting to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Hydraulic Engineering Society.

The mammoth project, designed to channel water along three planned routes from upstream, midstream and downstream of the Yangtze River is viewed as "a fundamental strategic solution to north China's drought problem."

To make the long-awaited project a successful one, Wang Shucheng, minister of water resources, made it clear the government will gear up its efforts to control water pollution - the worst issue threatening sections of the planned project.

Some project modifications are now under consideration to eliminate the worsening water pollution situation. Pollution is a serious concern among those water users along sections of the diversion project, particularly users along the east line of the project using the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, Wang indicated.

"Water authorities are seeking an overall scheme with convincing strategies to ensure a good quality of water to be taken from the Yangtze River to the north," Wang said.

Water pollution on China's major rivers and lakes is viewed as one of the worst chronic issues, alongside frequently-occurring floods battering the south and persistent catastrophic drought plaguing the north.

China has invested heavily on water pollution-control on the Huaihe River, the Taihu Lake in East China and the Dianchi Lake in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

However, water pollution is still repeatedly reported on the three water areas, Wang said, concerned the issue is likely to get worse and become much more difficult to be tackled in years ahead.

About 60 billion tons of polluted water is created per year, with more than 80 percent of it poured directly into China's major rivers and lakes without any treatment, experts say.

The south-to-north water project aims to divert some 38 billion to 48 billion cubic metres of water to the north per year.

When the project is finished, the annual diversion will be equal to the annual run-off of the Yellow River, the second-longest river in China.

The diversion project aims to optimize the distribution of China's water resources from areas along and south of the Yangtze River -- rich in water but lacking in land -- to the north - contrary in both aspects.

Giving a lecture on the environmental carrying capacity of China's water resources at the gathering, Wang also disclosed that funds earmarked for China's water conservancy projects will reach a record 40 billion yuan (US$4.8 billion) this year, with most of them raised through the issuing of special bonds throughout China.

More than 70 percent of such State funding has been used to reinforce dangerous levees along China's major flood-prone rivers, particularly the Yangtze following the devastating floods along the river in the summer of 1998.

The deluges caused more than 200 billion yuan (over US$24 billion) worth of damages and claimed thousands of people's lives.

Wang was confident that massive construction of flood-control projects along major rivers will be completed by next year, thanks to the State's strong financial backing since 1998.

Starting next year, Wang said he hopes such funding can be used to ease the shortage of overall water resources and promote water-saving efforts nationwide.

China has to increase at least 65 billion cubic metres of water for a sustainable development of its agriculture to ensure grain security by 2030, as its population is expected to peak a record 1.6 billion.

More than 70 percent of China's total water supply is used up by agriculture, with most of this consumed by farming irrigation.

(China Daily October 31, 2001)