China is preparing to launch a project to divert water from south China to north China, according to the Ministry of Water Resources.
The project comprises the east route, the central route and western route, an official of the ministry said.
The eastern route will involve diversion of water from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China's longest river, to Shangdong Province, Tianjin Municipality and the east part of Hebei Province.
The central route is to divert water from the Hanjiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze River, to Beijing and Tianjin, as well as cities along the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway in Hebei and Henan provinces.
The western route is to divert water from the Dadu, Yalong and Tongtian rivers, to the upper reaches of the Yellow River to increase water supply in the Ninxia Hui Autonomous Region, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Shaanxi Province.
The official said that the western route will be more difficult to build because of geological conditions in the area. The distribution of water resources in China is uneven. Per-capita water resources in north China are 501 cubic meters, 20 percent of the nation's average and 6 percent of the world's average.
(People's Daily 11/2/2000)
