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| A pumping station of the south-to-north water diversion project in Beijing. [Photo provided to China.org.cn] |
China's ambitious south-to-north water diversion project has already achieved much success as it has delivered more than 6 billion cubic meters of water to 18 cities in the parched north of the country through its "middle route," benefitting an estimated 42 million people.
This route, some 1,267 kilomters in length, diverts water from the Danjiangou Reservoir in Hubei Province via new canals dug across Henan and Hebei provinces to reach Beijing.
Inaugurated in December 2014, the first phase of the middle route has already been successfully operating for more than 700 days.
Benefiting cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, Nanyang, Shijiazhuang and Baoding, the available water supply has been significantly increased with improved quality.
In Beijing, for instance, hard mineral sediment levels of tap water have been lowered from 380 milligrams per liter to between 120 milligrams and 130 milligrams per liter, a reduction of about 60 percent, according to Liang Li, director of the publicity department of Beijing Waterworks Group.
Before the water diversion, consumers of Beijing's tap water, mainly from underground sources, had complained of its "hard" taste due to a high level of dissolved minerals such as calcium and magnesium that posed a potential health hazards.
"The tap water is much cleaner and tastes better now," a resident surnamed Jia, living in a residential compound in southern Beijing, told China.org.cn.
The middle route has diversified sources of the water supplies in the cities along its route. In Beijing, water from the project now makes up 70 percent of the city's water supplies.
In addition, the diversion arangement has enabled Beijing to slow the decline in underground water level, with more than 200 million cubic meters helping to replenish the capital's depleted reservoirs.
The project also involves an "eastern" one from the Yangtze making use of an enlarge Grand Canal.
