Through an incredible feat of engineering, China has successfully moved 10 billion cubic meters of fresh water across the country, as a result of a water diversion project that aims to help the arid regions in the North.
The northern regions of the country have seen increases in agriculture, population, and also manufacturing, all of which have accentuated the already existing need for fresh water.
As for the future of the project, the ultimate goal is to transfer 44.8 billion cubic meters of water, annually, to the North. This may sound like a large quantity of water, however, it would only be approx. 7% of the amount of water that China used in 2015.
In order to accomplish this task, water was transferred from the south of the country, using three routes.
In this first step, the liquid pumped from the Yangtze River has gone along the middle route, to the provinces of Henan and Hebei, as well as to Beijing and Tianjin. This route was finished in 2014 and carries water via canals, water highways, and pipelines, from Danjiangkou reservoir.
Up to this point, the system pumped 2.7 billion cubic meters of water to the city of Beijing, an amount that covered the needs of 11 million people. The city currently draws 70% of its water from this project, replacing the need to draw it from underground.
The other regions that benefited from the project also received substantial amounts of water. Tianjin got 2.2 billion cubic meters, Henan got 3.5 billion cubic meters, and Hebei only 1.1 billion.
This having been said, the Chinese government is working to keep the countries annual water consumption under 670 billion cubic meters through to 2020. This is a result of the need to reduce waste, and to improve efficiency, in order to keep regional shortages at a minimum.
