Where does the water from Danjiangkou Reservoir go?

The water from Danjiangkou Reservoir flows to the Han River.

Danjiangkou Reservoir is located in the middle and upper reaches of the Han River. It is distributed in Danjiangkou City, Hubei Province and Xichuan County, Nanyang City, Henan Province. Its waters span Hubei and Henan provinces. It is the largest artificial freshwater lake in Asia and the national South-to-North Water Diversion Project. It is the water source of the Middle Line Project, a national first-level water source protection zone, an important wetland protection zone in China, and a national ecological civilization demonstration area.

The Danjiangkou Reservoir was formed by impounding water from the lower gate of the Danjiangkou Dam built in 1973. It spans Hubei and Henan provinces and consists of the Hanjiang Reservoir Area and the Danjiang Reservoir Area. The average inflow volume of the Danjiangkou Reservoir over the years is 39.48 billion cubic meters. The water source comes from the Han River and its tributary Danjiang River. The average area of ??the reservoir is more than 700 square kilometers over the years.

After the Danjiangkou Dam is raised in 2012, the water area of ??the Danjiangkou Reservoir will reach 1,022.75 square kilometers, with a water storage capacity of 29.05 billion cubic meters. It is known as the "Asian Tianchi". The water quality of Danjiangkou Reservoir has been stable at or above the national Class II standard for 25 consecutive years, and the water quality remains excellent.

At 14:32 on December 12, 2014, water for domestic use and production began to be provided to more than 20 large and medium-sized cities in the four provinces and cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Henan, and Hebei along the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. The climate here is suitable, the air is fresh, and the amount of sunshine is the highest. The water quality near the Danjiangkou Dam is transparent, the water surface is wide, and the waves are calm, making the reservoir have comprehensive benefits such as flood control, power generation, irrigation, shipping, breeding, and tourism.

Main advantages of Danjiangkou Reservoir:

In the decades since the reservoir was built, it has blocked and stagnated floods of tens of thousands of cubic meters per second in the upper reaches of the Han River 59 times. The flood threat to more than 100 million people and more than 18.6 million acres of cultivated land in 23 counties and cities in Hubei, including Wuhan and Xiangyang, has been eliminated and mitigated. Its ability to withstand floods has reached the standard of once in a century.

The peak height of floods in the middle and upper reaches of the Han River is large and rapid, and the distribution of runoff is very uneven. The downstream river channel becomes narrower as it goes downstream, its discharge capacity continues to decrease, and it is often supported by the water level of the Yangtze River. Whenever there is a flood, Hubei Province is prone to disasters. The floods of 1935 caused 14 breaches in Chengze State below Laohekou City in Hubei Province, submerging 6.7 million acres of cultivated land, affecting a population of 3.7 million, and drowning more than 80,000 people.