Overview of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project

1.1.1 General overview of the project

China has a vast territory, but water resources are scarce and extremely unevenly distributed. The continental monsoon climate makes the seasonal distribution of China's water resources very uneven. In terms of inter-annual distribution, consecutive droughts or consecutive floods also occur from time to time. Due to the influence of China's terrain, which is high in the west and low in the east, and the water vapor transport mainly depends on the mainland The Pacific Ocean in the southeast transports water vapor to the inland west, making China's water resources more distributed in the south and less in the north. In contrast, the cultivated land on which people rely for survival is less in the south and more in the north. The poor coordination of water and land resources has exacerbated the water shortage in northern China.

North China is the political, economic and cultural center of our country, and an important industrial and agricultural production base. However, water resources in this region are very short, especially in the Haihe River Basin, where the water shortage is the most serious and is classified as serious. Water-scarce areas. The region is facing depletion of water sources and deterioration of water quality. Most rivers have become seasonal or year-round waterless rivers. Groundwater is seriously over-exploited, and urban and rural water supplies are in overall tension. In recent years, with the increase in population and economic development, the contradiction between water supply and demand has become more prominent, and the water crisis faced by the northern region has become increasingly severe. It is urgent to improve the contradiction between supply and demand of water resources and the ecological environment in the north and increase the supply of water resources. The only way to change the uneven distribution of water resources across regions and time is to build water conservancy projects. Therefore, to transfer water from the south, which is rich in water resources, to the north, we build a South-to-North Water Diversion Project.

As early as the 1950s, Chairman Mao Zedong proposed: "There is more water in the south and less water in the north. If possible, it is okay to borrow some water." Since then, the South-to-North Water Diversion Project has begun. screen. Over the past 50 years, water conservancy workers have done a lot of work on the South-to-North Water Diversion Project and compared multiple plans. Finally, three main water diversion routes were formed: the eastern route, the middle route, and the western route.

The South-to-North Water Diversion Project runs through the land of China and spans four major rivers. It is a major strategic infrastructure to solve the serious water shortage in northern my country and realize the optimal allocation of water resources in our country. The implementation of this huge project is of great significance for alleviating the severe shortage of water resources in northern my country, optimizing the allocation of water resources, promoting economic structural adjustment, improving people's living standards, improving the ecological environment, and enhancing overall national strength.

Diverting water from the Yangtze River Basin, which is rich in water resources, to the north is a project of large scale, complex technology, wide impact and huge investment. After detailed survey, exploration and multi-party scientific demonstration, an implementation plan was made to divert water from the upper reaches, middle reaches and lower reaches of the Yangtze River to the north respectively. That is, according to the overall layout of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, it is planned to divert water from the upper reaches, middle reaches and lower reaches of the Yangtze River respectively. , to meet the development needs of northwest and north China, namely the west route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project and the east route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. Restricted by geographical location, amount of water resources in the transfer area, and water consumption in the water receiving area, each water transfer line has its own reasonable water supply range and cannot replace each other. The planned total scale of water diversion in the east, middle and west lines by 2050 will be 448×108m3, with a total investment scale of approximately 500 billion yuan, and will be implemented in phases. Implementation in phases can basically alleviate the severe water shortage in the Huang-Huai-Hai basin and gradually curb the worsening ecological environment caused by severe water shortage in the region. The South-to-North Water Diversion Project solves the contradiction between the distribution of water resources in my country and the distribution of social productivity through the rational allocation of water resources across river basins. It is also helpful in changing the severe water shortage situation in northern my country, improving the water supply capacity of areas along the route, and ensuring regional economy and society. , the coordinated development of population and resources and the improvement of the ecological environment will have huge benefits. The following introduces respectively the east route project, the west route project and the middle route project of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project.

1.1.2 Eastern Route Project

The East Route Project of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project uses the existing river water diversion project in Jiangsu Province to gradually expand the scale of water diversion and extend the water transmission lines. The east-line project draws water from the Yangtze River from Yangzhou Jiangdu in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and uses the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and its parallel rivers to lift water and transport it northward step by step, and connects Hongze Lake, Luoma Lake, Nansi Lake, and Dongping Lake, which play a regulating and storage role. . After leaving Dongping Lake, water is transported in two ways: one is to the north and flows to Tianjin after crossing the Yellow River; the other is to the east and is to Yantai and Weihai through the economic south of the Jiaodong area water transmission trunk line. The main water supply goals are to solve urban and industrial water needs along the water diversion line and in Jiaodong area, improve agricultural water supply conditions in Huaibei area, and provide ecological and agricultural water when needed in the north.

The water supply scope of the east line project is the eastern part of the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain and the Jiaodong area, which is divided into three areas: south of the Yellow River, Jiaodong area and north of the Yellow River. There are 25 cities in the Huaihe, Haihe, and Yellow River basins in the water supply area, including very large cities such as Tianjin, Jinan, and Qingdao, as well as Cangzhou, Hengshui, Liaocheng, Dezhou, Binzhou, Yantai, Weihai, Zibo, Weifang, Dongying, and Zaozhuang , Jining, Xuzhou, Heze, Tai'an, Yangzhou, Huai'an, Suqian, Lianyungang, Bengbu, Huaibei, Suzhou and other large and medium-sized cities.

The water supply area of ??the east line project is located in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, Huaihe River and Haihe River, spanning the northern subtropical zone and the southern warm temperate zone. The average annual rainfall is 1000~500mm from south to north, and gradually decreases from south to north. . Affected by the monsoon climate, precipitation is uneven within and between years, and there is a wide disparity between wet and dry years, with continuous wet years and dry years appearing alternately.

The eastern water supply area has a dense population, concentrated cities, convenient transportation, relatively flat terrain, and rich mineral resources. It is an important energy and chemical production base and a major production area of ??grain and other agricultural products in my country. According to statistics in 1998, the population in the region was 118 million, the urbanization rate was 23.6%, the cultivated land was 880×104 hm2, the total industrial and agricultural output value was 1.75 trillion yuan, and the grain output was 15576×104t. The region has huge potential for economic growth, but the contradiction between water supply and demand has become increasingly prominent. Water shortage has restricted economic and social development and has had a serious impact on the ecological environment. The eastern water supply area is faced with the severe situation of over-exploitation of surface water, serious over-exploitation of groundwater, water pollution, and environmental degradation. With the active adoption of water-saving measures and the successive construction of water supply projects such as diversion from Luan River to Tianjin, diversion from the Yellow River, and diversion from the Yangtze River, although the water shortage in some areas has been alleviated, it is difficult to fundamentally reverse the water shortage situation. Therefore, it is very necessary and urgent to build the eastern route project on the basis of further saving water and rationally utilizing existing water resources.

Based on the water supply target and the predicted local water supply and required water transfer, taking into account the opinions of each province (municipality) and the progress of pollution control on the east line, the east line project is planned to be unblocked first and then unblocked, and the scale will be gradually expanded, divided into three phases implementation. The first phase of the project: mainly supplies water to Jiangsu and Shandong provinces. The pumping scale of the river is 500m3/s, and the average water pumping volume for many years is 89×108m3, of which the newly increased water pumping volume is 39×108m3; it crosses the Yellow River at 50 m3/s and supplies 50 m3/s to Jiaodong area. The second phase of the project: the water supply scope is expanded to Hebei and Tianjin. The project scale is expanded to pump 600 m3/s from the river, 100 m3/s across the Yellow River, 50 m3/s to Tianjin, and 50 m3/s water supply to Jiaodong area. The third phase of the project: Increase the amount of water transferred from the north to meet the water demand for national economic development within the water supply range at the 2030 level. The scale of the project has been expanded to 800 m3/s for pumping water from the river, 200 m3/s for crossing the Yellow River, 100 m3/s for Tianjin, and 90 m3/s for supplying water to Jiaodong area. In accordance with the goals set by the State Council, the east route project of the South-to-North Water Diversion project started construction on December 27, 2002, and is scheduled to be opened in 2007, mainly supplying water to northern Jiangsu and Shandong provinces. On December 11, 2013, the first phase of the east route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project was officially opened.

The difficulties of the east route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project are: the water quality along the route is highly polluted; it is difficult to solve the water shortage in Beijing; south of the Yellow River, pumping stations are required to pump water, and operating costs are high; The use of water conveyance rivers, pumping stations and lakes makes it difficult to guarantee the amount and process of water supply to the north during droughts in the Huaihe River Basin or during peak water use periods in Jiangsu Province; operation and management are complicated.

The pollution control plan of the east-line project is divided into the main water transmission planning area, the water guarantee planning area in Tianjin, Shandong, and the water quality improvement planning area in Henan and Anhui. The main pollution control measures include five types of projects: construction of urban sewage treatment plants, sewage interception and diversion, industrial structural adjustment, comprehensive industrial management, and comprehensive river basin improvement projects. According to the current situation of water quality and water pollution control, the main focus is to control the south of the Yellow River, focusing on solving industrial structural pollution and domestic wastewater treatment. In combination with the main project and the water conservancy project of the existing river course, sewage interception and diversion will be implemented where conditions permit. Use sewage as a resource, effectively reduce the amount of sewage discharge into the river, and control petroleum and agricultural non-point source pollution; in the north of the Yellow River, intercept and divert sewage mainly, implement sewage cleaning and diversion, form a clean water corridor, combine with treatment, improve regional environmental quality, and achieve Wastewater resource utilization. In order to reflect the principle of treating pollution first and then providing water supply, pollution control was divided into two time periods, 2007 and 2010, according to the project implementation progress requirements. Before 2007, it mainly focused on pollution control projects and sewage interception and diversion projects in Shandong and Jiangsu, and implemented industrial treatment projects in Hebei Province at the same time. From 2008 to 2010, it focused on sewage treatment plant projects and sewage interception and diversion projects in Hebei and Tianjin, and implemented them simultaneously. Pollution control projects in Henan and Anhui provinces. After the planned project is implemented, it is predicted that the water quality will reach Class III or better than Class III water standards. The total investment in the pollution control project is 24 billion yuan, of which 2.490 billion yuan is allocated to the east line project for the pollution interception and diversion project, including 1.725 billion yuan for the first phase project and 765 million yuan for the second phase project.

The environmental impact of the eastern route project outweighs the disadvantages, and measures can also be taken to improve the adverse impacts. After the project is implemented, it will help improve the supply and demand conditions of water resources in the northern region and promote sustainable economic and social development; it will help improve the ecological environment of the water supply area and improve people's quality of life; it will help replenish groundwater along the line and play a role in alleviating land subsidence; It is conducive to the safety of urban drinking water and improves the quality of drinking water for residents in high-fluoride areas; it is conducive to improving the investment environment in water supply areas and has significant social benefits. We have conducted many years of monitoring tests and analytical studies on possible adverse environmental impacts, and have drawn the following conclusions: ① The water diversion volume of the east-line project accounts for a very small proportion of the Yangtze River runoff. The location of the blocking sand has little impact. The first phase of the project only increases the diversion of the river by 100m3/s compared to the current situation, which will not aggravate the harm of salt water intrusion at the Yangtze River Estuary. During the dry season of the Yangtze River, avoidance measures can be taken to avoid aggravating the salt water intrusion at the Yangtze River Estuary. ② The Huanghuaihai Plain has formed a relatively complete drainage system and accumulated rich experience in preventing and controlling soil salinization. Secondary soil salinization in northern irrigation areas can be prevented and controlled. ③According to experiments and water diversion practices, water diversion will not spread schistosomiasis from the south to the north. ④ Water diversion is beneficial to aquatic life in lakes along the water transfer route, and will not have any significant impact on aquatic life in the Yangtze River Estuary and its nearby sea areas.

The east line project consists of a series of individual projects such as water conveyance channels, pumping stations, water storage lakes, yellow water crossing projects, pollution control projects, soil and water conservation projects, power supply, dispatching, operation and management facilities. On this basis, water diversion plans of different scales are formed. The total investment in the first, second and third phases of the east route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project is 42 billion yuan.

1.1.3 Western Route Project

The Western Route Project of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project is a major cross-basin water diversion project that diverts water from the main tributaries of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River to the upper reaches of the Yellow River. It is an important project to supplement the shortage of water resources in the Yellow River. , a major strategic project to solve the drought and water shortage in northwest my country and promote the management and development of the Yellow River. The western line of water diversion means building dams and reservoirs on the upper reaches of the Tongtian River, the tributaries of the Yangtze River, the Yalong River, and the upper reaches of the Dadu River. The dam sites are at an altitude of 2,900 to 4,000 meters, and water diversion tunnels are used to pass through the Bayan Hara Mountains, the watershed between the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. The water flows into the Yellow River.

Severe water shortages have caused frequent interruptions in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, intensifying the contradiction between supply and demand, deteriorating the ecological environment, and aggravating water pollution, posing a serious threat to the wetlands and biodiversity in the estuary area. At the same time, the siltation of the main channel of the Yellow River has increased, The overflow capacity of flat beaches is reduced and the burden of flood control is increased. Water shortage will become a constraint on the sustainable economic and social development of the Yellow River Basin and related areas. Implementing the Western Route Project of South-to-North Water Diversion is the fundamental way to solve water shortage. The west, east and middle routes of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, together with the Yangtze River, Yellow River, Huaihe River and Haihe River, form a water resource network that feeds each other from east to west and distributes water from north to south, jointly solving the water shortage problem in northern my country. The western route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project is not only necessary, but also very urgent. Experts predict that water diversion from the west can fundamentally change the northwest desert, reduce the occurrence of sand dust and sandstorms, make the soil in the northwest become wetter from drought, and significantly change the ecological environment of the western region.

The water supply target of the Western Line Project is mainly to solve the water shortage problem involving the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River and the Guanzhong Plain of the Wei River in 6 provinces (autonomous regions) including Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, and Shanxi. Combined with the construction of the Daliushu Water Conservancy Project on the main stream of the Yellow River, water can also be supplied to the Hexi Corridor area in Gansu adjacent to the Yellow River Basin, and water can also be replenished to the lower reaches of the Yellow River when necessary. The water supply targets are mainly water for the ecological environment, including tributaries and soil and water conservation water to reduce the amount of water entering the Yellow River and supplement the water to the main stream of the Yellow River, urban life and industry, as well as agricultural irrigation.

The western line project is planned to be implemented in three phases. According to the "South-to-North Water Diversion Project Master Plan", the first phase of the project will divert 40×108m3 of water from the six tributaries of the Yalong River and the upper reaches of the Dadu River (from the four tributaries of the Dadu River, Ake River, Mako River, Duke River, and Sequ River* **Water diversion of 25×108m3, ***15×108m3 of water will be transferred from the Niqu River and Daqu River, two tributaries of the Yalong River); the second phase of the project will transfer 50×108m3 of water from the main stream of the Yalong River; the third phase of the project will transfer 50×108m3 of water from the main stream of the Yalong River; Tianhe water diversion is 80×108m3. According to the original plan of the first phase of the West Line project, the project plan was approved in July 2001; the project proposal was from July 2001 to 2004; the feasibility study was from 2005 to 2006; the preliminary design was from 2007 to 2009; bidding documents Prepared for 2010. At present, due to other reasons, the country has made adjustments and delays to the western line project.

1.1.4 Middle Line Project

The middle line project of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project diverts water from the Danjiangkou Reservoir through the Yellow River, along the west side of the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, and flows northward to Beijing and Tianjin. It is named because the location of the water diversion port is in the middle of the east and west lines. This book only covers the first phase of the South-to-North Water Diversion Middle Route Project.