People in Yangzhou city, east China’s Jiangsu province, have hailed General Secretary Xi Jinping’s instructions on the promotion of the South-North Water Diversion Project during his inspection tour in the city last week.
When visiting a site of the Jiangdu Key Water Conservancy Project on November 13, Xi Jinping learned about the planning and construction of the eastern route of the country's South-to-North Water Diversion Project, and the operation of the water conservancy project.
Xi stressed coordination of implementation of the country's South-to-North Water Diversion Project and water-saving efforts in northern China.
He also stressed guiding the development of cities and industries based on water capacities and making more efforts in water conservation.
Xia Fangkun, CPC chief and head of Jiangdu Key Water Conservancy Project:"The General Secretary made detailed inquiry into the progress of the first phase of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project,and the comparison of the water quality in the eastern and central routes.I think the General Secretary is very concerned about the project."
The Jiangdu Water Conservancy Project is the source of the eastern route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. In the past seven years, Jiangsu has transported 4.7 billion cubic meters of water to the north, equivalent to the storage capacity of five Luoma Lake.
Zhang Yu, Director of the Fourth Pumping Station, Jiangdu Water Conservancy Project Administration:"The general secretary inspected the site of our project operation,and then looked at the big screen of our modern management.He was pleased to be informed that we have operated safely for more than 6,000 days and pumped over 78 billion cubic meters of water.We were really excited."
The General Secretary stressed coordination of implementation of the country's South-to-North Water Diversion Project and water-saving efforts in northern China.
Ma Qian, Deputy Director of Provincial Hydrology and Water Resources Survey Bureau:"The General Secretary emphasized that the implementation of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project,is meant to scientifically adjust water resources.We are the source of the water transfer project.Only the quality of the source water can be guaranteed,and then the water quality of the entire water delivery line can be guaranteed."
The second phase of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project is being planned to pave the way for the supply of 5.9 billion cubic meters of water to Beijing, Tianjin and Hubei.
The remarkable South-to-North Water Diversion Project is the fruit of 12 years of hard work. By December 2019, the project had channeled nearly 30 billion cubic meters of water, which was equivalent to the water reserve of 2,140 Hangzhou West Lakes. The project has become a lifeline of water supply to over 120 million people, and it has been the main source of water supply in multiple cities.
The South-to-North Water Diversion Project carries even more meaning than supplying water to China's arid northern regions. It demonstrates the power of the national unity. At the southern end of the central route, "send clear water of the Yangtze River to Beijing and Tianjin" once was a household slogan when the project broke ground. In Xichuan County alone, 100,000 people joined hands, carrying poles and baskets and rowing small wooden boats to move clay and sand that were used to intercept the Hanjiang River. Through unrelenting efforts, they built the Danjiangkou Reservoir, the largest ever man-made lake in Asia.
The South-to-North Water Diversion Project generates ecological benefits to the receiving areas as well. Before receiving diverted water from the South, Beijing had to exploit large amount of groundwater to meet the city's water demand, resulting in years of groundwater level decline. With the supply of diverted water from the south, the amount of groundwater exploited decreased year by year, and the levels have even shown a gradually increase. By October 2019, groundwater level in the plain area of Beijing has increased by 2.88 meters from before it received diverted water supply.
The South-to-North Water Diversion Project is of great significance both now and into the future. Throughout the history of trans-basin water diversion projects, the South-to-North Water Diversion Project broke the nation's and even the world's records in terms of construction scale, distance of water diversion, beneficiary population, effort in resettlement, and the complexity of engineering.
(source:ourjiangsu.com)
