page_title: South–North Water Transfer Project
section_title: Central route
hierarchical_section_title: South–North Water Transfer Project / Central route
caption_attribution_description: 中文: 南水北调中线陶岔渠首 English: The starting point of the Central Route of the South–North Water Transfer Project. Looking "upstream", toward the Danjiangkou Reservoir, from which the water is coming
context_page_description: The South–North Water Transfer Project, also translated as the South-to-North Water Diversion Project is a multi-decade infrastructure mega-project in China. Ultimately it aims to channel 44.8 billion cubic meters of fresh water annually from the Yangtze River in southern China to the more arid and industrialized north through three canal systems:
  The Eastern Route through the course of the Grand Canal;
  The Central Route flowing from the upper reaches of the Han River to Beijing and Tianjin;
  The Western Route which goes from three tributaries of Yangtze River near the Bayankala Mountain to provinces like Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Ningxia.
  Mao Zedong discussed the idea for a mass engineering project as an answer to China's water problems as early as 1952. He reportedly said, "there's plenty of water in the south, not much water in the north. If at all possible; borrowing some water would be good." The complete project was expected to cost $62 billion – more than twice as much as the Three Gorges Dam. By 2014, more than $79 billion had been spent, making it one of the most ambitious and expensive engineering projects in human history.
context_section_description: The central, or middle, route runs from Danjiangkou Reservoir on the Han river, a tributary of the Yangtze River, to Beijing. This project involved raising the height of the Danjiangkou dam by increasing the dam crest elevation from 162 m to 176.6 m above the sea level. This addition to the dam's height allowed the water level in the reservoir to rise from 157m to 170 m above the sea level.  And this, allowed the flow into the water diversion canal to begin "downhill", pulled by gravity, to the lower elevation of the canals.
  The middle route, also colloquially known as the Grand Aqueduct, is built on and across the North China Plain. The canal was constructed so that gravity is the force pushing the flow of the water all the way from the Danjiangkou Reservoir to Beijing, without the need for pumping stations. The greatest engineering challenge of the route was the building of two tunnels under the Yellow River, to carry the canal's flow. Construction on the central route began in 2004. In 2008, the 307 km-long northern stretch of the central route was completed at a cost of US$2 billion. Water in that stretch of the canal does not come from the Han River but from reservoirs in Hebei Province, south of Beijing. Farmers and industries in Hebei had to cut back on water consumption to allow for water to be transferred to Beijing.
  On Google Maps, one can see the canal's intake at the Danjiangkou Reservoir (32°40′26″N 111°42′32″E), its crossing of the Baihe River north of Nanyang, Henan (33°6′41″N 112°37′30″E), the Shahe River in 
  Lushan County, Henan (33°42′49″N 112°56′40″E), the Ying River in Yuzhou, Henan (34°11′05″N 113°26′18″E), and the Yellow River upstream from Zhengzhou (34°52′55″N 113°13′14″E). The canal eventually reaches the southwestern suburbs of Beijing in the Juma River valley in Zhuozhou, Hebei (39°30′26.3″N 115°47′30.2″E).
  The whole project was expected to be completed around 2010. Final completion was in 2014 to allow for more environmental protections to be built along the route. One problem was the impact of the project on the Han River, below the Danjiangkou Dam, from which approximately one-third of the water is diverted. One long-term solution being considered is to build another canal to divert water from the Three Gorges Dam to Danjiangkou Reservoir.  On Friday, Dec. 12, 2014, the middle leg of China’s South to North Water Project, the world’s largest water transfer project to date, opened.
  Another major challenge was the resettlement of around 330,000 persons who were living near Danjiangkou Reservoir (at its prior, lower elevation), and along the route of the canal. On October 18, 2009, Chinese officials began to relocate residents from the areas of the Hubei and Henan provinces who were to be affected by the reservoir. The completed canal route is approximately 1,264 km long, initially providing 9.5 km³ of water annually. By 2030, water transfers is expected to increase to 12 to 13 km³ annually, although in dry years the annual amount transferred will be less (at least 6.2 km³, with a 95% guarantee rate).
  Industries are prohibited from locating on the reservoir's watershed to keep its water drinkable.
caption: South–North Water Transfer Project Central route starting point taocha in Xichuan County, Nanyang, Henan
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