The South-to-North Water Diversion Project

My first post discussed many of the issues surrounding China’s water security, however recent scrutiny of China’s over-reliance on coal for energy production has revealed that an alarming amount of water is consumed by this industry. As the population continues to grow and modernise demands for energy are expected to increase drastically. While China has made significant improvements in the amount of energy it draws form renewable sources, over a quarter of this new energy is expected to come from coal.

Figure 1: Coal mine in Inner Mongolia

 Source: Cho, 2011

12% of national water resources are consumed by coal industries through its processing, mining and combustion. This figure is expected to rise to 17% by 2020, with coal-fired plants using around 34billion m3 of water per year by themselves (IRENA, 2014). The issue is one of a spatial nature as the coal resources lie in the dry northern and western provinces that are already considered water scarce. Ma Jun, author of China’s Water Crisis and Director of the institute for Public and Environmental Affairs, in an interview with Circle of Blue, claimed that if this water-energy problem is not resolved, then there could be devastating consequences for energy security, public health, global relations, biodiversity and even social stability.

Over the last decade as new reports such as this are published and the full extent of China’s water shortage becomes apparent, there has been an increase in political pressure from the international community on both supranational and national levels for China to take action. The numerous media outlets and academic studies that have commented on the problem have also helped ramp up this pressure. When it is published that 24,000 settlements in North and West China have been abandoned over the last 5 decades due to desertification, then it creates a host of other issues for the central government, other than the water shortage itself (Brown, 2011). One of these being that this sort of press is highly damaging to the carefully crafted geopolitical image that China has made for itself. China’s 21st century image of being the new hyper power on the global stage, the main economic and political rival to the USA is undercut by reports that it can’t manage to provide its own population with clean fresh water.

In an attempt to address both the negative media and the issue of water scarcity itself the Chinese government have moved away from the soft approaches of water conservation and efficiency toward large scale hard engineering projects. They believe that these projects will gain more media traction and help to improve their international image as well as their fresh water resources.

 Figure 2: Water scarcity map of China

Source: Quartz, 2014

One of the biggest issues surrounding China’s water crisis is the spatial and temporal mismatch of resources that I discussed in my first post. Figure 2 clearly shows the disparity between the arid north and relatively water rich south. The solution as Mao Zedong first said in 1952, is to “borrow a little water from the south” (Quartz, 2014). His suggestion was finally taken forward 50 years later in December 2002 as work began on the controversial and imaginatively named South-to-North Water Diversion Project (SNWDP). The project expected to cost a staggering $62billion is the largest of its kind ever attempted. Once it is completed in 2050 they will have essentially created a link between the Yangtze, Yellow, Huaihe and Haihe rivers. It will, once completed divert 44.8 billion cubic meters of water 2,700 miles (the distance between the two coasts of the USA), this represents a reallocation of almost 10% of Chinas total surface water resources (Cheng, et al, 2013). They are planning to divert more water than what currently flows through the River Thames by using a series of canals (the longest in the world); pipelines; pumping stations that could fill Olympic sized pools in minuets; and a giant aqueduct. The Chinese government it seems are taking no half measures.

 Figure 3: Map showing the routes of the SNWDP

Source: Quatrz, 2014

However there are a number of academics, environmentalists and economists who have voiced concerns about the project. They worry that even with the numerous water treatment plants that will run along the course of the canals the diverted water will still be to polluted, especially if further industrialisation takes place along the canal routes (Zhang, 2009). There are also fears that the rivers from which the water is being diverted will also suffer. By removing water and slowing the flow you risk damaging the rivers environmental capacity, its ability to clear out pollution (Zhang, 2009). Also as Climate change continues to create a dryer climate some fear that the southern provinces may soon have water scarcity issues of their own. The project will also damage or destroy hundreds of culturally valuable archaeological and religious sites as well as displacing almost a half million people.

Considering the extent of the human and environmental costs of this project it raises the question is this truly worth it just for a 10% reallocation in water. It has been described as a “high-risk gamble” as instead of displaying the power and strength of the central government it may well have the opposite effect and highlight the governments glaring inadequacies in managing and resolving China's water crisis. (Feng, et al, 2007)

Of the SNWDP, Ma Jun said, “this extra volume will only delay the coming of the crisis a little bit. It will not really resolve the whole problem…it cannot fill out even the current, existing gap, let alone that much bigger gap in the future, unless we do something very, very different in our water governance.” (Circle of Blue, 2011)

It is clear then that this is not going to solve China’s water problem, and they know this as the head engineer of the project said that “for now, the transfer project is just compensating an amount. It can’t completely fix the problem” (Quartz,2014). However you must consider the position they are in, with conservation and efficiency projects failing to have the desired effect, the central government has been forced to take action.

Figure 4: Canal of the SNWDP

Source: Quartz, 2014