China officially inaugurated the largest water diversion of project in the world, which will channel 44.8 billion cubic meters of water from Yangtze in southwest to north China.

Approximately $79 billion has already been spent for the plan, making the South-North Water Transfer Project one of the most expensive engineering projects in the world.

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With rapid growth of cities, development of heavy industries and demand for irrigation, North China has faced water shortage problems that may have a serious effect on the development of the country.

The project started with a comment from Mao Zedong in the 1950s during an inspection tour where he said: "The south has plenty of water but the north is dry. If we could borrow some, that would be good."

The diversion project plan consists of three sections: the eastern line, running from Yangtze to Tianjin; the middle line, from Danjiangjou to Beijing; and the western line, from Yangtze to Yellow River.

Although the transfer project will solve the uneven distribution of water in China, it does not completely solve water scarcity. Moreover, it creates more problems as the project goes more massive.

Qiu Baoxing, vice minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, said, "As the scale of the project gets bigger and distance gets longer, it is more and more difficult to divert water."

He suggested that "recycled water could replace diverted water" and to "develop water desalination technology."

This project faced a lot of objections as many problems arise. As it transfers water in long distances, many of it could be wasted with leaks in pipelines and evaporation.

In addition to this, the construction of the central route caused around 330, 000 residents from Hubei and Henan provinces were relocated. The large number of migrant residents include farmers whose livelihoods were destroyed to give way to the canal route.

The huge cost of the water diversion project will only make the water expensive for consumers. Jennifer Turner, the director of china Environment Forum in Washington DC, referred to the projects as a "Band-Aid" solution.

The project has successfully provided relief water supply to north and it will soon divert water in a larger scale. But Turner says the project "will never solve north China's water problem."

Tagswater, south-north water transfer project, water scarcity, Environment, water shortage, Conservation