A chronic drought is leaving North China desolated and forcing many in southern China to do what has been feared must be done for over fifty years – build a canal system to channel water from the Yangtze, Yellow, and Han rivers north to Beijing and Tianjin.
Three 1,300-km canals will be constructed in the western, central and eastern parts of China so that water from the upper, middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River will be brought to the north, where water supply is not adequate.
This canal system, which would transport at least six trillion gallons of water each year, it would be like creating a channel to supply Boston and New York with drinking water from the Mississippi River.
With an estimated investment of 486 billion yuan, the three canals will be capable of transferring 44.8 billion cum of water by 2050.