Constant perfection of the schemes of“South-to-North Water Transfer”Project

In the 50’s of the 20th century，the Huanghe River Commission，and the Planning office of the Changjiang River（now the Changjiang River Commission）covered water diversion schemes in various planning documents and carried out analysis on the possibility，necessity and options of water diversion.In August 29，1958，the “Instructions to Water Resources Work”of the CPC Central Committee pointed out:to divert water from south（mainly from the Changjiang River）to north should be given priority for the formation of relatively long-term plans in the whole country，i.e.to accelerate the pace of making a unified plan for connecting water systems of the Changjiang with the Huaihe，the Huanghe，the Hanjiang and the Haihe River basins.This is the first time for“South-to-North Water Transfer”being formally written in the document of the Central Committee.

Within the following 40 years and more，investigation，planning，study or verification on the strategic concept of”South-to-North Water Transfer”Project in various scales or at different levels have been carried out without interruption，even though with ups and downs.A great deal of study works have been done by the Ministries，including Ministry of Water Resources（MWR），Departments in the Provinces（Municipalities），as well as scientific and research institutions.The layout of three routes，namely the East Route，Middle Route and West Route is the consequence of a long-time study，being selected among more than 50 alternatives.At the meantime，people acquired more sophisticated knowledge about the laws of economy，society and nature，and the research of“South-to-North Water Transfer”

Project developed more and more in depth.A number of valuable achievements of research and project entities for promoting economic development and protecting the area were formed.

Since the 80’s of the 20th century，along with the rapid economic and social development，together with the effects of climatic change，the contradiction of water shortage in North China becomes more serious，the losses and environmenta deterioration due to water shortage become more apparent.Preparation work of the Project has to be accelerated.Specific requirements were all documented by the Central Government in the 7th，8th，9th and 10th Five-year Plans.

In line with the requirement of the Central Government，relevant departments and specialists of various fields put great efforts on speeding up the early-stagepreparation work and achieved a series of notable results，which established th solid base for the implementation of“South-to-North Water Transfer”Project.

hancheng

See author's posts