干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

To achieve domestic food security and help alleviate poverty, China is undertaking ambitious water transfer projects as a means of optimizing management of its water resources. This article proposes a three-pronged approach to south-to-north water diversion in China. The plan consists of an extension to the current middle-route water diversion project, an alternative (and expanded) western route, and a trunk canal system to transfer water to the northwest. With the completion of the plan, the total annual capacity of south-to-north water diversion in China would be 238 x 10(9) m(3). Total project investment is estimated at 3,147 billion yuan ($499 billion). Major benefits generated by the project include an annual income of 287 billion yuan ($45 billion) through sales of water and hydropower, an addition of 44.3 x 10(6) ha (10(9) x 10(6) acres) of irrigated arable land, the relocation of 66.5 x 10(6) inhabitants to newly irrigated regions, and the conversion of 470,000 km(2) (181,468 sq mi) of desert to irrigated land and forest to provide wind shelter and preserve topsoil.