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 Western Route Project

Western route is still under planning. Unlike central and eastern routes, the western route is the most ambitious and most difficult project. As the strategic project to solve the water crisis in northwestern China, western route will divert water from the upper reach of Yangtze River to Yellow River. It is designed to deal with three tributaries of Yangtze River: Tongtian, Yalong and Dadu rivers on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. As Freeman depicts, those three tributaries contain nearly one-third water resources of China and the project will move water nearly 500 km through the Bayankala Mountain range with elevations of 10000 to more than 16000 feet above sea level to northwestern China. It will help replenish Yellow River to irrigate western China and also meet the demands of urban, industrial and energy development in that region. This project faces difficulties not only in technologies but also in severe climate and complicated topography in that region. The relief of western China is much higher than eastern part. Thus, western route project is still in planning process and currently does not have clear date to start.

Reference for all the information of the three routes 

  1. "South-to-North Water Diversion Project, China." Water-technology.net. Web. 28 Mar. 2016. <http://www.water-technology.net/projects/south_north/>.

  2. Liu, Changming, and Hongxing Zheng. "South-to-north Water Transfer Schemes for China." International Journal of Water Resources Development 18.3 (2002): 453-71. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

  3. Magee, Darrin. "Moving the River? China’s South–North Water Transfer Project." Engineering Earth (2010): 1499-514. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

  4. Freeman, Carla. "Quenching the Dragon's Thirst: The South-North Water Transfer Project—Old Plumbing for New China?" China Environment Forum. N.p., 7 July 2011. Web. 3 May 2016.

  5. South-to-North Water Diversion. Web. 3 May 2016. <http://www.nsbd.gov.cn/zx/english/>.

  6. "South North Water Transfer Project." Baidu Baike. Baidu. Web. 3 May 2016. <http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=kdRGEjIbbqM-vukDja-Xp0x_bwxgPmJZEgFFY42k4iGSrXbLosCwKL8Z4Mada5f7-_wYtsxcRU560pgzGfUzxa#3>.

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