China $700 billion water diversion project benefits over 100 million people

[Paul2]

This was a joke made by 葛优 from a TV show 30 years ago.

Not in it entirety. In sixties, there was a quite a serious attempt by state hydrology office to blow a hole through Qinling with hydrogen bombs. Allegedly, Mao didn't let them have it, all of them went to military.

Nevertheless, the project is going on. It's every's engineer's nightmare. The main tunnel is going through "Qinling foot belt:" granite from the south, fault zones, and then through karst and sand pockets, and then deep underground acquirers. After that, they will need to do the above ground portion of the project, aqueducts, and canals.

All hail Chinese hydraulic engineers!

 

[Paul2]

And it the next 10 years, we may start work on redirecting Brahmaputra into Xinjiang under Red Flag river project. And it will be a question of 4-5 trillion CNY

And then, there can be a near Sci-Fi scale pumped power/water storage project in Tarim Basin. Basically hydrologists propose to turn Tarim Basin into an inland sea, and at the same time into a giant power storage. Major outflows from the basin will be dammed, and in addition to redirected rivers, there will be giant pumping stations built on southern side of Kunlun mountains, supplying water through tunnels.

 

[Uguduwa]

Respect to Chinese engineers. Only sky is the limit for them.

 

[powastick]

And it the next 10 years, we may start work on redirecting Brahmaputra into Xinjiang under Red Flag river project. And it will be a question of 4-5 trillion CNY

And then, there can be a near Sci-Fi scale pumped power/water storage project in Tarim Basin. Basically hydrologists propose to turn Tarim Basin into an inland sea, and at the same time into a giant power storage. Major outflows from the basin will be dammed, and in addition to redirected rivers, there will be giant pumping stations built on southern side of Kunlun mountains, supplying water through tunnels.

I heard this was a fake news.

"A proposal by a group of apparently government-linked scientists and engineers to divert water from Himalayan glaciers to the arid province of Xinjiang, in the PRC’s northwest, caught the imagination of the PRC internet after the first conference held for discussion of the project in November 2017. Following the wide attention on the Chinese-language web, articles on the proposal—known as the Red Flag River Project (红旗河方案)—soon made their way into English-language media, and were picked up across the world. The proposal, which would divert enormous amounts of water northward, was greeted with particular alarm in parts of the Indian press, since Himalayan glacier melt is an important source of water for two of India’s most important rivers, and the two countries have a long history of disagreement and mistrust related to use of the region’s scarce water resources. The proposal was, in all likelihood, a fraud perpetrated by an unscrupulous entrepreneur seeking to raise money for a lending scheme. PRC internet users, accustomed to the pervasiveness of “fake news” on the Chinese-language internet, quickly sniffed out the falsehood, and buried the Red Flag River proposal under a mountain of online skepticism."

 

[JSCh]

It may not be possible to knock out Qinling mountain, but this is possible, a nearly 100 km long water diversion tunnel that hole through under the Qinling mountain. To be completed by 2020.

China builds Asia's longest water diversion tunnel | CCTV English
CCTV English
Published on Aug 29, 2018

China is building Asia's longest water diversion tunnel that has the biggest construction challenges: The Qinling Water Diversion Tunnel. With the completion of construction, the tunnel will alleviate water shortages in Xi'an and the Guangzhong Basin.


There are people that say the following project that was just approved this year is a test project for one of the solution of Tibet to Xinjiang water diversion project because of similarity in engineering challenge.

Water project to quench thirsty cities in Yunnan
By LI LEI | China Daily | Updated: 2019-02-01 10:04

Jinsha River in Northwest Yunnan province, Nov 21, 2018. [Photo/IC]

The Ministry of Water Resources said it invested more than 5 billion yuan ($745 million) in 2018 in a water diversion project that aims to relieve severe water shortages in the central part of Yunnan province.

Another 7 billion yuan is expected to be invested this year, according to a news release provided by the ministry.

The project, approved in March, aims to draw water from a section of the Jinsha River in Yunnan's northwest to its central cities, including Chuxiong, Yuxi and Kunming. The area, which contains about one-third of the province's population, contributed more than half of the province's GDP, but has been severely hampered by a lack of water resources.

The total cost of the project is estimated at 82.6 billion yuan, and the time for construction will be 96 months, the ministry said. Construction has begun at about 90 percent of the planned project sites, it said.

When finished, the project is expected to break the bottleneck of economic development in the region, and help improve its aquatic ecosystem.

By the ministry's estimate, about 3.4 billion cubic meters of water will be diverted to the region annually by 2040 as a supplementary resource for residents and industries.

The diversion is the largest of its kind in scale and investment in Southwest China. As a result of the region's difficult geology, which is unfriendly to construction, it is also among the most demanding projects ever to be undertaken, the ministry said.

In addition to supplementing the region's water supply, the 664-kilometer diversion project will help improve the ecology of rivers and lakes, it said.

The Jinsha River is an upper section of the Yangtze River, the longest in Asia and the third-longest in the world. It flows through the provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan in western China.

A bit of delay, but will be finished by this year,

Just西安​

​

22-1-10 19:30​

来自 微博 weibo.com​

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苦苦鏖战十多年，最大埋深2012米，掘进最后不到500米！引汉济渭秦岭输水隧洞建设啃下最难骨头，今年一季度将实现98.3公里全线贯通，下半年汉江水直达西安，以解决城市生活与工业生产用水短缺问题。#西安身边事# #引汉济渭# #悦西安#​

Just Xi'an
22-1-10 19:30 from Weibo

After more than ten years of hard fighting, with the maximum depth of 2012 meters, and the final excavation is less than 500 meters! In the first quarter of this year, the 98.3-kilometer line will be completed, and the water from the Han River will go directly to Xi'an in the second half of the year, so as to solve the problem of water shortage in urban life and industrial production.

 

[FuturePAF]

The next mega project will be Hongqi river (红旗河 which diverts Tibet water to Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, the cost would be around $1 trillion.

If China is building a canal (navigable?) to Xinjiang and linking it with the eastern coast, an extension of the canal could link up with the navigable Rivers of Central Asia, creating a potentially secure sea route to Europe via the Caspian. At the very least it could make the rail links to Europe and Pakistan (via Central Asia) commercially viable for Chinese investors looking to ship products to and from the Middle East and Africa without worry about the straits of Malacca

 

[Globenim]

If China is building a canal (navigable?) to Xinjiang and linking it with the eastern coast, an extension of the canal could link up with the navigable Rivers of Central Asia, creating a potentially secure sea route to Europe via the Caspian. At the very least it could make the rail links to Europe and Pakistan (via Central Asia) commercially viable for Chinese investors looking to ship products to and from the Middle East and Africa without worry about the straits of Malacca

They are not designed for shipping. Often its just a narrow tunnel.

A bit of delay, but will be finished by this year,

Just西安​

​

22-1-10 19:30​

来自 微博 weibo.com​

关注​

苦苦鏖战十多年，最大埋深2012米，掘进最后不到500米！引汉济渭秦岭输水隧洞建设啃下最难骨头，今年一季度将实现98.3公里全线贯通，下半年汉江水直达西安，以解决城市生活与工业生产用水短缺问题。#西安身边事# #引汉济渭# #悦西安#​

Just Xi'an
22-1-10 19:30 from Weibo

After more than ten years of hard fighting, with the maximum depth of 2012 meters, and the final excavation is less than 500 meters! In the first quarter of this year, the 98.3-kilometer line will be completed, and the water from the Han River will go directly to Xi'an in the second half of the year, so as to solve the problem of water shortage in urban life and industrial production.

View attachment 810673
View attachment 810674​

It would be ineresting to know if the Central and Western route will always run at full capacity or have some spare capacity for flooding seasons. Even if its just a small amount you could reroute flood water that would end up in the Yangtze to unaffected areas and you could catch the excess water in reservoires in dry areas too.

 

[vi-va]

If China is building a canal (navigable?) to Xinjiang and linking it with the eastern coast, an extension of the canal could link up with the navigable Rivers of Central Asia, creating a potentially secure sea route to Europe via the Caspian. At the very least it could make the rail links to Europe and Pakistan (via Central Asia) commercially viable for Chinese investors looking to ship products to and from the Middle East and Africa without worry about the straits of Malacca

Haha. Not possible.
Please take elevation into consideration.

 

[FuturePAF]

Haha. Not possible.
Please take elevation into consideration.

True. But imagine if they built enough docks and dams along the route that it was possible. It would make shipping freight as cheap as possible if it was navigable and connected to the Irtysh River (with one route directly north to the Artic) and another route with some Canals to the Caspian, a ship could then go through the Don-Volga Canal and then onto the Danube and Rhine and be in the Atlantic.

On the Bohai Side, excess water could allow a canal to be built to connect the Bohai Sea to the Harbin could then allow ships to move to the Sea of Okhotsk, getting around the first Island Chain.

If these canals are built and the “Grand Indus Canal” outlined in the “Pakistan Flood Control System”; linked by a few railways and roads to get over the steepest mountains or dry terrain, it could be a navigable water system to rival the Mississippi, and make Central Asia an area with a lot of growth potential. On the Pakistan side, it could make shipping from Africa to Pakistan, up the Grand Indus Canal and over the mountain to China and the Canal network there, competitive with Shipping around Asia to the Chinese east coast. (This is where a Chinese owned and built Trans-African Rail corridor from Senegal to Djibouti then under the Red Sea to a re-stablized Yemen and Oman could be a game changer for Gwadar, especially if the Grand Indus Canal goes all the way to Gwadar)

If labor costs are factored in, it could make Central Asia a huge growth engine for all the economies around it.

These are the kinds of infrastructure that could earn a lot of profit for China, earn it some serious soft power, and transform the region into areas of growth for everyone, especially as Chinese construction companies look for opportunities outside of real estate inside China.

For a $700 Billion investment, putting in “a little more” to acquire a series of secure supply routes would be a worthwhile investment, don’t you think?

 

[Nan Yang]

If China is building a canal (navigable?) to Xinjiang and linking it with the eastern coast, an extension of the canal could link up with the navigable Rivers of Central Asia, creating a potentially secure sea route to Europe via the Caspian. At the very least it could make the rail links to Europe and Pakistan (via Central Asia) commercially viable for Chinese investors looking to ship products to and from the Middle East and Africa without worry about the straits of Malacca

Actually the Eastern route is part of the Grand Canal. The Grand Canal is navigable.

 

[FuturePAF]

Actually the Eastern route is part of the Grand Canal. The Grand Canal is navigable.

So the value is a given. If the hope of distributing the wealth to create a more harmonious society and find new engines of growth, especially as much within China’s borders, a navigable canal all the way to Central Asia, Harbin, and within Pakistan (from Peshawar and Lahore down to Karachi and Gwadar) makes strategic sense. What do you think? Couple this with a trans-African railway, a tunnel to Yemen and Oman, with a RoRo Freight Ferry Service to Gwadar, and BRI’s “Central Route” will be ready for alot of the projected growth in Africa (as well as jump start growth in the Chinese West, while minimizing the exposure to potential Naval issues).

 

[beijingwalker]

Actually the Eastern route is part of the Grand Canal. The Grand Canal is navigable.

Some scholars suggest that by changing the landscape of Xinjiang's desert, it'll change the whole climate of that region too, which will have an adverse effect to the east part of China and some neighboring countries.

 

[Globenim]

Actually the Eastern route is part of the Grand Canal. The Grand Canal is navigable.

Have you looked at a map where the Eastern Route is? Its called Eastern Route because its in Chinas East and connects the South to the North. Its practically irrelevant to the question of establishing a full maritime route via Central Asia. The massive elevation of the Tibetian plateau and surroundings and and the Gobi desert make the idea of a East West canal extending beyond the shippable rivers completely unfeasible to even build never mind an economical trip even if the route was granted for free and someone filled up the Gobi desert into a sea

 

[JSCh]

They are not designed for shipping. Often its just a narrow tunnel.


It would be ineresting to know if the Central and Western route will always run at full capacity or have some spare capacity for flooding seasons. Even if its just a small amount you could reroute flood water that would end up in the Yangtze to unaffected areas and you could catch the excess water in reservoires in dry areas too.

I believe the objective of these projects is for water diversion, flood relief is never a part of the project. The diff in scale of water flow is quite different, it could only be dealt with with other method.

There is however, the consideration of a project to divert water from Three gouge dam to Danjiangkou (source of the central route) that will somewhat help relief Yangtze flooding.

 

[Song Hong]

First the west leg of North South water transfer must be built first. The biggest hurdle is a 150km tunnel to bring water to upstream of liu jia xia dam.