Chinanews, Beijing, Mar. 21 – Construction of the middle line of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, which was scheduled to be completed by 2008, is delayed. Beijing won't be able to use water resources from the Yangtze River until 2010, the Beijing Evening News reported.

 

In order to guarantee that Beijing has sufficient water supply, the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in Beijing section will be completed by the end of this year so that, if need be, the water resources from Hebei can be transported to Beijing through this line, an official from the Beijing Municipal Water Affairs Bureau told this reporter.

 

When completed, the middle line of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project can carry a total of 13 million cubic meters of water from China’s southern region. About 9.5 billion cubic meters of water will be diverted in the first phase. The middle line starts from the Danjiangkou Reservoir in Hubei and terminates in the Summer Palace in Beijing with a total length of 1,277 kilometers.

 

Before the project is completed, Beijing can transport water resources from three channels in case there is water shortage problem during the 2008 Olympic Games. First, it can pump the city’s underground water or divert water from various reservoirs near Beijing. Second, it can ship some water from Shanxi and Hebei provinces. When necessary, it can also use some water from the Yellow River, said Gao Erkun, head of the Water Resources Department under the Ministry of Water Resources.