China to Divert Yellow River Water for Beijing Games

AFP / Google News ^ | January 24, 2008 | AFP

[JACKRUSSELL]

(BEIJING) — China will begin diverting water from the Yellow River towards Beijing this month as part of a major project to boost dwindling supplies ahead of the Olympics, state press reported.

Up to 150 million cubic metres (5.3 billion cubic feet) of water will flow 399 kilometres (250 miles) along an ancient canal to Lake Baiyangdian, south of Beijing, over the next three months, the Dazhong Daily said.

"The plan to transfer water from the Yellow River to Lake Baiyangdian will be implemented to resolve the lake's water shortage crisis," the paper said on Monday.

At the same time, four reservoirs that naturally feed Baiyangdian, northern China's largest freshwater lake, will instead provide additional water for Beijing, which suffers chronic shortages, according to the paper.

The lake, about 70 kilometres from Beijing, has been decimated by environmental degradation for more than a decade as both water use and pollution has skyrocketed in tandem with China's booming economy.

The Yellow River diversion will begin in Liaocheng city in Shandong province in eastern China, the report said, citing the province's Yellow River Management Bureau.

It would then largely flow along the ancient "Grand Canal," one of China's earliest water projects, built nearly 1,400 years ago.

The first time such a transfer took place, in November 2006, it took 479 million cubic metres of water diverted at Liaocheng to supply 100 million cubic metres of water to Baiyangdian, the paper said.

The Yellow River, China's second largest and of huge symbolic and cultural importance, has itself been hit by rising water usage and has run dry short of the ocean for long periods in recent years.

Northern China is wracked with water shortages due to soaring demand, an ongoing drought and global warming. Per capita water usage in Beijing is already far below national averages.

Meanwhile, a separate project to divert Yellow River water to the Shandong city of Qingdao, where Olympic sailing events will take place, was completed last week, the paper said.

In that project, 105 million cubic metres of water was diverted from the Yellow River which eventually added some 70 million cubic metres into Qingdao's Jihongtan reservoir.

[JACKRUSSELL]

China's Yellow River 10% Sewage

November 21, 2006: A Chinese man washes a bucket in the red waters of Yellow River in Lanzhou, northwest China's Gansu province. (AP)

A man with the local environmental protection department collects sample from the Lanzhou section of the Yellow River in Lanzhou, capital of Northwest China's Gansu province November 21, 2006. The section of the Yellow River turned red and the cause of the pollution, covering a perimeter of two kilometers, is under investigation, local media reported. (China Daily Newsphoto)

Polluted water from the Yellow River reaches Jinan, east China's Shandong Province, January 10, 2006. (China Out Reuters/China Daily)

A general view of the polluted Lanzhou section of the Yellow River in Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu Province November 21, 2006. The section of the Yellow River turned red and the cause of the pollution is under investigation, local media reported. (China Daily)

A section of China's Yellow River is stained red from pollution caused by a discharge from a sewage pipe in Lanzhou, in western Gansu province Monday, Oct. 23, 2006. Environmental protection officials took samples and were trying to determine whether the sewage was toxic. (People's Daily)

[JACKRUSSELL]

(Please FReepmail me if you would like to be on or off of the list.)

[RichInOC]

“Watch out where the Shar Peis deliver
“And don’t you drink that Yellow River.”

[MinuteGal]

"Northern China is wracked with water shortages due to soaring demand, an ongoing drought and GLOBAL WARMING."

RIGHT!

The media just can't help itself, can it!

Leni

[dadgum]

“Watch out where the Shar Peis deliver
“And don’t you drink that Yellow River.”

---

LMAO!!!!!!

[FoxInSocks]

This Olympics is going to be a total fiasco.

[LibLieSlayer]

I thought “Yellow River” was a novel by I.P. Freely.

LLS

[shuckmaster]

When is Vegas going to start taking bets on how many days after the Olympics is over before China invades Taiwan? I’ve got a few bucks I want to place on 5.

[yankeedame]

"Northern China is wracked with water shortages due to soaring demand, an ongoing drought and GLOBAL WARMING."

Drought, my eye. Anything rather than face the truth:
In communist China the water, like food, is heavily subsidized. IOW, nowhere near the true market cost, e.g. in the west a gallon of piped in water may cost the consumer (we'll say) 30¢ a gallon. In red China, b/c massive subsidizes, it may cost the consumer (again, we'll say) .02¢ a gallon. As a result nobody -- consumers, government offices, farms, etc. -- has any incentive to use water efficiently. I mean, the stuff is so cheap...why bother?

Sort of like the old USSR where the government subsidized bread -- a 2-lb loaf cost the consumer about .04¢ Farmers were using it as animal feed, kids were using the rounded loaves as make-shift kickballs.

If Peking wants to solve China's water shortage, they should let the free market take over. Nothing slows "soaring demand' like actually having to pay a fair marker price for something.

[RSmithOpt]

“The horrendous levels of pollution of China’s Yellow River is a direct result of negative carbon credits brought on by Global Warming, Global Climate Change and it’s George Bush’s fault.”

[elcid1970]

Old Python tune:

“We love the Yangtze, Yangtze Kiang,.......

“Szechuan’s the province, and Shanghai is the port,

“And Yangtze is the river, that we all support!”

;^)

[steelyourfaith]

"Hot Air Cult"

~~Anthropogenic Global Warming ™ ping~~

[mass55th]

Reminds me of some funny book titles I heard as a kid:

"The Yellow River", by I.P. Daily. "Hole in the Mattress" by Mister Completely.

I also remember a souvenir cup we bought during a trip to Niagara Falls one year: "Member of the Pistol Club: Drink Til' Midnight...Pistol Dawn"