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Northwest China suffers from water scarcity and desertification, which affects the local ecological environment and economic development. To solve this problem, China has a grand engineering vision: to divert Tibetan water into the northwest, using the abundant water sources of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to deliver clean water and electricity to the northwest.
The project, which would change the face of the Northwest and benefit 500 million people, was also strongly opposed by India. This article will cover this project in depth.
The background of the diversion of water into the Northwest Project
The purpose of the project is to divert water from the Yarlung Zangbo River and other rivers on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the Yellow, Wei and Tao rivers in the northwest region, and then to arid areas such as Xinjiang.
In this way, the Northwest Territories will have enough water resources to turn deserts into oases, wastelands into farmland, and poverty into affluence.
It is important to know that the distribution of water resources in China is very uneven, with more water in the south and east, and less water in the north and west. In particular, the northwest region suffers from perennial drought and little rain, severe desertification and water scarcity. This has led to the local people's livelihood economic development lagging behind the eastern and central regions.
In order to solve this problem, China has been considering transferring water from the south or the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the northwest since the 50s of the last century. However, due to various factors such as technology, economy, and environment, this idea has not been realized.
Until 2014, the South-to-North Water Diversion Project was officially put into operation, delivering high-quality water resources from the south to the northern region. This project is known as a world-class water conservancy engineering miracle, and has accumulated rich experience and technology for China. At the same time, China's infrastructure capacity has also made a qualitative leap and has entered the world's first echelon.
As a result, China began to re-examine the feasibility and necessity of diverting water into the northwest. After years of exploration and demonstration, China finally decided to spend 4 trillion yuan to build this mega-project that benefits 500 million people. As soon as this news came out, it immediately attracted widespread attention and discussion around the world. Among them, there are many voices of praise, concern, doubt, and opposition.
The significance of diverting water into the Northwest Project
What is the significance of the project to divert water into the northwest? To put it simply, it is to let the people of the northwest region drink water, grow grain, and become rich. Specifically, there are the following aspects:
First, solve the problem of water shortage in the northwest region. The northwest region is the driest region in China, with an average annual precipitation of only about 200 millimeters, and most of it is concentrated in summer. This has led to a shortage of water resources such as rivers, lakes and groundwater.
According to statistics, the per capita water resources in the northwest region are only 1/10 of the national average, even below the world-recognized extreme water shortage line. This limits local agricultural, industrial, ecological and demographic development.
The project of diverting reservoir water into the northwest can transport a large amount of high-quality water resources to the northwest region, about 60 billion cubic meters per year, equivalent to the flow of the Yellow River.
In this way, the Northwest Territories can meet the basic domestic water, production water and ecological water needs, and improve the local drought resistance and disaster prevention capabilities.
Second, promote agricultural development and food security in the northwest region. Northwest China is one of China's important grain production bases, especially wheat, corn, cotton and other crops. However, due to the lack of water, the local agricultural irrigation area and efficiency are low, resulting in low agricultural yield and quality.
The project of diverting reservoir water into the northwest can provide sufficient irrigation water for the northwest region, increase the area and efficiency of agricultural irrigation, and improve agricultural output and quality.
It is estimated that this project can add 200 million mu of arable land in the northwest region and increase grain output by 150 million tons, equivalent to 1/4 of the country's total grain output. In this way, the Northwest Territories can ensure its own food security and contribute to the national food security.
Third, improve the ecological environment and climatic conditions in the northwest region. Due to drought and lack of rain, soil erosion is serious, and desertification and salinization are widespread. This has caused the deterioration of the local ecological environment, harsh climatic conditions, and a decline in the quality of life of the people.
It is estimated that the project could add 200,000 square kilometers of oases to the northwest region, equivalent to the area of four Beijing cities. In this way, the Northwest Territories can form a good ecosystem, improve local climatic conditions, increase local rainfall and humidity, and reduce local temperature differences and wind speeds.
Fourth, promote economic and social development and ethnic unity in the northwest region. The northwest region is one of the areas inhabited by many ethnic groups in China, including Han, Uyghur, Tibetan, Mongolian, Hui and other ethnic groups. However, due to water shortage and other reasons, the local economic and social development is relatively backward to the eastern and central regions, resulting in local livelihood problems and ethnic problems.
The project of diverting water into the northwest can provide a large amount of production water for the northwest region, promote the development of local industry, energy, transportation, tourism and other industries, increase local economic income and employment opportunities, and improve the living standards and happiness of local people. The project can increase the total economic output of the northwest region by 2 trillion yuan, equivalent to 1/10 of the national economic output.
To sum up, the project of diverting Tibetan water into the northwest is of great significance and value to the northwest region and even the whole country. This project can be said to benefit 500 million people and the Chinese nation. However, this project is not an easy task to achieve. It faces many difficulties and challenges, and even some countries oppose and interfere, such as India.
India's opposition
India is a country with a large population and a country with a shortage of water resources. Droughts and floods are frequent in many parts of India, causing a lot of suffering to the local people.
Many rivers in India flow from the Tibetan Plateau, the most important of which is the Ganges, which is regarded by Indians as a sacred river and the source of their life. Indians are very sensitive to the Ganges, and they fear that China's construction of water conservancy projects on the Tibetan Plateau will affect the water quantity and quality of the Ganges, and even threaten their national security.
Therefore, when India heard that China was going to build a project to divert Tibetan water into the northwest, they immediately expressed strong opposition. They believe that this project will weaken the water volume of the Brahmaputra and thus affect the flow of the Ganges. They also fear that China will use the project to control water sources and wage a water war against India. They even threatened that if China did not stop the project, they would use military means to stop it.
Is India's objection justified? Actually, no. First of all, the diversion of water into the northwest project only takes part of the water from the Brahmaputra River, and does not affect the overall volume of the Brahmaputra River. Second, the Brahmaputra and the Ganges are not the same river, they only merge into the Brahmaputra River in India.
The diversion of water into the northwest only affects the upper part of the Brahmaputra River, not the upper part of the Ganges. The upper reaches of the Ganges are dominated by glacial meltwater from the Himalayas, and are not directly related to the Hongqi River. Therefore, the Hongqi River water diversion project will not affect the volume of water in the Ganges.
Moreover, China is a responsible country, and it will not harm the interests of other countries for its own interests. China will notify the Indian government in advance before the construction project and hold friendly consultations with it. China will not use this project to threaten or blackmail India, let alone wage any water war. These are the ideas that the Indians themselves are worried about and created out of nothing.
The difficulty of engineering
In addition to India's opposition, diverting water into the northwest is a megaproject that not only has to invest trillions of dollars, but also has to overcome multiple technical problems and environmental risks.
First, the project will build multiple super deep buried long tunnels to avoid the high altitude areas of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Hengduan Mountains, reducing hydraulic losses and the risk of icing. The length of these tunnels is more than 100 kilometers, and the longest reaches 500 kilometers. The construction of these tunnels requires precise exploration, design and construction, which tests the technical level of tunnels on the mainland.
Second, the project had to deal with frequent seismic activity. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Hengduan Mountains are earthquake-prone areas, with multiple active faults along the diversion route. These earthquakes may cause tunnel damage, water pollution, mudslides and other disasters, bringing severe challenges to engineering safety. Therefore, this project requires the use of advanced anti-seismic measures and monitoring systems to ensure the stability of the water diversion channel.
Third, this project should consider the ecological environmental impact. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is an important ecological barrier and water conservation area on the mainland, and water diversion will have a certain impact on the local climate, vegetation, wildlife, etc.
Therefore, this project needs to strictly abide by the environmental impact assessment standards and laws and regulations, reasonably determine the water transfer and timing of water transfer, and minimize the ecological interference to the source area.
Finally, this project should coordinate the interests of all parties. The project to divert reservoir water into the northwest involves several provinces and autonomous regions, as well as multiple river basins and basins. All parties have different demands and expectations for water transfer, water transfer costs, and water transfer benefits. Therefore, this project needs to establish an effective consultation mechanism and benefit distribution system to balance the interests of all parties and promote a win-win situation for all parties.
In short, this mega-project faces various difficulties and challenges, which are not only related to the construction of ecological civilization and economic and social development in the western part of the mainland, but also to the national security and national unity of the mainland.
Therefore, this project needs the common attention and support of the people of the whole country, scientific decision-making and effective promotion of governments at all levels, and in-depth research and innovative breakthroughs of experts in various fields. Only in this way can we look forward to the day when we see the oasis belt on the northwest land and hear the vitality of the desert.
epilogue
The project of diverting Tibetan water into the northwest is a great project, which embodies the wisdom and courage of the Chinese people, and also demonstrates China's national strength and influence. This project is of great significance to the development and improvement of Northwest China, and also plays a positive role in China's ecological civilization construction and sustainable development. We should support this project and pray and work hard for its success.
Of course, we cannot ignore the difficulty and risk of this project, and we must be fully prepared and responded to avoid adverse consequences.
We should also respect the legitimate concerns of other countries, conduct friendly consultations and cooperation with them, and jointly safeguard Asia's water security and balance of interests. We believe that the Hongqi River water diversion project will surely become the pride of the Chinese people and the well-being of the people of the world.
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