By 2024, more than 700 billion cubic meters of water has been diverted from the first phase of the east-central route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. Since the Central Route Project was fully opened to water in December 2014, a total of 63 billion cubic meters of water has been transferred to the receiving areas, accounting for nearly 9% of the total water transfer. In 23 years, 7.4 billion cubic meters of water will be diverted in the middle line, which is close to full capacity, and the drinking water of more than 20 large and medium-sized cities and more than 85 million people along the line has been effectively guaranteed, which is a veritable "lifeline" of water supply.
Compared with the Western Route Project, which has not started for a long time, and the Eastern Route Project, which has only about 10% operational efficiency. The middle line is the one with the most water transfer, the most stable operation, the lowest cost, and the best water quality. This also means that whether it is now or in the future, the water diversion in the middle line will play the role of the main force of water transfer.
The total estimated investment of the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project is 124 billion yuan at the beginning, but as the project progresses, it is generally believed that its capital cost will increase to 208.2 billion yuan. Since the final data has not been officially released, the final figure should be more than 210 billion, which is about five times the cost of water diversion on the eastern route. Due to the ability to achieve self-flowing, the operating cost of the central route is much lower than that of the eastern route, and in fact the cost per water may be lower than that of the eastern route.
The theoretical water diversion of the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project is 13 billion cubic meters per year, and the actual annual water diversion is about 6 billion cubic meters. The investment in unilateral water supply capacity is about 40 yuan per cubic meter. Some experts pointed out that there is a statistical relationship between unilateral water investment and water price, that is, 10% of unilateral water investment is close to the project water price, so that the price of water in the middle line is about 4 yuan, which is slightly lower than that of the east line. However, as there is still potential for water diversion in the middle line, the actual cost may be between 2-3 yuan.
The people of Hubei and Henan are the biggest contributors to the water diversion in the middle route, with the Danjiangkou Reservoir expanding to an area of 1,000 square kilometers and a storage capacity of 30 billion cubic meters. The total number of migrants from the Danjiangkou Reservoir has reached 345,000, of which 182,000 have been migrants from Shiyan in Hubei Province alone. The people of the two provinces have made great contributions to the smooth implementation of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project by bringing the best quality water to Beijing. Industrial activities in the vicinity of the reservoir area are also severely restricted.
However, since the Han River was cut off by the Danjiangkou Reservoir, a large amount of Han River water was diverted to the north. Water use in the lower reaches of the Han River has also been limited to a certain extent, and with the social and economic development, the demand for water in the northern region is still rising. In the long run, the water diversion in the middle line needs to be further improved. Therefore, the project of diverting the river to Han was started under this background. The project diverts water from the Three Gorges reservoir area of the Yangtze River into the Han River, and ends at the Anle River estuary on the right bank of the Han River downstream of the Danjiangkou Dam, with a total length of 194.8 kilometers and a designed water diversion capacity of 3.9 billion cubic meters.
On July 7, 2022, the construction of the middle line of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project officially started in Danjiangkou City, Shiyan, and is expected to be completed around 2030, when the South-to-North Water Diversion Project will be more secure. Residents along the route will no longer worry about the safety of drinking water, and there may be some room for water prices to be reduced.
At present, the comprehensive water prices of the Nanyang section of Henan Province, the southern section of the Yellow River in Henan Province, the northern section of the Yellow River in Henan Province, Hebei Province, Tianjin Municipality and Beijing Municipality are 0.18 yuan, 0.34 yuan, 0.58 yuan, 0.97 yuan, 2.16 yuan and 2.33 yuan per cubic meter, respectively. Among them, Beijing topped the list with a water price of 2.33 yuan, which is certainly not the price of residential water. The real price of water also needs to go through the water company, and then the water pollution treatment fee will be added, so the actual water price in the above areas is much higher than the above figures.
The price of water in the north is significantly higher than in the south