Beijing receives water from south, but doubts remain

Photo taken on Dec 27, 2014 shows water flowing after the opening of a sluice gate of the middle route of the south-to-north water diversion project in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Yin Gang)

Water through the south-to-north diversion project has arrived in Beijing on Saturday after a journey of over 1,200 kilometers, bringing with it a torrent of doubts and worries.

Mao Wei, a resident from a community in Tongzhou District of Beijing, never expected he would benefit from a project conceived by late Chinese leader Mao Zedong, who shares the same family name with him, more than 60 years ago.

But Mao Wei has his own concerns over water from the Hanjiang River, a tributary of the Yangtze River, China's largest waterway.

"It's no difference," said Mao, "but I feel worried when people warned on the Internet that the water may become yellow due to poor quality."

In order to eliminate public concern, Beijing Waterworks Group has sent out educational leaflets. It said if the water becomes yellow, the public does not need to be worried because it is due to a high density of iron ions and will not affect people's health.

The middle route's first-stage project starts at Danjiangkou Reservoir in the central province of Hubei. It was officially put into operation on Dec. 12..

Completion of the first stage is a major sign of progress for the enormous south-north water diversion project, which cost an estimated 500 billion yuan (about 80 billion U.S. dollars) and is the largest of its kind in the world.

It will supply 9.5 billion cubic meters of water per year to the northern regions, including the cities of Beijing and Tianjin, and provinces of Henan and Hebei.

DOUBTS

However, arriving in Beijing is not enough. The water supplied through the project needs to stand the test of time.

A web user named "Ma Ke'an", a self-proclaimed doctor in physics, published an article online claiming China's south-to-north diversion project a failure, sparking debate.

Ma said the average flow rate and carrying capacity of the project failed to meet the design objective, which means the project cannot supply 9.5 billion cubic meters of water per year to the northern regions.