The yearlong operation to pump water from Danjiangkou Reservior in Hubei Province to the parched lands in central Henan Province has alleviated the latter's water deficiency agony.
Starting in December of last year, the water running through the tunnels stretching from south to north has reached a number of cities, including Xuchang, Changge and Yuzhou, with the water supply covering an area of 174.5 square kilometers. The project has benefited a total of 1.65 million indigenous residents.
Water pumped from the south up to Xuchang, the capital of Wei during the Period of the Three Kingdoms (AD 220-280), has imbued the ancient city with enough quality water since Dec. 15 of last year, when the Zhouzhuang Water Plant started to work on the new source of water.
According to Pang Junwei, head of the Zhouzhuang Water Plant, the workshop's daily water supply capacity has risen from 50,000 tons to 80,000 or 90,000 tons since then.
"The water diversion project has met the demands of local residents," said Pang.
The flourishing water resource is in stark contrast to the condition of the plant two years ago when the disastrous drought hit the land without a single water drop to be reserved.
Now, with the flushing of the water from the south over a distance of more than 300 kilometers, the water reserve from Danjiangkou Reservoir can reach 226 million cubic meters each year.
The water from Danjiangkou Reservoir flushes into the zig-zagging tunnels of a water tank in Zhouzhuang Water Plant where the coagulants consolidate the pollutants and produce alum flocculation which sinks to the bottom. Afterwards, the water will run into the precipitation pool to eradicate the alum flocculation before it is disinfected in the filtering pool with chlorine and pumped into pipes for daily supply.
According to Pang, water quality has been improved from level III to level II or I thanks to the supply of south water resources, which completely meets the criteria of drinking water quality.
"Boiling water in the past could often yield rust and white floaters, but now the floaters have disappeared and the water tastes sweet," a local resident told China.org.cn.
