China Opens South-North Water Diversion Canal System

The South-North Water Diversion, one of the largest engineering and construction projects in human history, has been completed and begun operation in China.

The Guardian reports that the last link in the nearly 1,500 mile long canal system began to pump water to Beijing at 2:32 p.m. Dec. 12. The total cost of the project is just shy of $75.5 billion. Construction on the enormous system began in 2002.

Interestingly, despite the high cost and the fact that the system is a remarkable feat of human engineering, there was no large scale celebration of the canals being open for business, according to The Guardian.

Around 350,000 rural residents have had to be relocated for the project, which carries water from China's Hubei province in the south central region of the country to Beijing in the northeast. There are plans to expand the pipeline further west, connecting the Yangtze River to the system, but they are so ambitious and the feats of engineering so difficult, that phase may never actually be realized.

The canal system is an effort to enable industry and agriculture in China's heavily populated northeast. A lack of water in the northeast of the country has stymied economic growth, which is why the enormous undertaking was begun.

Drought has exacerbated the issue. The Guardian notes that more than 25,000 Chinese rivers and lakes have dried up and disappeared over the last 20 years.

A drought that has been wracking the country may end up making the canals useless. For example, it is estimated that 40% of the Han River's water will be sent to the northeast, but a drought in 2011 already put serious strains on the water supply and rendered some reservoirs unusable.