Diverting water from south to north

Workers are putting the finishing touches on the Danjiangkou Dam, a massive wall that has risen to 176 meters over the past five years. The blue steel beams shine in the spring rain while a mist hangs over the reservoir behind.

The water for the second biggest reservoir in China comes from the Han River, the biggest tributary of the mighty Yangtze.

Mao Zedong dreamed of diverting water from the south to the north 60 years ago. From 2014 on, a complex system of canals and pipes is supposed to provide Beijing - 1400 kilometers away - with water.

A second eastern route is due to start feeding water north to Shandong and Tianjin next year, and a third western route is also planned.

Shen Fengsheng, the project's chief engineer, says the South-North Water Transfer Project is driving China's economic development, especially in the north. "I am very happy to be able to work on such a project," he says.

Unhappy locals

However, the locals near the Danjiangkou Dam are less happy. Arable land has been used to expand the reservoir and build the canals. Some 340,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in the biggest displacement since the controversial Three Gorges Dam was built.

A year and a half ago, Zeng Shilan, 57, was relocated to Caichenmiao. She now lives in a settlement of 160 prefabricated houses with red roofs. There are already deep cracks in the walls and the roofs leak.

"I am so angry I could cry," she says, standing outside of her house. "We moved and sacrificed ourselves for the state. But we could have been given better houses. We only got these, which are in poor condition. We received no compensation. We're all really angry."

Within minutes, half of the village gathers to complain about the party cadres, who are nowhere to be seen. The farmers complain they have no means of making a living anymore - they were not able to bring their pigs and chickens with them. The small plots of arable land they were given by the state are small and dry, says Lan Tianliang, a farmer.

"Our children can't work here. There's not even enough for us to live from. Our children have to go to the cities as migrant workers. My son and my daughter in law can't live with us here."

Detrimental to nature

The water diversion project has also drawn criticism from an ecological point of view. The locals near the lower stretch of the Han are worried far-away Beijing will take away too much water from the river. However, nobody dares say this out loud.

Some 120 kilometers downriver in Xiangfang, a city with five million inhabitants, geography professor Zhang Zhongwang chooses his words with care. He says that although the project will open up many opportunities for the region, there are considerable disadvantages.

He says less water will flow in the Han River in future, with serious implications for the region.

"In summer, it will be difficult to water the crops. There will be less water for industry. The shipping and fish sectors will suffer. And moreover, as the water's self-cleaning capacities dwindle, there will be more pollution."

Chief engineer Shen Fengsheng refuses to concede that this will be a problem, saying that another project is planned to divert water to the Han from the Yangtze.

"On average, some 960 billion cubic meters of water flow from the Yangtze to the sea. For the eastern route, in the first phase, we will divert 8.8 billion cubic meters and for the central route later 9.5 but that's only a small part of the total."

However, it is as difficult to predict nature precisely, as it is to rein it in according to human desires. Wang Jian, a water expert based in Beijing, says people have to change, not nature. "We are in a vicious circle and more new problems keep arising. We have to adjust to nature."

Author: Ruth Kirchner / act
Editor: Sarah Berning