North Water Diversion Project on the Hanjiang River

SCIENCE AND SOCIETY

Ecological Effects of the South-to- North Water Diversion Project on the Hanjiang River

DU Yun, WANG Xuelei & CAI Shuming

(CAS Institute of Geodesy & Geo-physics, Hubei Province’s Key Laboratory for Environment & Disaster Monitoring and Evaluation)

he middle and lower reaches valley’s sustainable development. erside industrial or farming undertak- of the Hanjiang River are the The middle route of the South-to- ings and urban development. Tcenter of local economic de- North water Diversion Project will of- To promote a sustainable devel- velopment in the region. For a long fer unprecedented opportune opment in the River’s valley, the au- time the mother nature’s mighty force chances for the local development. thors of this article suggest that ef- and mankind’s infringement have led However, it will reshape the flowing forts should be made to conduct a to a series of ecological problems, volume and seasonal distribution of systematic and comprehensive evalu- such as flooding and water-logging the water resources in the River’s ation on the project’s impacts on the calamities, droughts, soil erosion & main waterway downstream off the local ecological surroundings and water loss, downgrade of environmen- Danjiangkou Reservoir, imposing in- socio-economic development, and to tal quality, shrinkage of wetland fluences in varied degrees on the anti- actively push forward a modern de- resources, posing threats to the flood water-works, water quality, riv- monstrative model for water conser-

The giant dam at the outlet of the Danjiangkou Reservoir.

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vancy in the valley. I. An Overview of the of Hubei Province. The central route of the ambitious Valley The valley is predominantly sub- South-to-North Water Diversion ject to a sub-tropical monsoon-domi- Project is a center piece for the na- Originating from the Qinling nated climate with 800--1,100mm in tional efforts to transfer water from Range in Shaanxi Province, the annual precipitation, which is usually the humid south to arid north, a grand Hanjiang River is the largest tributary concentrated in the period from May and strategic engineering initiative to of the Yangtze, with a full length of 1, to September. The uneven spatial and meet the water demands of the north 557 km and a drainage area up to 15. temporal distribution of the rainfall China. It is an urgent task to alleviate 9x10 4 km 2. Dan jian gko u a nd makes the region vulnerable to vari- the water shortage in north China by Nianpanshan separate the river into ous calamities such as flooding, wa- readjusting the spatial distribution of upper, middle and lower reaches. Its ter-logging and drought. It has a sur- 8 3 water resources in Chinese heartland. valley is located on the transitional face run-off trove up to 137.1x10 m Its operation will exert a far-reaching belt between arid north China and and underground water storage up 8 3 influence on China’s sustainable de- humid south China, serving as a link- to 55.8x10 m . After the deduction of velopment in the social and eco- age between the two regions. It is also repeated calculations, its water re- nomic aspects. Because such a huge a water transport passage, through sources yielded from the province it- 8 3 water shipment through different val- which coal is shipped from the north self has been registered to148.1x10 m leys is a complex and systematic to south and petroleum from west to while the annual average of water re- project, its impacts on the water east. It is expected to play a critical role sources flowing in from other prov- source region are an extremely com- in the all-round development of the cen- inces comes up to a total of 404. 8 3 plicated issue. Without the help of a tral China for the new century.[3,4] 4x10 m with a relatively lower fig- long-time and systematic hydrologi- ures per capita and per hectare of [5,6] cal monitoring and related research, 1. Natural environment water resources . it would be difficult to reach a scien- The middle and lower reaches of tific conclusion about the impacts. the Hanjiang River are situated in the 2 . S o c i o - e c o n o m i c The middle and lower reaches of the low-lying heartland of Hubei development Hanjiang River are Hubei Province’s Province. Its mainstream is 652 kilo- The middle and lower reaches of breadbasket and hub of manufactur- meters in full length, running through Hanjing River are noted for their fer- ing industries, acting as a power- 28 counties and cities with a total tile and broad land mass, huge house for the economic development drainage area of 6.4x104km2, includ- population, economic prosperity, and in the valley. The water-shifting ing 4.6x104km2 within the borderlines abundance in natural endowment. In project will change the annual runoff and seasonal distribution downstream off the Danjiangkou Reservoir, making impacts in various degrees on inland navigation, water quality, farming irrigation, industrial production and urban reconstruction, imposing a direct bearing on sustainable development of the valley in the new century.[1,2] So the water-shifting program will bring in both opportunities and challenges for the whole valley

and needs a careful study. Danjiangkou Reservoir.

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2000, the area yielded 815×104 tons of its urbanization and industrialization once in every 20 years. In addition, grain and its industrial output value of farming yields processing at the an accessory network is put into op- was 140.3 billion yuan, accounting for national frontline, the Hanjiang River eration for regulating the geographic 45.8% of the provincial total. Its GDP valley now acts as a powerhouse for layout of the water resources, which reached 155.7 billion yuan, making up t h e P r o v i n c e ’ s e c o n o m i c is composed of 1,471 reservoirs in 36.4% of the province’s correspond- development. The region along the varied sizes, totaling 63.7x108m3 in ing figure. river’s mainstream between Wuhan, aggregate storage capacity. Its irri- The area is a national base for capital of the province, and Shiyan gation culverts and riverside water developing comprehensive and en- city is a flourishing belt of the auto- gates can supply 128 x108m3 of the vironment-friendly farming produc- mobile manufacturing industry. river’s water to farmlands each year. tion and diversified economies in the Thanks to the half-a-century So, in a normal year, the system is countryside as well as main produc- strenuous efforts, an engineering able to meet the demands for water ers of cereal, cotton and edible oil in system capable of bringing floods and consumption of industrial or farming China. Out of the 100 top cereal- and water-logging calamities under con- undertakings in the area. Along the cotton-yielding counties across the trol takes its initial shape, featuring river’s mainstream, a cascade-shaped country, nine and 15 are in the area its riverside embankment and engineering system is designed to respe ctively. Its fresh water Danjiangkou Reservoir. Including the conduct an all-round exploitation of aquiculture is well-known for its fish- flood-diversion area at Dujiatai and the water resources in the valley, farming potential and now becomes 14 civilian reserves for flood storage functioning as a key project of water one of the largest inland aquatic bases in a rainy season, the system now conservancy for hydropower throughout the country. Because of can stand against the worst deluge generation, inland navigation and water supply. Its inauguration will lay a solid foundation for the rational utilization of the valley’s water resources and modernization of the whole area.

II. Major Eco- environmental Problems

The sustained development of the water resources is a precondition to the whole area’s sustainable development. In the wake of the rapid progress scored by the local socio- economic development, the pressure on the carrying capacity of the local environment and resources is on rise, leading to a variety of ominous de- velopments in the area, including higher frequency of flooding, water- logging and drought events, intensi- fied soil erosion and water loss, water quality degeneration in the area’s A diagram showing the gradient profile along the Hanjiang River’s mainstream. hydrological setting, shrinkage in the

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area’s wetland resources and snagged management system. This has become a restrictive factor for the valley’s sound development.

1. The uneven precipitation distribution leads to an increase in floods and droughts Since the 1950s, the area has been hit by seven disastrous floods. As the standards for the anti-flooding engineering projects were not high enough, a 581-km-long substan- dard embankment in the area failed to reach the designing requirements. Most riverside reserves for flood diversion could not work properly when put in operation. The result was huge economic losses inflicted by the flood diversion. In the middle reaches of the river, there are many knolls or hilly districts, where the lack of a well-functioning setting for water storage led to their unfavorable climatic condi- tions and exotic landforms. After a A map showing the central route for the national water diversion program. downpour, it was very difficult to local people forced to drill wells for immediately slashed down into the make use of the runoff as the latter is their survival and the River’s branch River as pollutants while the majority running away very soon or leaks be- Dongjinhe had its normal flow dried of the urban sewage and industrial neath the ground while the under- off temporarily. The socio-economic wastes are pouring into the River ground water table is quite low and losses were enormous. flows without treatment, causing the its volume is few in quantity. As the serious pollution of the nearby water topsoil vegetation is poor in water 2. The water loss and soil bodies. In 2001, the total discharge conservation, the area is vulnerable erosion are not under control volume of waste water in the whole to serious droughts when the precipi- while the environment is region reached 7.196x108 tons and the tation becomes lower than the annual seriously polluted figure for chemical oxygen demand level in average and the evaporation The total area affected by water- (COD) was 22x104 tons, accounting is so strong and just because of these and-soil losses in the middle and for more than 30% of the province’s reasons, seven disasters of drought lower reaches of Hanjiang River total. Among the 19 water quality have struck the area over the latest reaches 1.2x104km2 and the eroded soil monitoring sections in the eight ma- 50 years. The most disastrous one totals 2,500-4,900 x104 tons per year. jor branches of the River’s lower occurred in 2000 when a drought spell Middle or low elevation hilly areas reaches, 17 failed to meet the stan- possibly to attack the locality once in are the main victims of the scourge dards for the functions of its division, 100 years hit the middle and lower with the main nutrients such as and the water quality in different river reaches of Hanjiang River, leading to nitrogen, phosphorus and their salts sections in Xiangfan, Wuhan and

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other urban centers mostly reached managerial means gives rise to many will decrease by about 20 days each its critical value. In 1992, 1998, 2000 institutional snags and ill-contrived year while the figure for water flow and 2003 respectively, Hanjiang River policies. What is worse, outmoded up to 1,000–3,000m3/s by 100 days a was hit by the outbursts of the algal equipment, backward technology and year. So, the silting situation of river bloom with increased frequencies and poor operation lead to low exploita- water will undergo changes, causing enlarged areas. tion and utilization rates. At a resi- negative impact on flood mitigation dential center, the aged water-supply- efforts. On the other hand, with the 3. Wetland shrinkage and ing pipeline is too old to prevent the dam height of the Danjiangkou Res- ecosystems depletion water waste through dipping, leaking, ervoir to be increased, the reservoir’s The middle and lower reaches of draining and over-rimming. At the storage capacity will be going up ac- Hanjiang River used to be noted for same time, the residents show little cordingly and the anti-flooding norms their flourishing wetland systems frugality in daily water consumption. set for the middle and lower reaches dotted by streams & creeks, ponds, of the River will be uplifted from the marshlands, paddy fields and aquatic III. Impact of the effective containment of a deluge oc- farms. Because of the intensive ef- Water Diversion Project curring once for 10-20 years to that forts of creating farmlands by reclaim- on the Region once for 100 years. Hence the anti- ing the lakeside wastelands during flooding status for protecting the the period from the 1950s to 1970s, The middle route project is whole valley’s socio-economic devel- the original taxonomic structure, fau- planned to shift a total of 130x108 m3 opment will be greatly improved and nal or floral population’s composition each year from humid south China to the 14 civilian river-side enclaves pre- in the pristine riverside surroundings the arid north. The figure is 95x108 m3 viously designated for flood diver- were reshaped, leading to drastic re- in its first-phase enforcement. The sion will be out of work. Because of duction of the migratory fishes, deple- shifted amount accounts for about the reservoir’s water storage increase tion of waterside ecosystems, and one third of the total runoff at the in addition to a new project to divert- deterioration of the hydrological set- outlet of the Danjiangkou Reservoir. ing water from the Yangtze to ting in the region. The aftermath is This will change mainstream influx Hanjiang, the flowing flux discharged calamitous, including the more fre- and seasonal distribution in the from the reservoir will be growing up quented disasters, soil erosion at middle and lower reaches of the dramatically during a dry season, bal- water heads and drought spells. As a Hanjiang River, leading to a series of ancing the yearly distributive layout result, both structure and function of secondary changes in varied degrees of the water resources across the [5,9] the once sound wetland ecosystem in the following aspects: anti-flood- whole valley. become more vulnerable to external i n g si t u a t i o n, r i v e r r o u t e pressure and its bio-diversity declines sedimentation, water quality, naviga- 2. A drastic change in the in an accelerated way. tional activities, farming irrigation, in- mainstream’s ecosystem dustrial production and urban After the completion of the wa- 4. Poor management of water development. ter diversion program, it is expected resources the runoff volume in the middle and The management of water re- 1. The changes in the flood lower reaches of the River will de- sources in the middle and lower management situation crease by 16%, and the total capacity reaches of the Hanjiang River is When the water diversion pro- of the region’s water environment will plagued by rampant departmentalism gram is put into operation, the num- see a slight drop, leading to an uphill and unclear definition among the dif- ber of days when the water flow is up situation for the prevention of water ferent authorities. The lack of a work- to 800-1,000m3/s in the middle or pollution and ecological protection. able regional statute and advanced lower reaches of the Hanjiang River Since the River’s water flows see a

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drop downstream the city of Xiangfan, proximate 1,200 square kilometers. to meet the demands. In this way, the the speed of water current will be re- With some of the Yangtze currents Hanjiang River will be burdened more tarded and the water level stabilized. brought into the Hanjiang mainstream heavily as a water source. Upon the This new hydrological condition will as a result of the enforcement of the completion of the water transfer weaken the river water’s capability of new water diversion plan, the River’s program, the Danjiangkou Reservoir self-dilution and self-purification, re- influx will have half to be replaced by will supply less water to the River’s sulting in outbreaks of the algal bloom the Yangtze water in its section down- mainstream, lowering its water level. due to eutrophication of the water stream Gaoshibei in Qianjiang As a result, less water will be supplied quality. This will also give rise to a County and its water quality will be to the riverside farmlands and naviga- declining impetus to the local fisher- worsened as the Yangtze River has a tional transport will be further reduced ies and native hydrological setting, more inferior water quality in compari- due to the water shortage. In addition, rendering economic losses to the re- son with that in the catchment basin both the urban centers and local popu- lated production departments. In of the Hanjiang River. [3,10] lations are densely distributed in the addition, the initiative will lower the middle and lower reaches of the River average water level in the valley’s 3. Influences on farming and the well-developed industries water routes by 0.29–0.51m and irrigation, industrial production, along the two banks of the River need hence, the water consumption cost urban development and inland more water. With the reduction of the will be going up. In the wake of the navigation. navigational lanes’ depth, both their heightened water level in the The lack of water to irrigate the width and curvature will change ac- reservoir, the discharged water tem- farmlands in a dry season in the middle cordingly and more beaches will be perature will be lowered, causing an and lower reaches of the Hanjiang surfaced in the water routes. All of unfavorable influence on the flora and River has become one of critically re- these will make the maintenance work fishing resources in the waterways. strictive factors to the local agriculture. for the inland water transport more dif- If the water quality cannot be amelio- What is worse, the demand for water ficult to perform. [1,2] rated effectively, the aquatic life popu- will be increasing in the future when lations will be further decimated. An- more water resources are to be con- IV. Suggestions for other long-standing scourge in the sumed by industrial undertakings, and Rehabilitation valley is the desertification which is water-irrigated farmlands will be fur- well-known in south China. So far the ther expanding. At the same time, more The implementation of the water desertified land in the valley has water from the Hanjiang River is to be diversion program poses both reached 1,300 square kilometers in to- pumped up to make up the mounting chances and challenges to the region. tal area. With the lowered water level deficiency due to the shrinkage of res- In order to mitigate the unfavorable in the River, an additional area of ervoirs and lakes in the valley while influences caused by the program, the newly emerging beach lands, sand the existing network of the farming irri- national authorities arranges four ac- bars and shoals is estimated to ap- gation has few, if not, water resources cessory projects for rehabilitation, i.

A soil and water conservation engineering project in the Valley.

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e., water diversion from Yangtze to regional setting composed of ernized concepts of water conser- Hanjiang, Xinglong Pivot Project, population, natural endowment and vancy and harmony between man Partial Channels Renovation, Partial the environmental upgrade, it is ex- and nature. The principles derived Sluice Station Renovation. At the pected the middle and lower reaches from the tr inity of rati onal same time, the Hubei Provincial au- of the Hanjiang River would be grow- exploitation, optimized deployment thorities made a suggestion for a trial ing into a paragon for sustainable de- and effective protection must be demonstration of the waterworks velopment in the province and the upheld in their organic integration modernization in this region and mak- whole country. of the construction of waterworks ing the pre-construction schemes for with economic growth, cultural it. All of these initiatives provide 2. Enhancing a unified system development, ecological protec- some hard-sought opportunities for of river management tion and tourism. With the aid of the building of a harmonious society. To address the problem of various projects designed for cop- Following the strategic deployment departmentalism, a protective mecha- ing with anti-flood safety, deploy- and its enforcement in the drive to nism should be formulated and per- ment of natural resources, eco-en- enable central China to take off, the fected for the sustainable develop- vironment protection, comprehen- middle and lower reaches of Hanjiang ment of the region, starting from such sive exploitation, Hanjiang digita- River will enter a new stage of soar- issues as the organizational l i z a t i o n a n d m o d e r n i z e d ing development. guarantee, constructive management, management, it is expected to solve enactment of policies and statutes. A the following long-standing issues 1. Doing a good job of the leading group should be set up to and knotty problems in this aspect: macroscopic investigation and regulate and coordinate the sustain- the inferior hydrological norms de- regional scheming work able development in the region. In creed in the anti-inundation The importance and functions of addition, relevant rules and regula- campaign, the low level in the re- the middle route of the water diver- tions are to be formulated so that an gional development and irrational sion program and its four accessory agreeable legal setting is to be pro- deployment of the water resources, projects in the regional socio-economic vided for rational exploitation of the inadequate intensity in ecosystem development have a far more involve- water resources in the region. protection, the worsening situation ment than the role jointly played by of the regional environment, out- several engineering projects of water 3. Speeding up the development moded means in the management conservancy. With joint efforts of the of demonstrative projects for the of water resources and the public’s national authorities and local modernization of the region’s poor legal awareness of water-re- governments, the studies on the mac- waterworks lated laws and statutes. In this way, roscopic development for the region The demonstrative projects for the region’s social development will speed up the tempo and process t h e r e g i o n ’ s w a t e r w o r k s may be embarking on a new road in the regional coordination along the modernization, which have been featuring a harmony between water Hanjiang River mainstream where the jointly mapped out by the Minis- resources and man, safety in water regional development will be based on try of Water Conservancy and the supply and sound ecosystem, top- its abundant water resources. By pay- Hubei Provincial Government, performance management and opti- ing more attention to the exploitation should be enlisted in the relevant mized protection of the environment. of the water potentials instead of its national plans. Furthermore, they threats in the region, and by building should be put in force as soon as 4. Enhance the effects to protect up a well-concerted and sound indus- possible by taking feasible organi- the environment and control the trial structure and economic order to zational means and introducing pollution couple the social development with the new approaches such as the mod- One of the guidelines set for us

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to operate the national program of automatic, semi-automatic and arti- Main literature for reference water diversion is to introduce a cor- ficial monitoring networks should (in Chinese) rect order in our working priorities. be introduced to keep surveying the 1. Du Yun, Zhao Yan, Cai Shuming et Specifically speaking, we have to put main cross-sections of reservoirs, al. The influence exerted by the program of the adoption of water-saving mea- lakes, rivers and the water quality south-to-north water diversion on the indus- sures ahead of the water trans- at underground water-supplying trial development in the middle and lower reaches of the Hanjiang River, Resources and shipment; the access to the water- wells in the region to make a real- Environment in the Yangtze Basin, 1999, 8(2): supplying system to be proceeded time, dynamic and all-round super- pp.135-139. 2. DuYun, Zhao Yan, Huang Jingliang by the control of water pollution and vision on the local hydrological en- et al. The national program of south-to-north environment protection is in our top vironment and provide necessary water diversion and the sustainable farming development in the middle & lower reaches of consideration and only after its data for the management, prediction the Hanjiang River, Resources and Environ- achievement can we consider the and precautionary alarm of the ment in the Yangtze Basin,1998, 7(2): pp.102- 108. problems and issues about water region’s water setting. By forming 3. Cai Shuming, Yin Hongfu, Du Yun consumption so that the hydrologi- the supervising network across the et al. The program of south-to-north water diversion and the sustainable development of cal setting in an area whose water region, its various eco-cultural fac- the middle & lower reaches of the Hanjiang resources are to be diverted would tors such as water loss, soil erosion, River, Cai Shuming, Chen Guojie, Du Yun et al. A consideration on the sustainable develop- not be impaired. To achieve this, we bio-diversity, protection of cultural ment of the Hanjiang River, Resources and must greatly enhance our effects to relics and ups and downs in the eco- Environment in the Yangtze Basin,2000, 9(4): enact related laws and statutes in a environmental setting can be made 411-418. 4. The Provincial Bureau of Water bid to protect our environment and clear at any moment. At the same Conservancy and the Leading Group Office for stabilize the financial input into the time, the planned blueprint of water the Engineering Projects attached to the Na- tional Program of South-to-north Water Diver- prevention and treatment of water diversion from the Yangtze to sion under the Hubei Province. The outlined pollution in the region. Related poli- Hanjiang has to run through the scheme in a trial operation for modernized reconstruction in the middle & lower reaches of cies must be formulated as soon as valley’s northern part, Lake the Hanjiang River, 2005. possible in addressing the work on Changhu and other ecological zones 5. Cai Shuming, Chen Guojie, Du Yun, Yang Dingguo et al., A comprehensive the environment and pollution as an and the water diversion project’s study on the rational exploitation & utilization ecological industry when we come effects on the local agriculture and of the resources and economic development in the valley of the Hanjiang River, Hubei S&T to make the formulation and enforce- ecology have to be scrutinized in a Press in Wuhan, 1997, pp.256-287. ment of related policies. Local gov- meticulous and comprehensive way. 6. Li Tao, Cai Shuming, Wu Shengjun ernments at various levels have to On the other hand, because the val- et al., The question on grain safety in the middle & lower reaches of the Hanjing River strengthen their administration of the ley is one of main wetland resources and countermeasures, Journal of Central China individual responsibility system and across the country, we have to make Normal University (Nat. Sci.) . 2005. 39(1): pp.136-140. define the targets for sustainable de- efforts to restore its ecological func- 7. Zhang Jiayu, Luo Li, Li Chunsheng velopment in a feasible and concrete tions by probing the changes et al., The impact of the program of the south- to-north water diversion on the ecological set- way. The latter would be enlisted as brought in by the operation of the ting of middle & lower reaches of the Hanjiang a compulsory norm for regularly water diversion project. Also, the River, Environmental Science & Technology, 2000 (an additional edition): pp.1-32. checking up an administrator’s per- latter’s performance leads to vari- 8. Huazhong University of S&T, The sonal performance. ous degrees in the uplift and drop impact imposed by the middle route of the national program of south-to-north water diver- of the local water level, and this sion on the eco-environment of Xiangfan City 5. Strengthening the dynamic needs a long-time surveying exer- in the middle reaches of Hanjiang River, 2002. 9. Fang Fang and Chen Guochao, A m o n it o r i n g a n d m ul t i - tion and related analysis. By taking study on the impacts of water diversion on the disciplinary research on the necessary measures, it is expected water quality and water setting capacity in middle & lower reaches of the Hanjiang River, the losses may be mitigated to their local eco-environment Environmental Science & Technology, 2003, A tri- laye red sys tem of minimum. 26(1): pp.10-11.

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