(June 2, 2009) A recent article in the Taipei Times examining the mounting criticism facing the Chinese government in its pursuit of massive infrastructure projects.
The drag of the South-North Diversion Project
(May 21, 2009) A recent announcement that the much-criticized South-North Diversion Project is facing further delays may be the first sign that the Chinese government is reconsidering its penchant to pursue massively ambitious infrastructure projects.
China’s giant water scheme opens torrent of discontent
(February 27, 2009) China’s vast scheme to channel southern rivers to its parched north faces potentially explosive defiance at a dam where bitter memories and an unsure future are driving farmers to protest the nation-spanning feat.
China postpones Yangtze water diversion scheme
(December 11, 2008) China has postponed completion of its multi-billion dollar water transfer scheme to bring water from the Yangtze river to Beijing, citing water pollution and other environmental risks as the reason for pushing the completion date back four years, official media reported last week.
Failing water scheme leaves Beijing high and dry
(December 9, 2008) The completion date for an engineering mega-project to bring water from a tributary of the River Yangtze in the wet south of China to the capital city, in the arid north, has been postponed again.
Pollution threatens Beijing’s future drinking water source
(November 9, 2006) Pollution is threatening Beijing’s future source of drinking water as factory discharges and untreated sewage seep into a reservoir planned for the capital’s use by 2010, water experts said.
Construction to start on Henan section of South-to-North canal
(September 14, 2006) Construction of the Henan province section of the central route of China’s south-north water diversion project will kick off by the end of September, Xinhua reports.
300b yuan bid to boost water flow from west
(August 2, 2006) Critics question the environmental cost and feasibility of the third route of the south-north water diversion scheme.
Pollution control ordered to protect Beijing water source
(June 23, 2006) Chinese Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan has ordered governments on the upper reaches of the Danjiangkou reservoir to curb pollution so that water to be diverted to Beijing will remain clean.
Beijing’s planned water supply faces pollution threat
(June 22, 2006) Water that will be brought to the capital along the central route of the south-north water diversion project is under threat from pollution. The source of the problem is a river more than 1,000 kilometres away, in Shaanxi province.
Water diversion ‘risks pollution’
(April 19, 2006) Environmental experts have released a report warning that massive water diversion project will worsen pollution in the Han River in central China and threaten the quality of drinking water for millions of residents in Wuhan, Hubei province.
Cultural relics face submersion in central China
(December 26, 2005) As with the Three Gorges project, China’s south-north water transfer scheme would endanger a vast number of cultural relics. Sites to be submerged contain dinosaur-egg fossils dating back 60 million years and human skeletons from the Stone Age.
Drought, pollution could jeopardize water-transfer scheme
(February 14, 2003) Record-low water levels in the Yangtze caused an oil tanker to run aground and disrupted shipping in large sections of the river this week. The severe drought, along with worsening pollution in a major Yangtze tributary, raise serious concerns about the scheme launched late last year to transfer water from the region to China’s parched north.
Let’s save water – and move it too, deputy premier says
(May 30, 2002) Wen Jiabao has stressed the importance of water conservation in tackling the looming environmental crisis in parched north China, while also voicing support for the controversial south-north water-diversion scheme.
China launches belated archaeological rescue
(March 19, 2002) As with the Three Gorges dam, where a lack of funding and co-ordination led to a hasty archeological rescue, many cultural experts fear the government’s response has also been too little, too late with the south-north water diversion project.


