(ORDO NEWS) — China has begun work on building the world‘s largest water canal that will carry massive amounts of water from the Three Gorges Dam to Beijing as part of a national south-north water diversion project.
The Yinjiangbuhan tunnel will connect the Three Gorges Dam and the Han River before connecting to an open channel leading north to Beijing.
In total, the project will cover 1,400 kilometers and cost $8.9 billion. This will ensure a constant supply of water from the oversupply in eastern and southern China to areas with drier conditions in the north.
This was announced by the South China Morning Post, which claims that the massive tunneling project will give a huge boost to food production in the drylands.
Most of the tunnel will run deep underground at a depth of 1,000 meters. Such a project would likely use the latest tunneling equipment, as intense pressure 1 kilometer below the surface would result in slow progress.
But even with such equipment, the project will take about 10 years to complete.
The south-north water diversion project is the largest such project ever undertaken. The idea of ​​the tunnel appeared about 50 years ago, and work on it began only recently.
The Yinjiangbuhan tunnel is just a small piece of an overarching puzzle that will make up an ambitious $62 billion project.
Once completed, all four of China’s major rivers – the Yangtze, the Yellow River, the Huaihe and the Haihe – will be connected, allowing nearly 45 billion cubic meters of water to be diverted northward each year.
With the construction of the Yinjiangbuhan tunnel, food production could be increased by 540 million tons per year, as much as the US currently produces, according to Interesting Engineering.
The resulting impact should improve conditions in northern and eastern China, leading to improved quality of life for people and the economy.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.