China builds green barrier to protect water diversion canals

BEIJING - China has built a green belt along the canals and pipelines of the south-to-north water diversion project to help ensure water quality.

The middle route of the water diversion project has carried 9.5 billion cubic meters of water each year through canals and pipes from the Danjiangkou reservoir in Central China's Hubei Province to the provinces of Henan and Hebei, as well as to Beijing and Tianjin, since 2014.

The Office of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project Construction Committee said Wednesday that to ensure water safety it had created shelter forests stretching for 197 km along the canals and pipelines, covering 636 hectares.

The diversion route running 1,432 km is mainly made of open-air canals. The green corridors were started in 2014 to help protect the water quality in the diversion.

In addition to central government efforts, water beneficiaries including Henan and Beijing also take the green corridors seriously.

Henan has created shelter forests beside the canals, stretching over 580 km.

Beijing is still extending a 134 km green belt along the water diversion line that threads through Haidian district and the three suburban districts of Shunyi, Huairou and Miyun. A green belts along a 60 km part of the canal in the south of the city will be finished in 2018.

The water diversion has benefited more than 53 million people in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Henan.

The Danjiangkou reservoir Wednesday recorded the highest water level since the reservoir was renovated for water diversion in 2014. The water level reached 160.8 meters on Wednesday, nearing the reservoir's maximum storage level of 170 meters.

The large water inflow has been attributed to heavy downpours in the upper stream of the Hanjiang River since August.