Huge Chinese Project Diverts Filthy Water; 5 Rivers Feeding It Take 1.3 M Tons Wastewater/Day
EDIT
The project, expected to cost $81 billion, is considered the biggest engineering endeavor in Chinese history, and involves a mix of canals, tunnels and aqueducts spanning thousands of miles across the country. Sans pumps, it will rely entirely on gravity to run water from the south's higher elevations, to the north.
The Danjiangkou Reservoir marks the beginning of the project's middle route and is expected to start supplying water to the north by 2014. A water pollution plan issued by the State Council, or China's cabinet requires that the water quality for all five rivers that flow into the Danjiangkou meet a "grade III" standard by 2015.
But four of those rivers are now rated "grade V," deemed for "agricultural use only" and the fifth river is considered "grade IV," for "industrial use only," reports China's state-run news agency Xinhua. "The target is very unlikely to be met as many pollution control projects lag behind schedule due to a fund shortage," said Cheng Jiagang, vice mayor of Shiyan in Hubei province.
The local government is short of $486 million needed for a sewage treatment program to clean up the rivers so the "grade III" target can be achieved, including 687 miles of sewage pipelines to collect all waste water, Cheng said.
EDIT
http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2013/07/30/Pollution-plagues-Chinas-mega-water-diversion-project/UPI-65621375204793/
