| Western
Route Project (WRP) |
As
the strategic project to solve the problem of poorer water
M Northwest and North China, WRP will divert water from
the upper reach of Changjimg River into Huanghe River.
Since 1952 when a investigation team was organized by
Yellow River Conservancy Commission (YRCC), the relative
units have done a great number of investigation and plan
and research works for more than 40 years. In 1987, State
planning Commission classified WRP as a project of pre-earlier-stage
study, and asked to make a 10-year study to provide the
possibi1ity and reasonableness of WRP. Since then, YRCC
and other relative units have done a lot of basic works
in transfer district and nearby located in remote and
cold and oxygen-lackings area, and submitted ¡å Preliminary
Report on Western Route Project for South-to-North Water
Transfer ¡å and¡å Findings Report on Yalongjiang Water Transfer
Project¡å to State Planning Commission and Ministry of
Water Resources for examination. Up to now, the findings
on Tongtianhe River and Daduhe River Water Transfer Projects
have almost been completed. It was planned that ¡åComprehensive
Findings Report on Western Route Project for South-to-North
Water Transfer¡å would be submitted in1996. |
| Transferable
water quantity and scope of water supply
|
In
1950s and 1960s, it was considered to divert water from
Tongtianhe, Yalongjiang, Daduhe, Lancangjiang, Nujiang
Rivers. But these considerations could be the long-range
plans due to the large projects 'engineering scale.
In the last decade, YRCC has focused on studying water
transfers from Tongtianhe, Yalongjiang, Daduhe Rivers.In
accordance with the initial study results, from those
three rivers, the maximum transferable water quantity
about 20 billion m3, including 10 billion m3
from Tongtianhe River, upper reach of Changjiang River,
and about 5 billion m3 from Yalongjiang, a
tributary of Changjiang River, and 5 billion m3
from Daduhe River. The water diverted will be supplied
for Qinghai, Gansu, Shannxi, Shanxi Provinces, and the
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and the Nei Mongol Autonomous
Region. |
| Layout
of WRP |
| Bayankala
Mountain lies between Huanghe River and Changjiang River.
The elevation of the bed of the Huanghe River is higher
than that of the correspondent section of Changjiang
by 80-450 m. It is necessary for the water transfer
project that a high dam will be constructed for damming
water or some pumping stations be set up for lifting
water, and some long tunnels will be driven through
Bayankala Mountain. Two methods of water diversion,
flowing by gravity and by pumping were considered. But
for each of them, a high dam in height of 200 m or so
will have to be constructed and some long tunnels over
100 km in length to be driven.
Preliminary study on water diversion route is as follows.
|
| (1)
Yalongjimg Diversion Route: |
| A
diversion route by gravity was selected. The Hydraulic
Project will be constructed on changxu Reach of Yalongjiang
River, the water will be diverted from Changxu to Qiaqeinong
Ditch, a tributary of Huanghe River. The height of the
dam is 175 m, the diversion route is a tunnel, which is
131 km in total length. |
| (2)
Tongtianhe Diversion Route: |
This is a combining development scenario of the Yalongjiang
and Tongtianhe diversion routes. The condition is that
Yalongjiang diversion route must be the priority construction.
The Hydraulic Project will be constructed on Tongjia Reach
of Tongtianhe, the water by gravity will be diverted from
Tongtianhe Project to Yalongjimg River, then, to Qiaqeinong
Ditch. The height d the dm is302 m. The Diversion Route
is in fact a tunnel, 289 km in total length, including
158 km from Tongjia Dam to Yalongjimg River and 131 km
from Yalongjiang River to Qiaqeinong Ditch, a tributary
of Huanghe. |
| (3)
Daduhe Diversion Route: |
| A
diversion route by pumping was elected. The Hydraulic
Project will be constructed on Xierga Reach of Zumuzu
River, a tributary of the upper reach of Daduhe, the height
of the dam is296 m. The water by pumping wi1lbe diverted
from Xierga Hydraulic Project to Jiaqu River, a tributary
of Huanghe, total length of the diversion route is3O km,
including a 28.5 km tunnel. The lifting height of the
pumping station is 458 m, the mean annual power consumption
is 7.1 billion kwh. ¡¡ |
| Benefits
of project |
| 20
billion m3 water from three rivers will be
diverted by WRP to increase the irrigated area by 30 million
mu and to supply living and industrial water by 9 billion
m3 for Qinghai and Gansu and Shanxi and Shanxi
Provinces, and Ningxia Hui and Nei Mongol Autonomous Regions,
consequently promoting the economic development of Northwest
and inland areas, and improving the biological environment
of Northwest Loess Plateau. |
| echnical
feasibility |
| WRP
will be located in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with an elevation
of 3000-5000 m. For WRP, a high dam with the height of
200 m or so will be constructed, and some long tunnels
over 100 km with the burden of hundreds meters will be
driven in this very cold area which is also the one of
areas with the most complex geological structure. The
earthquake intensity of most parts of this area is over
6-7degrees with the max intensity of 8-9 degrees on the
modified-Mercalli scale. The construction of WRP with
complex technology will must be faced with many difficulties
of environment. Therefore, it is required to strengthen
earlier-stage studies and scientific research to solve
the above problems. |
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Campsite
for the investigation team |
 |
Drilling
holcs for collccting gcological data |
 |
Tongtianhe
River |
 |
Dam
location of Yalongjiang Changxu |
 |
Dadu
River |
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