７２８：中国水事情

南部アフリカの作業も2日目。子供たちがくれた入浴剤を使い始めた。初回は草津。熱湯がでるので温泉気分が味わえる。個数に限りがあるので週1回ぐらいエンジョイできそうだ。

さて、朝からメールがガンガン入る。国際水資源協会の最新情報も入ったがファイルが多いので後回し。ビスワスの奥さんの問題の影響で協会も低迷している。25年前は層々たる大御所のメンバーがいたが、最近は小粒ばかりだ。会員が減るのは頷ける。無論、世界の話である。

さて、英文朝日のネット版から中国の水関連ニュースが入った。南水北調プロジェクトもずっと前から計画されていたが実現するのだろうか。それにしても中国の水事情は質及び量いずれも最悪である。

仕事で中国に行ったことはないので何とも言えないので、転記のみとする。

Ambitious project aims to quench Beijing's thirst
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

2010/08/16
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DANJIANGKOU, China--At a dam more than 170 meters tall over the Chang (Yangtze) River, regrading work is under way as part of a government project to supply water to Beijing about 900 kilometers to the north.

The project is part a gigantic state effort to solve a chronic water shortage in the northern part of China with water from the south.

Water, or rather the lack of it, is a serious issue facing China. The amount of water resources per capita is roughly a quarter of the global average. In Beijing, it is only about one-10th of the global average.

The Chinese government is trying to ensure water supplies for the capital with the project, which covers three routes. The central route originates at the Danjiangkou dam in Hubei province, while two others are located in the eastern and western parts of the country.

The effort is akin to constructing a dam in Hokkaido holding back twice the capacity of Lake Biwako, Japan's largest lake, and redirecting the water to Tokyo.

The Chinese government has spent about 88 billion yuan (1.1 trillion yen or $12.8 billion) on the project since 2002.

If the central route opens in 2014 as planned, it will supply up to 9.5 billion cubic meters annually.

The construction will eventually force the relocation of about 340,000 residents in areas surrounding Danjiangkou. The relocation started this summer, and an estimated 100,000 people are expected to move out by the end of the year.

"It is hard to leave the area I have grown used to," said Zhang Shengjun, a 52-year-old operator of an eatery. "But it is an honor to be able to cooperate with a state project."

Zhang and five other family members have been assigned a 180-square-meter, two-story home in a village 120 kilometers away.

In a village in neighboring Henan province, about 70 households had moved out by mid-July.

An exception is the family of Cai Bin. Cai, 36, who has lived in the village for 20 years, said compensation for the land and other assets are insufficient.

"I think it is an important project, but I cannot swallow (the compensation)," he said.

The idea of a water-diversion project first emerged more than half a century ago, when Mao Tse-tung was in power.

Although once deadlocked in the confusion stemming from the Cultural Revolution and a lack of funds, the project was revived to stem an increasing scarcity of water in the capital.

Still, a researcher close to the Chinese government said the project will not be a fundamental solution because a projected water shortage in the north as a result of global warming will exceed the amount of water supplied.

Precipitation in the north has been on the wane, and the lack of water is expected to worsen.