China Multi trillion dollar Tibet-Xinjiang water diversion project to start to turn Xinjiang deserts into fertile farmlands and forests

[xizhimen]

Multi trillion dollar Tibet-Xinjiang water diversion project is about to start to turn Xinjiang deserts into fertile farmlands and forests

 

[xizhimen]

Red Flag River is a new enormous inter-basin water diversion project in China. The project aims to annually divert 60 billion cubic meters of water from the major rivers in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, including three transnational rivers (Mekong, Salween and Brahmaputra), to arid Xinjiang and other parts of northwest China.

Academics suggest that the Red Flag River is a 6,180-kilometer-long gravity flow water diversion system that seeks “to divert water from Tibet to turn Xinjiang into California.” This could be achieved by using the main channel to send water to southern Xinjiang, all way to Kashgar, while also following the Chunfeng River to divert an enormous quantity of water into the Turpan Basin and northern Xinjiang.

After completed, the irrigation water from the Red Flag River will be available to Xinjiang and also other arid northwestern provinces, including Gansu and Ningxia. Northwest China is the only water-thirsty region that has not benefited from China’s domestic construction of mega hydro-engineering projects, yet it is also where agricultural productivity is the country’s greatest if water is available.

The amount of water to be diverted to northwest China is more than the Yellow River’s annual discharge. This water is expected to create 200 million mu (13.3 million hectares) of arable land in Xinjiang and a 150,000 sq km oasis in northwest China.

Based on the initial assessment of this project, it should be built in 10 years, with investment of 4 trillion yuan (US $ 650 billion)， The real cost could be much higher though.

 

[xizhimen]

water from the major rivers in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, including three transnational rivers (Mekong, Salween and Brahmaputra), to arid Xinjiang and other parts of northwest China.

These 3 rivers flow out of China downstream, so China won't take all the water from them and will ensure enough feeding downstream.

 

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Yarlung Tsangpo River ( Brahmaputra River) in Motuo county in Tibet, after the water being moved to Xinjiang deserts, Xinjiang deserts could turn to this lush landscape

 

[xizhimen]

Tibetan water to Xinjiang, turning deserts into wetlands

 

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Most people seem to think that the government aids Tibet in everything but Tibet has nothing to offer back, This Tibetan girl explains that this assumption is not totally true, there's one resource that Tibet beats the rest of the world, water, Tibet is the water tap of Asia supporting billions of people.