China has started a trial water conservancy project to divert water from the Yangtze river into Taihu lake, the country's third largest freshwater lake, to help improve the ecological environment in Taihu's drainage area.
Some 2.5 billion cubic meters of Yangtze water will be diverted to the Taihu lake area this year from the Wangyu river, a branch of the Yangtze in eastern China's Jiangsu province.
By directing the clear, running Yangtze water into Taihu and its tributaries, the project aims to curb pollution in the Taihu lake area by increasing water volume and speeding up water flow.
At the same time, water conservancy experts will monitor the water flow and water quality in the lake to test the effectiveness of the diversion and find optimal ways to curb pollution.
Located in the developed Yangtze River Delta, the Taihu lake basin is one of the most densely populated regions in China. The Chinese government has made pollution control in this area a key program during the first five years of the new century.
(People's Daily February 4, 2002)
