Farmers relocated to a village in Danjiangkou city, Hubei province, because of the South-North Water Diversion Project, harvest mushrooms in June. Hao Tongqian / Xinhua

Relocation

However, while the north has undoubtedly benefited from the project, construction costs have soared and southern residents close to the reservoir are paying a high price.

In 2008, to ensure that the water would flow north by gravity feed, the level of the Danjiangkou Reservoir was raised by 13 meters, to 170 meters from 157, which resulted in the relocation of about 345,000 people in Henan and Hubei.

Han Guilian, 50, was moved to the Hualiba migrant village in Xichuan county, Henan, about 20 kilometers from her ancestral home. "The distance isn't that great, and I've often ridden back to my hometown on my motorbike. There's nothing left, though. Just a vast expanse of water," she said.

Although she said her new life is "not bad", she is still sad. "I can no longer sweep my parents' grave. I worry that they will blame me for not being able to visit them," she said.

Han has more down-to-earth concerns, too. Even though her three-story house looks quite new from the outside, "it leaks when it rains", she said, wearing a bitter smile. The house was devoid of decorations, and there was very little furniture, apart from a television set, an old sofa and several small wooden benches for visitors.

Moreover, there's "not too much to do", so Han spends most of her time chatting with her neighbors and visitors.

Local officials promised to give her 1,200 square meters of farmland, but in the end she was only allocated 800 sq m. "Speaking frankly, the land here is poor," she said. "We used to grow peanuts and wheat, but I'm not expecting the harvest here to be good, so I have given up. We rely on the money brought back by my son and daughter-in-law from Zhengzhou city," she said. "Nearly half the villagers, especially the younger generation, have moved away to earn more money. You can't really make a living here by growing crops."

Her family's annual income used to be just 6,500 yuan, and although it has now risen slightly, the amount "depends on how much the factories pay my son and daughter-in-law every month. The number of hours they work varies from week to week, so it's not a very stable income".

Fresh opportunities

Zhao Quanhong, head of the Hualiba village immigration office, acknowledged that life has been tough for many residents, but insisted that the relocation has resulted in many opportunities.

"I don't want the villagers to attribute all their difficulties to the water diversion project. I understand their feelings because I am one of them, but even before the project started, many things needed to be improved - Xichuan is one of 12 national-level impoverished counties. However, from another point of view, the project offers a chance to create something new from a fresh start," he said.

"We are trying to improve the residents' lives by creating local employment opportunities, so people don't have to move far away," he said. "This year, we have held 20 employment training sessions for vill-agers, and we are trying to help them make a living from something other than growing crops. But it will take time (to see the real benefits)."

Tsinghua University's Ni said the full effects of the project will not become apparent for some years.

"Providing livelihoods for relocated residents is still a problem, and the future allocation of water resources is another concern I can foresee.

"We want to ease the water shortage crisis in the north, but transporting water is only a partial solution because northern cities have large populations. This is not a finished project.

"However, it will probably be a long battle. Compared with preserving the water quality along the open channels, I feel that improving the lives of the migrants will be a far more difficult task."

Contact the writer at wangyanfei@chinadaily.com.cn