The South-to-North Water Diversion Project is a major project in China to transport the abundant water resources of the south to the arid and water-scarce regions of the north. It connects the four major rivers of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, the Huai River and the Haihe River through the three main water diversion routes of the eastern, central and western routes, forming a water conservancy pattern of "four horizontal and three vertical". It is estimated that by 2050, the total scale of water diversion from the South-to-North Water Transfer Project will reach 44.8 billion cubic meters.
However, the implementation of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project also faces some challenges and problems. First of all, the distribution of groundwater resources in the north is uneven, although the proportion of groundwater reserves in the north is as high as 95%, but the existence of groundwater overexploitation areas has led to a sharp drop in groundwater level in some areas, which seriously threatens the local ecological environment and social and economic development.
Second, the implementation of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project has also brought certain pressure to the southern region, which may affect the local water resources allocation and ecological environment.
Therefore, the promotion of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project needs to comprehensively consider all factors, rationally plan the utilization and allocation of water resources, strengthen the supervision and governance of groundwater overexploitation, and ensure the sustainable development of the project and the safe use of water resources. Only in this way can we better meet the water demand of the northern region and protect the water resources and ecological environment of the southern region.