In 2004, areas planted to ginger around the reservoir covered 33,000 hectares, with annual output of 400,000 tons. There were 100 ginger processing enterprises, and more than 1 million people were engaged in ginger production, processing and selling. Since most of the local farmers' incomes derived from the ginger industry, the area was known as the "home to ginger."

But due to backward production technologies, ginger processing used to cause serious pollution, as the pollutants caused by saponin production were 12 times that of papermaking. This led to severe pollution to Danjiangkou Reservoir and nearby rivers.

To alleviate pollution in the reservoir area, the local government decided to close all polluting saponin processing enterprises and reduce ginger growing area. So far, 63 processing enterprises that failed to meet emission standards have been closed and real-time monitoring is carried out on the other ginger processing enterprises. In addition, various measures have been adopted to promote research and development of new technologies for ginger production and processing.

Other polluting enterprises around the reservoir, such as cement works and timber mills, have also been closed.

While closing polluting enterprises, Danjiangkou has pooled efforts to create "a green city of water" by utilizing its water resource advantages.

The endeavor aims to make Danjiangkou Reservoir an ecological water source in five to 10 years and drive the local economic development by taking advantage of the city's location on the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. Clean industries will be the leading factor and green agriculture will provide a solid foundation for these efforts.

To boost its development in line with the green-city scheme, Danjiangkou introduced the Nongfu Spring Co. Ltd., a famous beverage company of China, to the city. In 2003, Nongfu Spring Co. Ltd. invested 320 million yuan ($46.85 million) to set up factory buildings in Danjiangkou for the production of 19 series of products, such as pure water and fruit juice, with all water needed coming from Danjiangkou Reservoir.

On March 31, 2010, the second phase of the Nongfu Spring project in Danjiangkou was put into operation, with a total investment of 250 million yuan ($36.6 million). To date, Nongfu Spring products from the Danjiangkou production base are sold to most parts of China.

Danjiangkou welcomes more beverage companies to invest in the city. "Water from 'the green city of water' is an invisible brand to the beverage companies themselves," Zeng said.

The Water Diversion Project

One of the basic characteristics of water distribution in China is that there is a deluge of water in the south and a deficiency in the north. To ease the water shortage in the north, the Chinese Government has decided to divert water from the south.

The South-to-North Water Diversion Project is divided into three projects: the western route project, the middle route project and the eastern route project, which will divert water from the upper reaches, middle reaches and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, respectively, to northwest and north China.

The eastern route project—1,857 km—will be constructed in three stages to divert water from Jiangdu and Yangzhou on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to the Tianjin Municipality, as well as Jinan, Yantai and Weihai in Shandong Province.

The middle route project—1,431.95 km—will be constructed in two stages to divert water from Danjiangkou Reservoir to Beijing and Tianjin.

The western route project will be constructed in three stages to divert water from the Yangtze River to the Yellow River by building dams on the Tongtian River on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and two branches of the Yangtze River: Yalong River and Dadu River. The project is designed to ease water shortage in six provinces and autonomous regions on the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River, including Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi and Shanxi.

At present, the first stages of the eastern and middle route projects are in progress. The first stage of the eastern route project will divert water from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to Dongping Lake of Shandong Province, which is scheduled to be completed in 2013. The first stage of the middle route project will be completed in 2014, comprising a water source and water diversion trunk line project, a harness project for the Hanjiang River and the Danjiangkou Reservoir transformation project.

The western route project is still in the design and appraisal phase.

(Source: www.nsbd.gov.cn)