The Chinese government is inclined to apply a supply-oriented solution to solve water shortages in the north. One of the supply-driven solutions is the South to North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP), the largest inter-basin water transfer project in the world, diverting water from the Yangtze River in southern China to northern China to cope with the water shortage challenges in the North China Plain (NCP). My research examines the impact of the SNWTP on water use and water politics in rural China from the production water interface and the domestic water interface, respectively.
The SNWTP impacts production and domestic water in rural North China, both directly and indirectly, even though it is not directly used for agricultural purposes. First, the local water supply for cities and industries will be replaced by diverted water, and the squeezed agrarian water will be returned to the agricultural sector according to government plans, which will significantly improve the irrigation environment. Secondly, the construction of the SNWTP partially cut off the irrigation canal network of some local large-scale water conservancy facilities, and some farmlands have entirely lost their connection with upstream reservoirs, falling into a self-sufficient irrigation situation with an increased risk of seasonal disasters. Finally, most rural diverted water receiving areas on NCP have carried out domestic water replacement projects, intending to replace local water sources with diverted water from SNWTP.
My research contributes to understanding indirect and ongoing impacts as long-lived artificial projects and differential impacts across different rural stakeholders. Specifically, my research focuses on the daily water activities of individual farmers under the impact of the SNWTP, from which the complex and delicate relationship between the state and the farmers is realized.