After more than seven months of hard work, breakthroughs have been made in the construction of the Middle Line Water Diversion Project, the first construction project of the follow-up project of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project.

On the morning of February 18, at Anlehe Village, Sanguandian Subdistrict Office, Danjiangkou City, at the exit of the main water transmission trunk of the water diversion project, with the launching of drilling construction by the multi-arm rock drill jumbo, the water diversion project officially entered the main tunnel construction stage, which will lay a solid foundation for the full commencement of the construction of the water diversion project.

The project of diverting water from the Yangtze River to replenish the Han River was officially started on July 7, 2022. After the completion of the project, it will improve the water resources allocation capacity of the Han River basin, increase the water volume and water supply guarantee rate of the South-to-North Water Transfer Middle Line Project, provide better water supply guarantee for the Han River basin and North China, and realize the benefits of both north and south. The outlet section of the main water diversion trunk line from the Yangtze River to the Han River is located in Gucheng County, Xiangyang City, Hubei Province, and Danjiangkou City, Shiyan City, including the 5085-meter water conveyance tunnel at the outlet section.

The construction of the main tunnel of the Yangtze River Diversion Project will pass through adverse geology such as water inrush, mud inrush, large fracture and large deformation of soft rock, and encounter construction difficulties such as strong rock burst, high temperature and harmful gas. The safety risk is extremely high, and the construction difficulty is extremely high, which is unprecedented in domestic and foreign water diversion projects.Editor/Ma Xue