CLEANING THE WATER

To ensure continuing water quality, four labs and 13 automatic monitoring stations were built along the project. Inspectors have set up 28 monitoring stations at the junctions of different cities and sensitive areas.

In Danjiangkou, they had a Hujialing station to monitor the source of the water. "We collect sample and test the water quality every four hours," said Liu Gen, who was in charge of the station. "If we find anything abnormal, we can arrive at the site in three hours."

More than 200 sluice gates were installed so that in case of pollution people could prevent the pollutants from spreading, said Fan Zhihui.

However, experts still see hidden troubles along the way. For instance, the project runs past more than 1,000 bridges. "If pollutants fall into the water from passing vehicles, we could shut the sluice gate, but then how to clean the water without contaminating local environment?" said Xu Xinyi, head of the College of Water Sciences under the Beijing Normal University.

Another problem is the lack of a proper sewage plant. In Shiyan city of Hubei which Danjiangkou belongs to, 90 percent of the townships and villages cannot provide enough funding for sewage plants. They also have troubles attracting the right talent to do the job.

As result, Li Zhonglan, 70, told Xinhua that in the Langhe town where she lives, a river was coated by algae. "It stinks when the sun comes out," she said.

Shiyan has planned to invite big enterprises to take over these plants. "It is our hope that the enterprises could help upgrade the sewage plants, so as to improve water quality," said Zhang Binshen, head of the Xijiadian sewage plant.