A tunnel beneath the Yellow River, China's second longest, and
related water gates and ditches have been completed for the
eastern route of the country's giant south-north water diversion
project. Water diverted from the Yangtze, China's largest river,
along the eastern route will flow through the tunnel to the
parched northern provinces of Shandong and Hebei as well as
Tianjin Municipality, the Shandong Provincial Construction
Management Bureau of South-to-North Water Diversion Project said
in a statement on Sunday. Dubbed the "throat" of the eastern
route, the 585-meter-long tunnel, 9 meters in diameter and up to
70 meters deep, will divert 442 million cubic meters of water
annually. Construction of the key project on the eastern route
cost 613 million yuan (97.2 million U.S. dollars) and lasted
four years. The south-north water diversion project was first
conceived by former Chinese leader Mao Zedong in 1952 and the
State Council, or China's Cabinet, approved the ambitious
project in December 2002 after de