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The South–North Water Transfer Project: remaking the geography of China

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  • Michael Webber
  • Britt Crow-Miller
  • Sarah Rogers

Abstract

The South–North Water Transfer Project: remaking the geography of China. Regional Studies. This paper uses a technopolitical approach to analyse China’s South–North Water Transfer Project. The project promises to channel 25 billion cubic metres of water a year from the Yangtze River northward, connecting four river basins, three megacities, six provinces and hundreds of millions of water users. The paper argues that the project embodies a particular, engineering-heavy approach to water management; that, even so, it poses fundamental challenges to existing regional structures of governance; and that it promises continuing detrimental environmental impacts in source regions even as it invites similar future interventions in China’s hydrological environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Webber & Britt Crow-Miller & Sarah Rogers, 2017. "The South–North Water Transfer Project: remaking the geography of China," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3), pages 370-382, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:regstd:v:51:y:2017:i:3:p:370-382
    DOI: 10.1080/00343404.2016.1265647
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    Cited by:

    1. Rita Rani Chopra & Smruti Ranjan Behera, 2021. "Assessment of interstate dynamics of virtual water trade flows in primary crops production: Empirical evidence from India," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 41(3), pages 1860-1875.
    2. Maxwell C. Wilson & Xiao-Yan Li & Yu-Jun Ma & Andrew T. Smith & Jianguo Wu, 2017. "A Review of the Economic, Social, and Environmental Impacts of China’s South–North Water Transfer Project: A Sustainability Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-11, August.
    3. Sayan, Ramazan Caner & Bilgen, Arda & Kibaroğlu, Ayşegül, 2025. "Towards water regionalism? Examining the linkages between water, infrastructures, and regionalism in Turkey," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126296, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Yuntong Zhao & Li Guo & Yun Li & Yixin Zhu & Zhe Cheng, 2025. "Revealing the driving factors for structure changes of regional water consumption: an empirical study of the middle route project of the South-to-North Water Diversion in China," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(5), pages 10415-10438, May.
    5. Raymond Yu Wang & Tao Liu & Heping Dang, 2018. "Bridging critical institutionalism and fragmented authoritarianism in China: An analysis of centralized water policies and their local implementation in semi‐arid irrigation districts," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(4), pages 451-465, December.
    6. Sarah Rogers & Mark Wang, 2020. "Producing a Chinese hydrosocial territory: A river of clean water flows north from Danjiangkou," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 38(7-8), pages 1308-1327, November.
    7. Zhao-Jin Chen & Yang Shao & Ying-Jun Li & Li-An Lin & Yan Chen & Wei Tian & Bai-Lian Li & Yu-Ying Li, 2020. "Rhizosphere Bacterial Community Structure and Predicted Functional Analysis in the Water-Level Fluctuation Zone of the Danjiangkou Reservoir in China During the Dry Period," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-18, February.
    8. Tianhe Jiang & Mark Wang & Yingnan Zhang & Guoqing Shi & Dengcai Yan, 2021. "What about the “Stayers”? Examining China’s Resettlement Induced by Large Reservoir Projects," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-20, February.
    9. Jichuan Sheng & Michael Webber, 2019. "Governance rescaling and neoliberalization of China’s water governance: The case of China’s South–North Water Transfer Project," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 51(8), pages 1644-1664, November.
    10. Kun Yang & Minggang Peng & Jiying Huang, 2026. "Ambiguity in China’s integrated water resources management: the case of the Yuan River Basin comprehensive planning," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    11. Yuning Gao & Miao Yu, 2018. "Assessment of the economic impact of South-to-North Water Diversion Project on industrial sectors in Beijing," Journal of Economic Structures, Springer;Pan-Pacific Association of Input-Output Studies (PAPAIOS), vol. 7(1), pages 1-17, December.
    12. Jean Carlos da Silva Galdino & Marcos Aurélio Vasconcelos Freitas & Neilton Fidelis da Silva & Marcio Giannini Pereira & João Marcelo Dias Ferreira, 2020. "Creating the Path for Sustainability: Inserting Solar PV in São Francisco Transposition Project," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-27, October.

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