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crewell to Home at Doniiangkou ReserVoir NINE years ago Miss Zhao was a freshman in a Bei-jing university.When washing her hands she keptthe water running while soaping her hands,just likeshe always did.Are you from the South? askedthe student standing next to her.Zhao was bemused: Howon earth did you know that? Because you dont know howshort of water Beijing is, replied the student,leaning over toturn offthe faucet for her. 　　This is a true story,one that we heard when reporting inHenan,one of Chinas central provinces.The year after this inci-dent took place,China started to construct the South-to-NorthWater Diversion Project,a major project channeling the pre-cious commodity from the Yangtze River to the north of China.By 2014 Beijing is expected to be using water from the south. 　　The geographical distribution of Chinas water resourcespresents an obviously unbalanced picture: some 80 percent ofthe total is in the south,whereas northern China has a waterdeficit,particularly big cities like Beijing and Tianjin.Accord-ing to Shen Fengsheng,chief engineer of the South-to-NorthWater Diversion Commission of the State Council,Chinasper capita water resource is only a quarter of the world aver-age level; in the Yellow,Huaihe and Haihe river valleys,theper capita water resource is only 462 cubic meters,one-fifthof the national average and one-20th of the world average;and in the North China Plain where Beijing and Tianjin arelocated the figure drops to 292 cubic meters,representingone-seventh and one-30th of the national and world averagesrespectively. 　　In order to alleviate water shortages in the north of Chinaand to underwrite daily life and local social and economicdevelopment,China has been preparing to transfer water fromthe south to the north since the 1950s. 　　In his briefing Shen Fengsheng explained that the South-to-North Water Diversion Project has three routes,Eastern,Central and Western, 　　The Eastern Route crosses the eastern stretches of the Yel-l