The world's longest tunnel, which would divert 10 billion to 15 billion tons of water more than 600 miles to the Taklamakan Desert, is being planned by engineers in China.
China's central government is considering the proposal, which involved more than 100 scientists, Newsweek reported. The project is expected to cost at least $150 million per kilometer (0.6 mile) of tunnel, although costs could come down in the next decade to make the tunnel more affordable.
The Xinjiang project faces geological, technical, environmental and political challenges, including protests from India and Bangladesh, which would see a significant amount of their Brahmaputra River waters diverted into the tunnel, Newsweek reported.
"It will change the landscape of an entire region," Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Tibetan Plateau researcher Zhou Shiqiao said, according to Fortune magazine, noting that the Yellow, Yangtze, Mekong and Ganges rivers will all be impacted by the diversion of water. "To my knowledge, no environmental evaluation has been carried out. The nature and scale of the impact remains in the dark."
Currently, the longest tunnel in the world is an 85-mile tunnel that brings water to various parts of New York City, Fortune reported. China has started building another tunnel in the Yunnan province that will be 373 miles long when it is completed in 2023, Newsweek reported.
Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics researcher Zhang Chuanqing compared the Xinjiang project to the Central Valley Project, which made the dry San Joaquin Vally in California into one of the top fertile areas of the U.S.
"With new water from Tibet, Xinjiang would boom like California," he said, Newsweek reported.
But others see risks from the project.
"The region is also earthquake-prone and it could lead to a huge natural disaster," International Tibet Network's Lobsang Yangtso said, Fortune reported.
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