基建狂魔再开挂，中国将建世界最长引水渠

据称，中国的工程师正在计划修一条全世界最长的输水隧洞，其长度将超过600英里。

这条输水隧洞将从西藏延伸到新疆的塔克拉玛干大沙漠。它将远远超过现有的纪录保持者——环纽约市的一条85英里的输水隧洞。

据一位匿名的地质技术工程师向《南华早报》透露，该工程预计长度为621英里（合1000公里），将从西藏的雅鲁藏布江向新疆地区引水，最终将这里变成“中国的加利福尼亚”。

这项雄心勃勃的工程也面临着一些阻碍，首先是邻国的反对。雅鲁藏布江流出中印边界后，就是印度所谓的“布塔玛普特拉河”，并在孟加拉国汇入恒河。另外这条水渠必须在极恶劣的地质环境下开工，此外环境因素也是必须考虑的问题。

据《南华早报》报道：“（青藏高原）每年流出的水达4000亿吨，足以填满美国五大湖之一的伊利湖。青藏高原也是黄河、长江、湄公河（中国称澜沧江）、恒河等大江大河的发源地。”

中科院青藏高原研究所的周石硚对《南华早报》表示：“它将改变整个地区的地貌。就我所知，就此问题还没有进行过环评。其影响及影响的范围现在还很难说。”

中科院岩土力学研究所研究员张传庆表示，由于成本和技术问题，该项目十年内可能也不会开工。

张传庆也提到了目前正在云南省建设的云贵引水工程（全长373英里，已于8月施工）。由于云贵高原的海拔仅次于青藏高原，因此它也能为新藏引水工程提供宝贵的经验。

由于云贵引水工程规模宏大，因此它也将是一个巨大的挑战。其干渠的宽度能容纳两列高铁列车并肩行驶。而且它还必须跨越地震断层线。

“这个工程将表明，我们有智慧、有实力、有工具在危险地形建设超长的引水工程，而且成本也不会让我们难以承受。”张传庆对《南华早报》表示。

除了担心引起气候变化，环保人士还担心地震将殃及新藏引水工程，并引发洪水。

非营利组织国际西藏网络的洛桑扬措（音）对Quartz网站表示：“该地区是地震多发地区，因此该工程有可能引发自然灾害。”

目前，中国最长的引水隧洞是辽宁省的大伙房输水隧洞，全长约53英里。（财富中文网）

译者：贾政景

Engineers in China are laying plans for what would be the world’s largest water tunnel at more than 600 miles.

The tunnel, which would stretch from Tibet to the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang province, would surpass the current record holder: a 85-mile tunnel that pipes water around New York City.

The planned 621-mile tunnel (1,000 km), would transport water from the Yarlung Tsangpo River to the barren Xinjiang region, with the goal of turning the area “into California,” an anonymous geotechnical engineer told the South China Morning Post.

There are major obstacles to this ambitious project, including objections by neighboring countries. The Yarlung Tsangpo River crosses the border with India to become the Brahmaputra River and later merges with the Ganges River in Bangladesh. Other potential roadblocks include the rugged terrain the tunnel must go under and environmental concerns.

“The more than 400 billion tonnes of water [the Tibetan Plateau] releases each year—almost enough to fill Lake Erie in the United States—also feeds the source of other major rivers, including the Yellow, Yangtze, Mekong (known in China as the Lancang) and the Ganges,” The South China Morning Post reports.

“It will change the landscape of an entire region,” Zhou Shiqiao, who does research for the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, told the South China Morning Post. “To my knowledge, no environmental evaluation has been carried out. The nature and scale of the impact remains in the dark.”

Zhang Chuanqing, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, said the project won’t start for another 10 years because of the cost and technology.

In the meantime, Zhang points to the 373-mile tunnel being built in the Yunnan province (on which construction started in August) as a test run for the longer Tibetan project. The Yunnan tunnel begins on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, the second-highest plateau in the country after Tibet, making it a good model for its longer cousin, according to Zhang.

The Yunnan tunnel will be a big challenge because of its size—it will be wide enough to fit two high-speed trains—and the fact that it must cross earthquake fault lines.

“It is to show we have the brains, muscle and tools to build super-long tunnels in hazardous terrains, and the cost does not break the bank,” Zhang told the South China Morning Post,

Along with climate change, earthquakes are a concern for environmentalists when it comes to the Tibet-Xinjiang tunnel and the possibility that a temblor could cause a failure in the tunnel and create a flood.

“The region is also earthquake-prone and it could lead to a huge natural disaster,” Lobsang Yangtso, from the non-profit International Tibet Network told Quartz.

Currently, the longest water tunnel in China is the Dahuofang Water Tunnel, which stretches 53 miles through the Liaoning province, located in the northeast of the country.