LONG AND DEEP DIVERSION TUNNELS OF 1ST STAGE PROJECT IN WEST ROUTE OF SOUTH-NORTH WATER TRANSFER PROJECT
南水北调西线一期工程中的长深引水隧洞

West Route of South-North Water Transfer Project,situated in southeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,is a giant project,which will deliver 17 billion m3 of water from the main stream and tributaries upstream of the Yangtze River to the upper reaches of the Yellow River. It is to be constructed in 3 stages, of which the 1st stage project includes delivering 4 billion m3 of water by gravity from two tributaries of Yalong River and three tributaries of Dadu River. The project consists of 5 dams,7 tunnels and a channel in series,with the dam height of 63～123 m and water transfer length of 260.3 km,of which the tunnels measure 244.1 km. The special climatic,environmental and geologic conditions make the project much more complicated in construction,especially 3 tunnels with the length longer than 50 km each create challenges to the technical requirements of engineering survey,design and construction.