BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- China is considering spending 300 billion yuan on diverting water from the upper reaches of Yangtze River at the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to the upper reaches of Yellow River to quench the thirst of the country's northwest.

    Li Guoying, head of the Yellow River Conservancy Commission under the Ministry of Water Resources, said the western route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project has a length of 300 kilometers which meander through a number of mountain tunnels, pipelines and channels. It will bring water from the Yalong, Dadu and Jinsha Rivers, which are tributaries of the Yangtze, to the upper reaches of the Yellow River.

    If the project goes ahead it will be built in three phases. Phase one is designed to divert some 4 billion cubic meters of water annually to the Yellow River. The third phase of the project is projected to divert 17 billion cubic meters of water a year.

    He said the route is not long, but it's technologically challenging.

    The upper reaches of the Yellow River ran dry for 1,093 days from 1972 to 1999 due to a lack of precipitation and increased water consumption.

    In a bid to boost the economic growth in the northwest, local governments and businessmen have been opening an increasing number of factories which have made the problem worse.

    "The dramatic rise in water consumption by industries will further deplete the water supplies at the upper reaches of the Yellow River," said Li. Enditem