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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Photo: China Diverting Major River to "Water" Beijing Olympics


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Workers drive construction equipment inside a section of the Beijing-Shijiazhuang Canal near the town of Baoding in Hebei Province on January 16, 2008.

The canal, designed to provide plentiful water to Beijing for this summer's Olympic Games, is just a precursor to a more massive water diversion plan meant to re-route water into the arid north. Observers warn that the 60-billion-U.S.-dollar hydro-engineering project will likely spark conflict over access to water that could ricochet across Asia.

Photograph by David Gray/Reuters (China)