Sustainable Development of Agriculture in the North China Plain and Sorth-to-north Water Transfer

This paper mainly deals with the ralationship between sustainable agriculture and planned water diersion from Changjiang (Yangtze) River to the North China Plain (NCP),Which is one of the most important area in agriculture in China.The NCP is located in between semihumid and semiarid zones and water resources are limited with very uneveness in time and in space.Due to rapid growth of agricultural production,a overdraft of groundwater for irrigation can be found in many irrigated districts.Consequently many cones of influence has been formed around groundwater overdraft areas where agricultural and industrial sectors increasingly use water with very high consumption.Therefore water resoruces in the NCP have been degraded year by year and can not be satisfactory for futher sustainable development of agriculture.To solve this problem,the authors consider that an important strategy is to divert water from water sufficient regions to the NCP The former wiu Provide water for the western part of the NCP on the basis of enhancing water saving agriculture in water imported areas.Thereare two planned schemes,i.e,middle route and eastern route of long distance water transfer from the Changjiang River Basin to the NCP. The former will provide water for the western part of the NCP and the latter will supply water for the eastern part of the NCP respectively.These routes are needed for whole plain and will be of great significance in supportting the NCP to build up a sustanible agriculture for the future.