A Canal Too Far - China Notes 5,000-KM Desalination Canal To Xinjiang "Unfeasible"

Yeah, no shit.

A PROPOSAL to divert water from the Bohai Sea on China's eastern coast to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the far west to fight deserts and sandstorms is "unfeasible" and an "illusion," water resources scientists and experts said yesterday. Shi Yulin, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a research fellow at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the salt contained in the huge amount of diverted sea water could further encrust the saline land in Xinjiang.

Li Zechun, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and former director of the National Climate Center, said the sea water could not produce sufficient vapor to create enough rainfall to affect the climate in the northwestern regions. Ning Yuan, former deputy director and research fellow of the South-North Water Diversion Project Commission of the State Council, pointed out that the Bohai Sea is 5,000 kilometers from Xinjiang.

That meant the laying of a pipeline, the huge cost of the project, and the water distribution issues were all problems "beyond imagination," Ning said. In a widely reported meeting on November 5 in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, researchers and local government officials discussed the proposal.

It was suggested that the huge amount of sea water, if diverted to the west, could form man-made lakes and rivers. These would serve as vapor sources to create more rainfall and contain the threat of desertification in the country's north and north and northwest regions.

EDIT

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2010/201011/20101117/article_454813.htm