The South-North Water Diversion Project is expected to begin supplying water to Beijing by the end of this week, but rumors are doing the rounds that the capital may have to wait longer for water from South China because the central route canal has frozen.

 

In a widely circulated blog posting, an "observer" claims to have noticed the "slow flow" in the central route canal, saying this could prevent water from reaching the capital in winter. The "observer" also says silting could damage the canal.

 

 

People with even the basic knowledge of physics know that the velocity of a floating object is not equal to that of water, because the former meets resistance from the latter from below and air from above. Besides, the water velocity varies with depth - a river that is calm might have fierce currents flowing below the surface. A rough calculation shows a speed of 10 cm per second means 8 km in 24 hours. If the canal water indeed travels at such a slow pace, as the blog posting claims, the water should not have crossed South China even today.

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