生存的关键是保护环境

'Environmental resettlement' is the principle for the relocation of villagers in China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project. That means ecological protection is the top priority in development. Migrants have to give up their traditional way of farming for the sake of water quality. Today in our special series, ‘Quenching a Mighty Thirst’, Han Bin visits one such relocation village, which is struggling to achieve the difficult balance between survival and development.

Cleaner and greener farming at Cai Wan Village. 65-year-old Lao Zhang -- or Old Zhang, never dreamed he’d switch to this kind of farming, and for cash crops.

"We live so close to the reservoir that we must help guarantee the water quality. To minimize pollution, we should strictly follow the government’s order not to use chemical fertilizers or pesticides," Zhang said.

The Danjiangkou Reservoir submerged some 300 square kilometers of land to make way for the diversion project.

The country’s relocation policy has been encouraging migrants to move closer to big cities in exchange for a better life. You could say it is part of the urbanization plan. But a lot of farmers, like Lao Zhang, have chosen to stay near their old homes. Though they are still living by the water, life has changed forever.

The migrants around Danjiangkou are particularly vulnerable. A lot of business and farming activities are banned. They’ve turned to planting eco-friendly crops. An orange grove provides Lao Zhang with a stable income. He says the government encouraged migrants to plant the trees on the mountains, to prevent erosion. And the government worked hard to help them. But it’s been painful.

"I still miss my old life very much. It’s so hard for me to adapt to this new way of life. I’m getting too old to make any changes," Zhang said.

Lao Zhang says he loves the tranquil pastoral life of the past. His wood and brick house on the mountain, surrounded by trees, facing a vast stretch of water. Villagers used to raise livestock, grow vegetables and go fishing.

Life was good.

He visits what’s left of his old home, as he’s done nearly every day for the past three years.

"I didn’t want to move. I used to have a more spacious house. I also raised so many pigs. The compensation can never make up for what I have lost," Zhang said.

The diversion project has given Danjiangkou the title of the “Fountainhead” of China’s solution to water crisis. Eco-farming may be the future here, but for Lao Zhang, the harvest is bittersweet.