The Huaihe River is one of China's most turbulent rivers and the key to flood control is the scientific use of flood diversion areas, said a senior Chinese flood control expert.

Luo Zewang, deputy general engineer with the Huaihe River Water Resources Committee under the Ministry of Water Resources, said the river is subject to big fluctuations in rainfall between different years, causing frequent floods, waterlogging or droughts.

Luo said diverting floodwater in the middle reaches is crucial to controlling the floods.

Hongze Lake, the largest lake in the lower reaches of the river, has been elevated due to silting over the years, he said, which makes it difficult for floodwater to quickly flow downstream and empty into the sea.

The key to solving this problem is to use the flood diversion areas rationally, which currently total 22 along the river, Luo said.

He explained that diverting floodwater to Qiujiahu Lake, Chengdonghu Lake and Jingshanhu Lake from July 7 to 11 had successfully lowered the flood level on the river's trunk stream.

Luo noted that some 1.5 million people lived in these diversion areas before this year's flood.

He said the flood-control standards of the embankments of the river are relatively low, which puts great pressure on efforts to protect the embankments when floods occur.

Under the current circumstances, timely and accurate forecasting of rainfall and floods are very important to go along with scientific use of the flood diversion areas, said Luo.

To improve flood control work on the Huaihe River, China is building a major flood-control project in Linhuaigang in the river 's middle reaches. It is expected to enable the river to withstand the massive flooding that occurs every hundred years.

Involving a total investment of 2.27 billion yuan (about 273, 494 million US dollars), the project started at the end of 2001 and is expected to finish by 2006.

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