Danjiangkou Reservoir 丹江口水库

About Danjiangkou Reservoir

Its branching water surface, islands and surrounding hills can look like a natural lake, but the landscape was created and later enlarged for flood control, power generation and water supply. The connection with the South-to-North Water Diversion project is central to understanding it. Choose a specific shore or authorised cruise; the reservoir is too large for its name alone to identify a useful arrival point.

Danjiangkou Reservoir was created by the Danjiangkou hydropower project, built from 1958, and later enlarged by a dam-heightening project begun in October 2005. Planning began in 1950, when the Hubei provincial government formed a committee to manage the Han River, and subsequent surveys identified Danjiangkou as a favorable dam site. Construction felled 250,000 mu (亩) of forest along the riverbanks, and later changes to the downstream riverbed contributed to a severe flood at Ankang in 1983.

The reservoir is fed by the Han River, rising at Pantian Mountain (蟠冢山) in Shaanxi's Ningqiang County, the Dan River, rising near Shangluo, and the Xi River, rising in Henan's Luanchuan County. At its widest, on the border of Danjiangkou and Xichuan County, the water surface stretches more than 30 kilometers long and more than 20 kilometers wide, known locally as the 'Little Pacific' (小太平洋). Near Yankou (雁口) in Xichuan a narrow, steep-walled stretch is called the 'Little Three Gorges' (小三峡) of the Dan River.

After the South-to-North Water Diversion project's middle route first phase, the reservoir's area reached 1022.75 square kilometers, with a normal water level of 170 meters. It is the sole water source for the middle route and a national first-class water source protection zone, supplying water via the Taocha canal head (陶岔渠) to Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and Henan.

What to look for

• The branching reservoir landscape formed by the Han and Dan valleys.
• The relationship between the dam, water supply and the reshaped shoreline.

Location & getting there

Getting to Danjiangkou Reservoir

For a Danjiangkou city-side boat outing, use the Canglanghai Tourism Port and confirm the actual departure pier with the operator. Other shores and the Henan branch require different road approaches; do not use the broad reservoir pin as a boarding location.