Taocha Headworks and the Danjiangkou Reservoir

At Taocha, in Jiuchong town of Xichuan county, water from Danjiangkou leaves the reservoir and turns north into the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. The structure is a working system rather than a monument: in January 2026 the county set up a water protection centre, and the shore is now ringed with cameras, speakers, drones and boats that report to one screen in a control room. Around it, the work is done by people: a cleaner hauling branches out of the water, a resettler walking the hills with binoculars to watch trees he planted himself.