Densely overgrown mountains characterize the border area between the Chinese provinces of Hubei and Henan. It is precisely there – between the Yangtze River and its tributary the Han River – where the gigantic system for south-north water transfer, which has been covering the drinking water needs of the north for years, is to be expanded. But the thirst in the north continues to grow, while the region is getting drier and drier. So the Yangtze basin will have to provide even more water than before – and in the future directly from the middle reaches.