The Kunming Waterfalls are up and running.

en.kunming.cn/index/content/2013-07/10/content_3352720.htm

I count ten small ones and one big one. Probably a thousand liters of clean water per minute sent on its way to Dianchi. Meanwhile, nearby Songhuaba reservoir is less than half full and dropping fast.

Is this for real?

If it is, the waterfall idea makes sense.
The purpose of the scheme is to redirect water to aid the clean up of Dianchi, a waterfall is a good way to aerate the water.

Yes, it is up and running, I saw it the other day. To get to it bike (or drive but it gets heinously muddy) up beside the Pan long on the West of the river north of the Carnival shopping mall. You can now continue further than you could a few months ago as they have built the park on the riverside and upgraded the road. There is a hell of a lot of construction going on building houses down that road, but it's still Ok for riding. You get to a part where the road turns to gravel/mud and swings right towards the river. Stop near the river and look North to see the waterfalls.

It should be a beautiful place to live in the future, new apartments, nice riverside parks with a nice (albeit man made in Chinese sterile style) waterfall view. Of course at the moment the surrounding area is a construction site.

I'd prefer they divert all that water to Songhuaba reservoir. I have no water issues at the moment, but if Songhuaba is one of the remaining two reservoirs for Kunming, I expect we are all in trouble after the rainy season, if not before.

@Tigertiger. Agree with oxygenating the water, it will help clean the lake.
Was the water flow previously going in Dianchi lake?

The DianChi cleaning scheme is to divert huge amounts of water from areas such as Songming and to dilute the industrially polluted Dianchi water. No matter how succesful this works for Dianchi it will for sure mean water issues for the surrounding areas that are sucked dry to serve the provincial capital.

My guess is that Dianchi will need something more than a dillution before the water can be used.

Could someone kindly post a link to a map showing exactly where it is? I've not really understood the directions. Thanks.

It might not be that place, but I remember riding up xia shan in November 2012 and past the water po-po was a closed gate with a sign mentioning something about a water project and had a huge waterfall-y noise coming from behind. It was late afternoon, but I believe that gate would be open during the day and people might have a closer look.

It's way up north as bobbles stated.