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“If city dwellers can’t go for sightseeing trips to waterfalls, bring waterfalls into the city for them to see and enjoy!” This must have been the thought behind this spectacular feat of constructing an artificial waterfall that hurtles down a high-rise building. This feat has not only catapulted Guiyang, the capital city of Guizhou province in southwest China, to fame but also its construction company, Guizhou Ludiya Property Management.
Creating the world’s tallest man-made waterfall is certainly an incredible engineering feat. It makes the building stand out from the rest. And when the sun rays fall on this waterfall, it creates a magnificent rainbow in front of the building.
Constructing this waterfall has had its share of problems. It posed enormous engineering challenges to design lifting of water 350 feet up. Four large pumps had to be installed for this purpose to shoot up the water to that height, before releasing it. The water comes cascading down into the form of a beautiful waterfall and gets recycled again.
The waterfall doesn’t come cheap, it consumes expensive electricity that guzzles $100 per hour. Of course, the waterfall is not activated on a daily basis but is operated only on special occasions.
So, was creating this artificial waterfall a good idea? There are many against it, but as many for it. Some think it’s a good idea because it promotes tourism in Guizhou province. It acts as a small advertisement for the famous Huangguoshu waterfall nearby. According to them, this waterfall will boost the economy of the city and province.
However, many others openly criticize this idea, terming it as an extremely wasteful project. Those in favour counter this criticism, saying if this is wasteful, so are the numerous fountains and light decorations at public places. These should also be removed. They contend that, unlike fountains in parks, etc. that function on a daily basis, this waterfall will only become operational only on some international or important events. So, the question on wastefulness doesn’t arise.
It seems that the artificial waterfall is there to stay and is attracting big players, like Amazon, Apple and Google, to this once-poor Chinese province. These big companies are set to make Guiyang their base. The city is also witnessing a building boom with property developers and builders coming from other parts of the province to develop their projects in this city.
