China to clear away lower reaches of muddiest river (Xinhua) Updated: 2005-06-07 19:36
The Headquarters for Flood Controlon Yellow River, China's longest announced
on Tuesday that it would start to clear away sediment in the lower reaches of
the world's muddiest river on June 16.
It will be the fourth clearing stunt of the kind designed to lower the bed of
the Yellow River.
The flood-prone Yellow River is the most heavily silted in the world. It was
used to be called as "China's sorrows" for the heavy losses caused in floods on
the river. For centuries, the Chinese have been battling hard to harness the
river.
Every year, the river carries 1.6 billion tons of silt into thelower reaches,
depositing 400 million tons. For about 800 kilometers in the lower reaches, the
watercourse is four to six meters higher above ground level, threatening
communities and livelihoods.
Severe soil erosion from the Loess Plateau where the upper reaches of the
Yellow River traverses has accumulated by big amount at the lower reaches of the
river, making the riverbed elevated by annual rate of 0.1 meters.
Chinese experts, who reckon that a satisfactory ratio between the water and
sediment will improve dredging, have contrived to create floods to brush away
silt deposited on the riverbed at the lower reaches of the Yellow River.
A spokesman with the headquarters was confident of a successfulclearing
mission as enough water has been stored for the purpose this year. Up to now,
eight reservoirs on the upper and middle reaches of the river have kept about
22.7 billion cu m of water altogether, 700 million cu m more than that for the
same period last year.
The headquarters has worked out a detailed plan regarding silt clearing, and
the three reservoirs of Wanjiazhai, Sanmenxia and Xiaolangdi, all on the middle
reaches of the Yellow River, are expected to play a leading role in the silt
clearing task, said the spokesman.
A total of 260 million tons of silt have been washed out into the sea via the
flooding experiments since 2002 when China began to clear silt and lower the bed
of the Yellow River at its lower reaches with a series of artificial flooding
experiments.
Up to now, the lower reaches of the Yellow River is now capableof
accommodating a water flow of 3,000 cu m per second, comparing 2,000 cu m per
second before the experiments were carried out.
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top China
News |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|