Enlightenment from the continuous flow of the Yellow River for 20 years： the great river flows to write a picture of green development

　　Xinhua News Agency, Zhengzhou, August 14th: Writing a picture of green development by running rivers — — Enlightenment from the continuous flow of the Yellow River for 20 years

　　Xinhua News Agency reporters Song Xiaodong and Liu Shiping

　　On June 26th, 2018, the Yellow River was photographed on the pontoon bridge between Wuba Town, Taiqian County, Henan Province and yinshan town, Dongping County, Shandong Province (photographed by panorama camera). Xinhua News Agency reporter Feng Dapeng photo

　　The surging river meanders like a golden ribbon eastward into the sea. In people’s impression, "how the Yellow River’s waters move out of heaven" ran all the way into the sea, but in fact, in the past 30 years after the 1970s, the Yellow River was cut off for many years. Since 1999, the state has implemented unified management and dispatching of the Yellow River, and the Yellow River has been continuously flowing for 20 years. This mother river of the Chinese nation is feeding the people with a brand-new life form, and it also provides a model for the management and protection of rivers in the world and the harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

　　Mother River cut off the river and shouted "thirst" up and down.

　　For thousands of years, the Yellow River has nurtured Chinese sons and daughters like a mother, and has an important strategic position in China’s economic and social development. However, since the 1970s, the Yellow River has been frequently cut off, which not only directly affected the industrial and agricultural production and life in urban and rural areas along the Yellow River, but also further aggravated the river shrinkage, reduced the self-purification capacity of the river and unbalanced the ecosystem, posing a severe test for economic and social development and ecological environment protection.

　　This is a wild goose flying over the Yellow River wetland in Changyuan County, Henan Province on December 25, 2018. Xinhua News Agency reporter Feng Dapeng photo

　　Yuan Dongliang, deputy director of the Hydrology Bureau of the Yellow River Conservancy Commission, said that from 1972 to 1999, the Yellow River was cut off for 22 years, with an average of three times in four years. In 1997, the most serious cut-off occurred so far. The cut-off river extended from the estuary to Kaifeng, Henan Province, with a length of 704 kilometers, accounting for 90% of the total length of the lower reaches of the Yellow River. The cut-off of the Yellow River also caused a series of problems such as river shrinkage, reduction of aquatic life and wetland.

　　Why is the Yellow River, which has been flowing for thousands of years, cut off? For this reason, the Yellow River Water Conservancy Commission set up the project group of "Cause Analysis and Countermeasure Research on the Yellow River Cut-off", and concluded through argumentation and analysis that natural water resources are poor, human water consumption is increasing day by day and scientific management is lacking.

　　This is the winding Yellow River channel (photographed by drone) taken near Zhangzhuang Village, Dongbatou Township, Lankao, Henan Province on June 20, 2018. Xinhua News Agency reporter Feng Dapeng photo

　　Zhou Kangjun, a senior engineer of the Water Resources Management and Dispatching Bureau of the Yellow River Conservancy Commission, said that the Yellow River is located in the arid and semi-arid area of Eurasia, with scarce precipitation and poor water resources. However, with 2% of the country’s water resources, it has undertaken the water supply tasks of 12% of the population, 15% of cultivated land and dozens of large and medium-sized cities. Coupled with the climate impact, the rainfall has decreased, and the agricultural irrigation area and water consumption in the Yellow River basin and downstream irrigation areas have increased rapidly, making the water of the Yellow River poor.

　　Unified regulation of water resources continues to write about the running of rivers

　　Due to the lack of a unified water resources dispatching and management system in the Yellow River in those years, once it encounters a dry year, various places along the river compete for water diversion through water diversion projects, resulting in increasingly serious downstream water cut-off. In 1998, 163 academicians from China Academy of Sciences and China Academy of Engineering jointly issued an appeal to "take action to save the Yellow River".

　　In order to solve the crisis of Yellow River cut-off, with the approval of the State Council, in December, 1998, the Ministry of Water Resources and other departments jointly promulgated and implemented the Measures for the Management of Yellow River Water Dispatching, authorizing the Yellow River Water Conservancy Commission to implement unified water dispatching of the Yellow River, which was the first in seven river basins in China. On March 1, 1999, the Yellow River Conservancy Commission issued the first dispatching instruction, and 10 days later, the lower reaches of the Yellow River resumed flow as planned.

　　In the past 20 years, the chief executive responsibility system has been implemented in the water dispatching of the Yellow River, and the "Measures for the Management of Water Dispatching of the Yellow River" and other laws and regulations have been strictly implemented, and the water resources management system has become increasingly complete; Jointly dispatch the backbone reservoirs of the main branches and tributaries to fully adjust the temporal and spatial distribution of water resources; Improve the Yellow River water resources management system; Explore ways to optimize the allocation of water resources in the Yellow River by market means, and create a precedent for the transfer and transaction of water rights in China.

　　Ke Sujuan, director of the Water Mediation Department of the Yellow River Water Conservancy Commission, said that since the unified dispatching of the Yellow River, there have been eight years of extremely dry water, and the water inflow is lower than that in 1997 and 1995, when the interruption was serious. However, through strengthening the dispatching management, there was no interruption.

　　Through 20 years’ water dispatching, a dispatching management model of "unified water distribution by the state, water distribution by provinces (regions), dual control of total water consumption and cross-section flow, and unified dispatching of important water intakes and key reservoirs" has been formed on the Yellow River. The water dispatching scope of the Yellow River has been extended from some sections of the main stream to the whole main stream and important tributaries, from non-flood season to flood season, and the dispatching goal has also changed from ensuring the continuous flow of the Yellow River to actively striving for the functional continuous flow of the Yellow River, paying more attention to the protection of ecological water use, and the dispatching means have been constantly improved.

　　The river flows smoothly and the water is clear, outlining a new picture of green development

　　Vehicles travel on the pontoon bridge between Wuba Town, Taiqian County, Henan Province, and yinshan town, Dongping County, Shandong Province on both sides of the Yellow River (photographed by drone on June 26, 2018). Xinhua News Agency reporter Feng Dapeng photo

　　The Yellow River has not been cut off for 20 years, which not only provides water resources for urban and rural development along the line, but also becomes an ecological corridor, radiating 750,000 square kilometers of green water and green mountains. The water resources of the Yellow River have become an important guarantee for the "granary of China" and an important support for national energy security. It is also a ballast stone for the economic and social development of the basin and a star for the improvement of the ecological environment.

　　Ke Sujuan said that Inner Mongolia, Henan, Shandong, Hebei and other provinces (regions) in the Yellow River basin and water supply areas are the main grain producing areas in China, while Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places are important energy bases in China. Since the unified dispatching, the rational distribution, scientific dispatching and dynamic management of the Yellow River water resources have met the water demand of the provinces (regions) to the maximum extent.

　　According to statistics, up to now, the cumulative water supply of the main stream has exceeded 600 billion cubic meters. In the case of the "congenital shortage" of water resources in the Yellow River, it has also diverted water from the Yellow River to Tianjin for 7 times, Hebei for 16 times and Qinghai for 20 times, with a total inter-basin water transfer of 21 billion cubic meters, which has provided water source guarantee for human drinking safety, grain harvest and energy security in the river basin and water supply area, nourished the arid and water-deficient northwest China and watered thousands of miles of fields.

　　This is the spectacular scene of the Yellow River wetland with thousands of birds flying in Changyuan County, Henan Province on December 25, 2018 (taken by drone). Xinhua News Agency reporter Feng Dapeng photo

　　Wang Huaru, a senior engineer of the Yellow River Water Resources Protection Research Institute, said that the unified regulation of water quantity kept a certain flow in the lower reaches of the Yellow River in non-flood season, leaving "ecological water quantity" for the river itself and repairing the downstream river ecosystem. The open water area of wetlands in the Yellow River Delta Nature Reserve has increased from 15% to 60% now, and the number of birds in the nature reserve has increased to 368. Long-lost migratory fish have reappeared, and the estuary delta ecosystem has reappeared with the vitality of green fields and gulls.

　　In the past 20 years, from frequent water cut-off to smooth flow of rivers, accurate water resources dispatching and management have made the Yellow River cut-off a thing of the past, which fully embodies the ability of China government to manage rivers and provide reference for other rivers in the world to solve water resources problems.

　　This is the intersection of the Yellow River and the Yiluo River, which was shot in gongyi city, Henan Province on June 8th (taken by unmanned aerial vehicle). Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Jianan photo

This is the Gongyi section of the Yellow River (taken by drone) on June 8. Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Jianan photo

　　This is the winding Yellow River channel (photographed by drone) taken near Zhangzhuang Village, Dongbatou Township, Lankao, Henan Province on June 19, 2018. Xinhua News Agency reporter Feng Dapeng photo

This is the corner of Xiaolangdi Reservoir (taken by drone) on July 25th. Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Jianan photo