Lop Nur was once a huge lake surrounded by fertile land in the
northeast of Ruoqiang County in northwest China’s Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region. It found its place in history as a
communication hub of the ancient Silk Road.
By 1972 it was bone dry and had been swallowed up in the “sea of
death” of the Gobi desert. Now there are fears that the tragedy of
Lop Nor might be happening all over again in northwest China. This
time, it is Minqin County that is at risk.
Minqin County is located in the northeast of the Hexi Corridor
on the lower reaches of the Shiyang River. It falls under the
jurisdiction of Wuwei City, Gansu Province. The county is bounded
by the Tengger and Badain Jaran deserts in the east, west and
north. The oasis in Minqin was once a natural barrier in the path
of the encroaching sand. The past two decades have seen it change
into one of the four major sources of sandstorms in north China.
Two factors were involved. There was land reclamation along the
Shiyang River, up-steam from Minqin County and its waters were
diverted for irrigation purposes. Then came years of unprecedented
dry weather. Today the county is one of the driest places
nationwide and it is also one of the most seriously affected by
desertification.
Large-scale exploitation of the groundwater has been lowering
groundwater levels by as much as 0.5-1.0 meters a year in Minqin
County.
?As the county has no significant surface water of its own,
the only access to surface water runoff comes by way of the Shiyang
River in the south. With reservoir construction on the upper
reaches of this river now nearly completed, the water reaching
Minqin has been seriously restricted. What was once 30 percent of
the life-giving flow of the river has now dwindled to a trickle of
less than 3 percent. This came against a background of many years
of shrinking surface water resources. The people of Minqin County
first turned to the exploitation of underground water back in the
1960s. Over the years, the main source of water for irrigation in
the county changed from surface runoff to well water, supplemented
by river water.
Today in Zhongqu Village of Minqin County, some 400 villagers
live a life of hardship in the midst of the relentless desert.
Village leader, Ma Zhongxing remembers the days of his childhood
when the village was a place of wetlands and reeds. However,
serious drought started to affect the village in 1997. Of the
village’s 15,000 mu (about 1,000 hectares) of land, only 800
mu (53 hectares) are now cultivated. The rest have been
abandoned or claimed by the desert.
"As the water from Shiyang River decreased, we had to dig deep
wells for irrigation. There are five wells in the village going
down 300 meters," said Ma Zhongxing.
?
According to Chen Dexing, head of Minqin County,
over-exploitation of groundwater in the face of the county’s water
shortage is running at some 428 million cubic meters a year. He
said, "Groundwater consumption is increasing dramatically.
Underground water levels are dropping by some 0.5-1.0 meters per
year. If depletion continues at this rate, the groundwater will run
completely dry in 17 years."
"We have no choice but to draw water from the wells because
there is no water in the river. But using the groundwater has been
turning the soil saline-alkaline," said Shen Jiaodao, a farmer of
Xiarun Village, Donghu Town.
Over-exploitation of groundwater coupled with inadequate
re-supply from surface water, has seen the quality of the
underground water in Minqin deteriorate dramatically. Mineral
content now averages 6g/L and mineralization of 16g/L has been
recorded. This far exceeds the national standard of 1g/L for
drinking water. "Domestic animals can't drink the water, let alone
human beings," said Shen.
About 1.48 million farmers and 180,000 heads of livestock in the
county are facing a drinking water crisis. In some places,
villagers have to fetch water from 10 kilometers away.
Long-term exposure to drinking water with a high fluorine
content has led to a high incidence of malignant tumors among the
villagers with nearly 100 cases a year. In addition, there is a
high death rate among the livestock.
Today the environment and climate make Minqin County a difficult
place to live in. The experts classify the county as having a
severely dry continental climate. Annual precipitation is just 110
mm but evaporation is some 24 times greater at 2,644 mm. It is
commonplace to see newly planted vegetation die off in the grip of
the worsening drought.
The “lake district” of Minqin, comprises five village and towns:
Xiqu, Zhongyu, Donghu, Shoucheng, and Hongshaliang. They are right
in the frontline, facing the advance of the Tengger and Badain
Jaran deserts. In Zhongqu village where Qingtu Lake could once be
found, there are huge clouds of dust in place of an abundance of
water and lush pasture.
All around, the relentless wind is pushing the seemingly endless
deserts onwards towards the oasis threatening to engulf it.
The “lake district” averages an annual 139 days of wind and
dust. Twenty-nine of those days will see the wind pass the force
eight mark, and 37 days will bring sandstorms with winds up to
force eleven. Local farmers often get up in the morning to see
sheep on the roofs of the houses and the courtyard walls
disappeared, buried below the drifting sands. Seventy percent of
the land of the five villages and towns is now lost to the desert
or blighted by saline-alkaline soil. Of the area’s 1.43 million
mu (about 95,300 hectares) only 190,000 mu (12,700
hectares) are still under cultivation. The severe drought has led
to the desert sands encroaching from the east, west and north at an
average rate of 10 meters per year. Some individual dunes are
advancing by up to 20 meters a year.
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In some places, the arid conditions have become too harsh for
people to make a living. They have been left with no choice but to
move out. Chen Dexing, head of Minqin County, said that in the last
few years more than 30,000 farmers have left their oasis homes to
resettle elsewhere, pushed out by the drifting sands and water
shortages.
The special geographical position and natural environment of
Minqin make its story a classic example of humankind’s struggle to
find water and cope with the desert. With support from governments
at all levels, there have been partial successes in improving the
eco-environment thanks to the efforts of 300,000 local people.
According to statistics from the county's forestry bureau, forestry
plantations had covered 1.4 million mu (about 93,400
hectares) by the end of last year. Desert vegetation had been
established in a bid to stabilize a further 730,000 mu
(48,700 hectares). A 330-kilometer long protective belt of trees
had been completed. This effectively controls the advance of the
sand, while allowing the wind to pass through 188 wind gaps.
"Although some parts of the eco-environment have witnessed an
improvement, the deterioration of the ecology in Minqin as a whole
has not been curbed," said Chen Dexing, "94.5 percent of the area
of the county has now succumbed to desertification. Much of the
desert vegetation has died or withered. Drifting sands extend over
600,000 mu (about 40,000 hectares). There are currently 69
points where sand is impinging along the edge of the oasis and
together with other areas of sand encroachment, these need to be
dealt with urgently.
Minqin’s Hongyashan Reservoir ran completely dry at the end of
June, sounding the alarm bells for the worsening water crisis. It
is the biggest desert reservoir in Asia
As early as the beginning of the 1990s, the provincial
government of Gansu made representations during the initial stages
of planning for the Shiyang River water conservancy project. They
argued that the water flowing to Minqin by way of the river must be
maintained at a level sufficient to guarantee the long-term
survival of the oasis. However the conflicting demands for water in
the upper, middle and lower reaches of Shiyang River have not yet
been satisfactorily resolved.
“Preventing Minqin from suffering the same fate as Lop Nor is a
matter of concern which clearly extends beyond the interests of the
county, city or even the province,” said Chen Dexing. “The root
cause of the widespread deterioration in the local eco-environment
is the widening gap between supply and demand for water. Only by
tapping the waters of the Shiyang River can the oasis be saved from
becoming another dead sea.”
“If this can be done soon it will benefit both the state and the
people, and Minqin can be saved from becoming a second Lop Nur,”
said Chen.
(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting, September 3, 2004)
