People have always compared the Yellow River to a ferocious
tiger. But the "tiger" may well be tamed when the
Jinan Weir project is completed.
Floods have long
plagued the lower reaches of the Yellow River in Shandong
Province, where they are at their worst.
The Jinan Weir
project, the brainchild of Li Diankui, the vice-chairman of
the Shandong People's Political Consultative Conference, is
aimed at turning the calamity into something good for local
people.
According to Li,
the project will distribute floodwater to parts of Jinan,
the capital of the province. The water will be used in Jinan
and on the Lubei Plain. It will also help to rejuvenate the
city's springs, for which Jinan has been famous for a long
time.
The project is
based on the Dujiang Weir in Sichuan Province, which was built
more than 2000 years ago. The water from the Minjiang River
in western China that the weir distributes has made Sichuan
a "land of abundance."
"The Yellow
River after Jinan and the Lubei Plain is similar to the Minjiang
River after it passes the Dujiang Weir and the Chengdu Plain,"
said Li, "and the high sand content in the former can
be solved by engineering works, so it is possible to build
the Jinan Weir in the same way as the Dujiang Weir."
It is estimated
that the weir will be 1 kilometer wide, 50 kilometers long
and contain 200 million cubic meters of water.
"Jinan Weir
will help the city control floods, which have always inhibited
its development," Li said.
The Yellow River
in the lower parts of Jinan even rises above some buildings.
When the river floods, the entire city is threatened. The
weir will deal with the very heart of the problem. The project
is part of Jinan's 10th five-year plan and the preliminary
design is now being drawn up.
(China Daily 12/11/2000)
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