China has 20 natural lakes dried up every year, according to a study report released by a state department concerned, which claims excessive land reclamation and damming up of surface water as the major causes for a great cut in number of lakes, shrunk lake water resources and frequent floods in areas around existent lakes.
Statistics point to some 1,000 lakes that have been wiped out by irrational land reclamation equaling China’s five existent freshwater lakes in eastern and central China over the past five decades. Hubei Province had been known for having “a myriad of lakes” numbering as many as 1,052 early in the 50s. But these have been reduced to today’s 83 and of these a water surface of merely about 200 square km or 40 percent less of original can now be found on the Dongting Lake.
In western China, because of a dearth of water resources and high evaporation along with an excess of damming up of surface water, a great number of vast lakes have disappeared or just remain as salt or dry lakes. Besides the renowned Lop Nur, the western and eastern Juyan Lakes, Aydinkol Lake, as well as the 577.8 square km Manas Lake located in western Junggar Basin of Xinjiang, have all been stinted into stretches or patches of salt marshes and desert.
As a typical type of wetland, lakes are an important part of land ecosystem, experts say. For rapid economic development China’s resource supply to lakes have been seriously cut by excessive human activities. Western China inland lakes have dried up and have even become salt lands. Meanwhile, lakes in eastern China are no longer immune from pollution but seriously encroached upon and farmed as farmlands. Deteriorated lake environment has given rise to frequent floods harming China’s sustained economic development.
(People’s Daily 01/20/2001)
