Sandwiched between the two sprawling deserts of Taklimakan and
Kuruktag, the Tarim River, China's longest inland river, whose
lower reaches have been dry since 1972, has become the only buffer
to prevent the imminent merging of the two.
Since the Tarim, located in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous
Region, is the only water source for the sand break forest on the
lower reaches, China's central government made a pledge last year
to invest 10.7 billion yuan (about 1.29 billion US dollars) in the
local ecological development in order to restore its entire water
flow.
To
date, embankment and sluice construction along the section of the
Shazi River and the Aqqik River have been completed and some 57
projects with a combined investment of 1.266 billion yuan (about
152.5 million US dollars) are underway.
Early this June, construction began on a fourth water diversion,
which will channel 400 million cubic meters of water from Bosten
Lake in the upper reaches of the river.
Local official Zhu Xiangmin of the Tarim River Valley Management
Administration said the purpose of the diversion was to restore the
water flow in all lower river courses and also to to expand the
water area of Taitema Lake, terminal of the river, fromits present
six square kilometers to 10.
Between 2000 and 2001, some 1.5 billion cubic meters of water were
discharged in three separate water injections, and the development
of underground water sources is encouraged by local government in
order to conserve surface water.
In
addition, the practice of converting wasteland to the use ofcrop
cultivation has been thoroughly banned in the neighboring
prefectures of Aksu and Kashi, the Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture of
Kizilsu and the Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bayingolin.
As
a result, the 320 kilometer-long section of the river's lower
reaches, which had been dry for 30 years due to the lack of water
conservation and poor use of land resources, had its flow restored
for the first time last year.
During the 2002 flood season, the river's water flow increased by
nearly 50 percent, and the river's trunk stream discharged 70
million cubic meters more to its lower reaches than it did in
2001.
As
water conservation has become a top priority for local governments,
water consumption ceilings have been imposed, and activities
attempting to intercept water through illegal means have been
outlawed.
These years, sere vegetation on the banks of the lower reaches has
begun to regain its vitality, and wildlife such as hare and boars,
who had disappeared for years, have reappeared.
Commonly known as the "Mother River", the 1,321-kilometer-long
river, running west to east along the northern edge of the
Taklimakan Desert, has long been considered the lifeline of the
people living in the drought-prone southern part of the autonomous
region.
(
September 5, 2002)