On September 18, 2019, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized at the symposium on ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin that the Yellow River will become a happy river that benefits the people.
Together to strengthen large-scale protection and coordinate the promotion of large-scale governance. For the sake of the mother river rushing continuously, an exploration of river protection and management was carried out in the Yellow River. Implement unified water management and scheduling, carry out in-depth water conservation and control, and systematically control soil erosion... The water conservancy department regards large-scale protection as a key task, strictly manages water resources, and makes good use of water resources with careful calculations. From 1999 to August this year, the Yellow River has been flowing continuously for 23 consecutive years.
Dongying, Shandong, the mouth of the Yellow River.
The river flows thousands of miles, flowing, spreading, and entering the sea. Here, we witnessed the Yellow River's appointment as scheduled for 23 consecutive years.
Once upon a time, because the Yellow River was cut off, this place was a different scene. Sand covers the riverbed and birds stay away from home. From 1972 to 1999, in 28 years, the main stream of the lower reaches of the Yellow River was cut off for 22 years. When the rupture was the most severe, the length from the estuary reached 704 kilometers. The cutoff of the river once put the river ecosystem on the verge of collapse, the wetland area shrank, and the production and life of the people were affected.
Protecting the Yellow River is a great plan that concerns the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee has attached great importance to the protection and governance of the Yellow River, coordinated the promotion of water resource management, intensive conservation and utilization of water resources, and water environment restoration, and "relax the muscles and bones" for the mother river.
To this day, the Yellow River has been flowing continuously for 23 consecutive years.
Water-
"Around 1997, there was no traffic monitored for 226 days; now, the Yellow River Delta is unlimited"
Site: Lijin Hydrological Station, Shandong Dongying, Shandong - the last hydrological station before the Yellow River enters the sea
"The flow is interrupted and continuous, just look at Lijin Station." The Lijin Hydrological Station of the Yellow River Water Conservancy Commission is the last hydrological station before the Yellow River enters the sea.
Zhang Li, who works here, still remembers, "Around 1997, there were no traffic monitored for 226 days; now, the Yellow River Delta is full of vitality." No water enters the sea, drying up and spreading little by little, sea water erodes the shoreline, white alkalis turn out of the ground, and the species of offshore organisms decrease...
Where has the water of the Yellow River gone?
"In the past, the water diversion outlets on both sides of the river were like straws extending towards the Yellow River, digging water in disorderly manner, guarding the river downstream without water." Zhang Li was deeply touched.
The disease of the Yellow River's outflow is that it uses water uncontrollably, exceeding the capacity of the Yellow River's water resources. A set of data highlights the tension in the relationship between people and water: the Yellow River, with its river runoff, which accounts for 2% of the country's river, supports the water demand for 12% of the country's population and 17% of the arable land.
Water must go from disorder to order. Unified water volume scheduling has become a key move to control yellow yellow. "With the continuous flow of the Yellow River as the goal, the country will first determine the total amount, and then divide the water consumption in various places. It will be dispatched monthly and quarterly, and monitor important sections regularly." Ke Sujuan, deputy director of the Water Resources Management and Dispatch Bureau of the Yellow River Water Conservancy Commission, introduced.
On March 1, 1999, the first water volume dispatching instruction was issued from the Yellow River Water Conservancy Commission in Zhengzhou, Henan. This is a precedent for unified scheduling of water volumes in large rivers.
Ten days later, on March 11, the Yellow River flowed back to its entire line, and the Lijin Hydrological Station ushered in the long-lost Yellow River water.
The situation that day was still fresh in Zhang Li: "We carried the flowmeter, started the hanging box, and immediately started the measurement and reporting work." 14.4 cubic meters/second, 109 cubic meters/second, 663 cubic meters/second... In a few days, the flow rate into the sea continued to increase.
"The wetland area has gradually expanded, more flocks of birds inhabited, and biodiversity has been restored." Zhang Li counted the changes in detail.
Since the unified dispatch of the Yellow River water volume, it has supplied more than 670 billion cubic meters of water to the basin and related areas, supporting the economic and social development and ecological civilization construction of the basin and related areas.
Water transfer—
"The quota for thousands of water diversion outlets in the Yellow River has been set"
Location: Liuyuankou Canal Head Gate Management Office—the uppermost end of the Yellow River when the Yellow River is severely broken down
Unified water scheduling is carried out in the rivers, and there is no precedent to follow. How to adjust it?
Kaifeng, Henan, at the head gate of the Liuyuankou Canal of the Yellow River Water Conservancy Commission, a sluice gate is like a "faucet", guiding the Yellow River water to nourish the fertile field. This place is more than 700 kilometers away from the estuary, and is also the highest end when the Yellow River is most severely cut off.
Shortly after the first water scheduling instruction was issued, the management office received the water usage quota - 150 million cubic meters of Yellow River water were adjusted annually. Qi Shushan, who was the director of the Management Office at the time, felt nervous: "The previous water diversion volume could be up to 1 billion cubic meters per year, and the 'faucet' was very tightened."
The arrival of the water volume dispatching command almost at the same time was the local villagers' disunderstanding: "Can the ground be so small? Can the ground be watered thoroughly?" "Open the gate for a while, it won't be like that"... During the peak of water use, nearby villagers surrounded the gate to ask for water.
Qi Shushan patiently persuaded the villagers, "Everyone has tasted what a day without water tastes. It is safe to use upstream and downstream to let everyone drink the Yellow River water."
According to the scheduling requirements, the management office collects water needs and reports the plan step by step in advance, and the competent department will approve it and issue it to implement it. The amount of water used was less, but the harvest of crops in the season ushered in a bumper harvest, and everyone was relieved.
"Liuyuankou Canal Head Gate Management Office, thousands of water diversion outlets in the Yellow River have been set. The unified management and scheduling of water volume reflects the fine and scientific management of water resources." Ke Sujuan said that in many years of practice, the water resource management model of "the state uniformly allocates water volume, provinces (autonomous regions) are responsible for water distribution, and dual control of total water consumption and cross-sectional flow, and unified dispatch of important water intakes and backbone reservoirs" has gradually matured.
Water saving—
"What is water saving? The less the loss is on the way from the irrigation area to the fields, the better"
Location: Yuncheng, Shanxi, Dayudu Irrigation District-Huangyu High Irrigation Project, National Large Irrigation Area
The Yellow River crosses mountains and ridges, and passes through the Shanxi-Shaanxi Canyon.
In Dayu Du Irrigation District, Ruicheng County, Yuncheng, Shanxi, water pipes climbed on the loess high slopes with thousands of ravines, urging the Yellow River water to rise by more than 300 meters and irrigating more than 500,000 acres of fertile land.
More than 1,000 acres of land at Hu Tianni, a large grain grower in Ruicheng County, "drink" the water of the Yellow River. Summer grain harvest is a bumper harvest, autumn grain grows well, and water is the key.
A sprinkler rod extends out every 18 meters in the field. Tap the phone and start the water pump. The trickle flows along the pipes 1 meter deep underground to the ridges. "I have invested in recent years to purchase buried sprinkler irrigation equipment, from flooding to flooding with water to frequent irrigation of small water, and the water consumption per mu has been reduced from 150 cubic meters to below 60 cubic meters." Hu Tianni said.
A song tells the story of the past "difficulty in using water": living along the Yellow River, it is harder to eat water than oil, the surging water flows eastward, and drought makes people worry. In 1993, Hu Tianni contracted more than 20 acres of land. During peak water use, she had to carry a water pump and pump water day and night by the Yellow River. It would take at least ten days to water the land.
"The water of the Yellow River is hard to come by, so you have to make careful calculations and use them well." Nowadays, using sprinkler irrigation equipment, Hu Tianni's family's more than 1,000 acres of wheat saves 480,000 cubic meters of water, saving more than 160,000 yuan. After tasting the sweetness, Hu Tianni is more motivated, and new technologies such as sprinkler equipment, sensors, and the Internet of Things are constantly being introduced.
From the ground to the source, water-saving technology gradually covers all links, and the water-saving transformation of Dayudu Irrigation District is constantly advancing.
"What is water saving? The less the loss the Yellow River water is from the irrigation area to the field, the better. In professional terms, it is to improve the effective utilization coefficient of irrigation water." said Dang Chao, the website director of the second-level station of the Dayudu Irrigation District Hub.
Water flows from the Yellow River to the Douqu. Douqukou is the place where the irrigation area handes over water to the masses."In the past, the standards of water dams and water rulers at the entrance of the Douqu were different, and there was no accurate amount of water." Dong Zengwu, director of the Dayu Ferry Yangshui Engineering Management Bureau, introduced. After repeated tests, the irrigation area has installed a steel plate water weir with uniform specifications, with higher accuracy and consistent standards.
The flow meter on the canal is also related to water conservation. The Yellow River has a lot of silt and sand, and the errors of flowmeters such as ultrasonic waves and radar are large. "We have carried out technical research and improved more than 10 functions of magnetostrictive flowmeters." Dong Zengwu introduced.
Now, the effective utilization coefficient of irrigation water in the irrigation area is 0.5518, an increase of 0.0818 compared with the water-saving transformation and continuous construction supporting projects before the implementation of the water-saving transformation and continuous construction. The average irrigation water per mu is 191 cubic meters, saving 67 cubic meters compared with the implementation of the project.
By promoting water-saving agriculture and implementing irrigation area water-saving transformation, the effective utilization coefficient of irrigation water in the Yellow River Basin has increased from 0.554 in 2019 to 0.566 in 2020, and the average water consumption per mu of arable land is lower than the national average.
The biggest contradiction in the Yellow River Basin is water shortage, and the water resource development and utilization rate is as high as 80%. "To govern the Yellow River, we must fight the tough battle of deep water conservation and control, insist on determining the city, land, people, and production, and make good use of water resources with careful calculations." Jing Ming, chief engineer of the Water Conservancy Center of the Yellow River Water Conservancy Committee, introduced.
Water control—
"This means that more mud and sand remain in the ditches, and more water becomes clear water and gradually flows into the Yellow River"
Location: Yulin, Shaanxi, Jiuyuangou Basin, Suide Soil and Water Conservation Science Experimental Station—a experimental station that has carried out soil and water treatment for 70 years for a long time
Low water and more sand, and the uncoordinated relationship between water and sand are the fundamental crux of the complex and difficult treatment of the Yellow River.
Jiaoyuangou located in Suide County, Yulin City, Shaanxi Province. It is one of the tens of millions of ditches on the Loess Plateau. The vertical and horizontal ditches connect the Wuding River tributary of the Yellow River. A soil and water conservation experiment that has been carried out for 70 years has explored solutions for water and desertification control.
Maliangou Village is located in Jiuyuangou. The fruit trees on the mountain are continuous and the crops in the valley are in full bloom. "Take apples as an example, the transfer fee per mu of hillside land is 55 yuan, and each person receives a dividend of 230 yuan per year. There are 76 villagers working in the orchard, and one place can produce 'three golds'." Wang Jianxiong, secretary of the village party branch, said, "The roots of the apple tree are deeply rooted and the branches and leaves are scattered, which is still a good 'good' to prevent soil erosion."
All this is due to soil erosion control. In 1952, the Suide Soil and Water Conservancy Science Experimental Station of the Yellow River Water Conservancy Commission was established. Scientific researchers traveled through mountains and rivers and surveyed the terrain. The next year, they built the first silt dam in northern Shaanxi in Maliangou Village.
Village Li Wenyuan often heard the old people mention this dam, "The dam blocks silt and sand, releases water, and the water passes through clear water, and the soil leaves the soil, and layers of loess slowly silt into fertile fields in front of the dam. In a few years, more than 150 acres of fertile fields have grown in front of the silt dam."
"The silt dam can not only maintain soil and soil, but also increase grain output, and has become an effective measure." Dang Weiqin, chief engineer of Suide Soil and Water Conservation Science Experiment Station, introduced.
After, silted dams rose from the ground. However, the construction standards of silt dams at that time were low and the flood control capacity was poor. A heavy rain many years ago caused many silt dams in Jiuyuangou to collapse.
"Learn from the pain, the standards, methods and materials for building dams should be upgraded." Dang Weiqin said that the test station carried out a new round of exploration and proposed the idea of building a "silt dam system". "Large dams can play the role of flood control and protect the safety of small and medium-sized silt dam groups in the downstream." Today, in Jiuyuangou, large, medium and small silt dams cooperate with each other to form a relatively stable dam system, greatly improving the safety performance of silt dams.
Continue to build silt dams, use engineering measures to maintain water and soil, or plant trees and grass, and take biological measures? We set up "three lines of defense" from the bottom of the ditches, hillsides to the top of Liangmao: at the top of Liangmao, we carry out grass field rotation and plant economic forests; on the hillside, we plant water conservation forests and artificial grass; at the bottom of the ditches, we build large, medium and small silt dams according to local conditions. "Biological measures, agricultural measures and engineering measures are combined to prevent and store them at all levels."Dang Weiqin said, "This means that more mud and sand stay in the ditches, and more water becomes clear water and gradually flows into the Yellow River. "
Not only Jiuyuangou, but also the comprehensive management projects of small river basins are constantly being promoted. In recent years, the area and intensity of soil erosion in the Yellow River Basin have continued to achieve "double decline".
Source: People's Daily
