What does the Heishan Gorge Water Conservancy Project mean? If completed, the Yellow River water may be used up or depleted in Ningxia

Tech 2023-07-07 06:48:59 Source: Network

Only with sufficient water sources can we negotiate the use of them, rather than using them upstream or running out of downstream resources.The Yellow River, with a total length of over 5000 kilometers, has a watershed called the Canyon Area by water conservancy experts

Only with sufficient water sources can we negotiate the use of them, rather than using them upstream or running out of downstream resources.

The Yellow River, with a total length of over 5000 kilometers, has a watershed called the Canyon Area by water conservancy experts. It winds for hundreds of kilometers from the Lanzhou section of the Yellow River to the Zhongwei section of the Yellow River, commonly known as the "Guimen Three Gorges" by villagers along the route. The "Guimen Three Gorges" are Wujin Gorge, Hongshan Gorge, and Heishan Gorge from top to bottom, with Heishan Gorge starting from Damiao Village in Jingyuan, Gansu and ending in Xiaowan Village in Zhongwei, Ningxia. The total length is about 70 kilometers, and the canyon is deep and flowing rapidly.

Heishanxia Water Control Project, also known as Daliushu Water Control Project, is located 2km above the outlet of Heishan Gorge, the main stream of the Yellow River, in Zhongwei, Ningxia, 30km away from the urban area of Zhongwei. It is a key project that can build high dams and large reservoirs in the upper reaches of the Yellow River but has not yet been developed. Its location is moderate and plays an important role in connecting the preceding and the following in using the water resources of the Yellow River. The project has good comprehensive benefits, low construction investment, and low flooding losses. Its development and construction will have a significant and far-reaching impact on fully utilizing the water conservancy and hydropower resources of the Yellow River and the comprehensive management of the main stream, promoting social and economic development in the northwest region, changing the arid landscape and fragile ecological environment in the northwest region, promoting poverty alleviation and prosperity of impoverished populations in ethnic minority areas, and strengthening ethnic unity.

However, the Heishanxia Water Conservancy Hub Project is also a project that has been debated between Gansu and Ningxia for more than 60 years. For more than 60 years, the local people have heard that the project has always been under construction, but it has not yet started. There are many folk explanations for the reason for not starting construction, but in summary, there are no more than two points: firstly, the distribution of interests between Gansu and Ningxia is uneven, and Gansu refuses to give in, feeling that it is not worth it; Second, the hub project is located in the Seismic zone, and our existing technology is difficult to solve at the moment. In fact, neither of these statements is the core of the problem. The core is some of the situations that the Yellow River may face when it reaches below the Heishan Gorge after the completion of the Heishan Gorge Water Control Project. And we are more willing to explain this issue from a historical perspective.

The Yellow River is mostly located outside the canyon area above the Heishan Gorge, which means that the Yellow River has not been fully utilized on a large scale in the Longzhong Loess Plateau area above Ningxia. This area is very close to the Yellow River, but most of it is in some loess dry plains with an altitude higher than the Yellow River, making it very difficult for people to utilize the Yellow River water. After the Yellow River flows out of the Heishan Gorge, it basically reaches the plain area, Ningxia Plain. Since the Qingtong Gorge, most places can achieve self flow irrigation, which has given rise to the saying that the Yellow River is prosperous in summer. However, this part of the area is very small, limited to the Yinchuan Wuzhong Plain. Although the ancestors dug canals to divert water and irrigate farmland over 2000 years ago, the Qin Canal, Han Canal, and Tang Canal were named and flowed, forming a self flowing irrigation area, the area is quite limited.

It is easy to see when opening the map. In recent years, geographers have given Yinchuan Plain a general name - Ningxia Plain - which is located on both sides of the Yellow River in the middle of Ningxia, starting from Shizuishan in the north, ending at the Loess Plateau in the south, reaching Ordos Plateau in the east and Helan Mountains in the west. The Ningxia Plain covers an area of 17000 square kilometers, with the surging Yellow River running diagonally through it, with a flow of 397 kilometers. The water surface is wide, the water flow is gentle, and the terrain along both sides of the Yellow River is flat. However, the 17000 square kilometers of plain area is less than one-third of the 66400 square kilometers of Ningxia area, which means that two-thirds of Ningxia still cannot use the Yellow River water.

Although in recent decades, Ningxia has solved some water problems in some areas through the Yellow River project, it is still very difficult to completely change this situation. Therefore, there has been a migration project from the southern mountainous areas to both sides of the Yellow River. It is said that there are nearly a million immigrants involved in this project, allowing immigrants from the southern mountainous areas to enjoy the happiness and convenience of the Yellow River. But there is an undeniable fact that the Ningxia Plain, due to its small size and limited land and population carrying capacity, cannot be inhabited by people on both sides of the Yellow River and enjoy the agricultural civilization of the Yellow River's self flowing irrigation.

Today, the entire region of Ningxia has a population of over 7 million, while the population on the Loess Plateau in central Gansu is over 10 million. This means that the population on the Loess Plateau in central Gansu far exceeds that of the entire region of Ningxia. In history, the population of the Ningxia Plain has never exceeded that of the Loess Plateau in central Gansu. The fact of population base tells people that the Ningxia Plain can only be a "small and rich" place, and if it is placed in the entire Yellow River Basin and even the whole country, it can be said to be very small, making obvious contributions to the economic and cultural aspects of the Yellow River Basin and even the whole country.

Ningxia Plain

Longzhong Loess Plateau

Although the Heishanxia Water Conservancy Project has a good intention, the water flow of the Yellow River is very limited, and the water flow or water resources are related to the entire Yellow River basin. According to analysis data, if the Heishan Gorge Water Conservancy Hub Project is built in the form of Gaolei Dam, Ningxia alone can generate over 60 million acres of irrigable land, which is a significant amount of water consumption. At the same time, if the Heishanxia Hydro junction Project is built in the form of Gaolei Dam, it means that the water transfer from the Yellow River to the Hexi Corridor can be easily realized through the Heishanxia Hydro junction Project (in fact, this has been achieved in the current Wuwei area, and I saw in my investigation and interview in the Hexi Corridor that the Yellow River water has been used in some places in Gulang), which means that the Yellow River may be exhausted and dried up in a section of Heishanxia, It cannot be said to be a fatal blow to the downstream ecology and economy, and can even be said to cause catastrophic disasters.

Ningxia PlainNingxia Plain

Only with sufficient water sources can we negotiate the use of them, rather than using them upstream or running out of downstream resources.

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