Plight of the Yellow River and

China’s Water Issues

Mrs. WhitlockDRMS – 7th grade SS

A 3400-mile journey from the Plateau of Tibet to the Yellow Sea, this great river was

the birthplace of Chinese civilization

However, the river that gave life to the Chinese civilization is now slowly being killed by the very civilization it gave life!

In only 1 year in the 1990’s did the river even reach the sea!

This is a levee built to hold back the waters of the Yellow River. However, the waters have since disappeared!

Look at the stats3000 of 4077 lakes

in northern China already disappeared

In 1990s, in all but one year the river ran dry before ever reaching the sea!

Of the 660 major cities of china, 400 lack sufficient water

40 years ago – rivers outflow River’s

outflow today

The river’s outflow is 10% of what it was 40 years ago!

Why? What happened to this great river?

Problems Building damsShrinking glaciers Pollution ScarcityMisuse of water

Dams China has nearly half

of the world’s 50,000 large dams 3 times more than

the US construction on

more continueDams reduced water

flow which destroys the river’s ability to flush out heavy pollutants

For example … Sanmenxia Dam – built by Mao Zedong – engineers failed to account for the huge amount of silt

(more than 3 times the sediment discharged by the Mississippi) … this has caused as many floods as it has

prevented, ruined as many lives as it has saved.

Solution – to build another dam to correct the problems this dam created … one engineer even recommended to just blow

up the dam

Shrinking glaciersGlaciers that feed the 3 major rivers of China are

shrinking 7% per year

Photo by Urumqi’s No. 1 Glacier by Remko Tanis

How can shrinking

glaciers add to the water problems of

China?

Pollution Water once tinted yellow from the silt now is purple, polluted by chemical waste gushing

from neighboring factories .

PollutionWater that once sustained an abundance of life for numerous fish and turtles now kills within hours any animal that partakes of its waters.

PollutionWater that once brought life to crops along its

banks, now reeks of death by its toxic liquid.

Pollution Poisonous toxins

4 billion tons of waste-water dumped annually into the river

Long stretches of the river unfit for irrigation

Pollution Poisonous toxins

Accounts for 10% of the river’s volume1/3 of the river’s native fish species have

become extinct

Pollution Poisonous toxins

50% of the river is biologically dead

Scarcity China has about the same amount of water as the US but nearly 5 times

the population! Northern China- nearly half of China’s population lives on only 15% of its

water

“The proliferation of factories, farms, and cities – all products of China’s spectacular economic boom – is sucking the Yellow River dry. What water remains is being poisoned.” … National Geographic – May 2008

Misuse of water

Misuse of water“China’s economic boom has fueled

an environmental collapse. In it’s race to become the next superpower, China has drained its rivers and aquifers and polluted what’s left.”65% to agriculture through inefficient pipes – most leaks out

Environmental refugeesAfter losing ½ of their livestock, villagers were paid by the

government to move and resettlement elsewhere Many became refugees when dams were built and their

land was lost to the reservoirs In just one village alone - 400,000 refugees had to find

other places to live

Solutions Environmental activists –

spying on and turning in factories that dump untreated chemical waste –

in 1990s only a hand full of groups – today more than several thousand

Solutions South-to-North

Water Transfer Project

Building pipe line to move water from southern China to the water-starved parts of the north

$62 billion project designed to relieve

pressure on the Yellow River by siphoning 12 trillion gallons of water a year from the Yangtze Basin and send it 700 miles north

But what problems might this bring?

Cloud-seeding program“Most ambitious

cloud-seeding program in the world”

“During summer months, artillery and planes bombard the clouds above the river’s source area with silver iodide crystals, around which moisture can collect and become heavy enough to fall as rain.”

What do you think would be a good solution for the

Yellow River and China’s water problem?