Plight of the Yellow River and China’s Water Issues

1. Plight of the Yellow River and China’s Water Issues Mrs. Whitlock DRMS – 7th grade SS

2. A 3400-mile journey from the Plateau of Tibet to the Bo Hai sea, this great river was the birthplace of Chinese civilization

3. However, the river that gave life to the Chinese civilization is now slowly being killed by the very civilization it gave life! This is a levee built to hold back the waters of the Yellow River. However, the waters have since disappeared! In only 1 year in the 1990’s did the river even reach the sea!

4. Look at the stats • 3000 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

5. The river’s outflow is 10% of what it was 40 years ago! 40 years ago – rivers outflow River’s outflow today

6. Why? What happened to this great river?

7. Problems • Building dams • Shrinking glaciers • Pollution • Scarcity • Misuse of water

8. Dams • China has nearly half of the world’s 50,000 large dams • 3 times more than the US • construction on more continue • Dams reduced water flow which destroys the river’s ability to flush out heavy pollutants

9. 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

10. Shrinking glaciers • Glaciers that feed the 3 major rivers of China are shrinking 7% per year How can shrinking glaciers add to the water problems of China? Photo by Urumqi’s No. 1 Glacier by Remko Tanis

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

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

13. Pollution Water that once brought life to crops along its banks, now reeks of death by its toxic liquid.

14. Pollution • Poisonous toxins • 4 billion tons of waste-water dumped annually into the river • Long stretches of the river unfit for irrigation

15. Pollution • Poisonous toxins • Accounts for 10% of the river’s volume • 1/3 of the river’s native fish species have become extinct

16. Pollution • Poisonous toxins • 50% of the river is biologically dead

17. 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

18. “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

19. 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

20. Environmental refugees • After 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

21. 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

22. Solutions But what problems might this bring? • 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

23. 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.”

24. What do you think would be a good solution for the Yellow River and China’s water problem?