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| Plight of Yangtze River Worsened by Water Shortage |
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Reefs exposed, ships stranded and fish stocks plummeting, the continuing ordeal of
Heat waves hit Water in the upper reaches decreased by over 60 percent from the previous year, and cities downstream reported the lowest water levels since records were first kept in 1877. "Previously we had to prepare for floods, but the drought has changed all that," said Zhou Jinyun, director of the fishery bureau in the port city of In Anqing, the water is only four meters deep, and will continue to drop as the drought continues, Zhou said. But in fact the drought is only part of the story of the Yangtze's sad decline. Over 9,000 chemical plants line the banks of As the once-mighty Yangtze threads its way through 11 regions in "This is the worst water shortage I've seen in my thirty years experience as a marine worker," said Huang Yongming, head of the Maritime Bureau in the neighboring Tongling city. The Three Gorges dam has opened its floodgates to feed the river, but statistics from monitoring stations in central The reduced water flow is affecting the river's capacity to dilute pollutants. Water resource authorities in The water shortage has affected the whole ecology of the Yangtze. "Dwindling water reserves have made it harder for fish to survive, including endangered species like baiji, or white-flag dolphins, and increased the risks of them being injured by passing ships," said Wang Zhenxi, director of fishery management in Wang said they had found some fish, including finless porpoises, maimed by ship propellers and with their skulls shattered. Low water levels in the river have made it impossible for some fish species to migrate back to the sea, threatening their survival in shallow waters. "Continuing water shortages, which date from long before the drought, have had a drastic effect on fish resources in the Yangtze, which is home to most of Yangtze fishermen, who make their living on the river, are experiencing a sharp drop in their earnings. The annual per capita income of over 50,000 fishermen around Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China, was less than 600 yuan (about US$77), only one fifth of their earning in previous years. Meanwhile, the shipping industry along the Yangtze is also feeling the effects of the water shortage. Water depth at Yichang and Jingjiang in the middle reaches of the river no longer reaches the navigation standard of 2.9 meters. Local maritime authorities have dispatched dredgers to dig out sludge, and in some places, they took the drastic step of exploding reefs to make navigation possible. Large vessels were ordered to unload shipments or banned from navigation to ease the traffic jam caused by shrinking waterways. Local maritime bureaus have increased patrols to issue warnings and prevent ships from running aground. The Yangtze maritime authority said the situation will improve in February. But no long-term solutions for The Yangtze River, the third longest in the world after the Nile and the Amazon, runs from far west Qinghai and Tibet through 186 cities including Chongqing, Wuhan and Nanjing before emptying into the sea at Shanghai. The total gross domestic product (GDP) of all cities along the (Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2007) |
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