Water sources for China Yellow River dry up

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http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2001/10/10082001/reu_china_45205.asp

 

Water sources for China Yellow River dry up

 

Monday, October 08, 2001

By Reuters

 

BEIJING — More than 2,000 lakes that nurture China's

once ferocious Yellow River in the western province of

Qinghai are disappearing and causing water shortages

for the local people, state-run Xinhua said on Sunday.

 

 

Dubbed " China's Sorrow " for its disastrous floods over

the centuries, the nation's second-longest Yellow

River waterway has been dying over the years, harmed

by excessive water use and pollution.

 

Global warming had also taken its toll, putting

pressure on the Yellow River's water supply for

several consecutive years, Xinhua news agency said.

 

Over half of the ground rivers and lakes in Qinghai's

Madoi county, formerly known as a " county of thousands

of lakes, " had already disappeared, it said. As a

result, 30 percent of the county's grassland has

vanished, harming grazing activities.

 

Drought this summer had deprived local livestock of

sufficient food and dried up more than 120 of the

county's sources of drinking water, it said.

 

Although now tame, China has fought a long battle to

control the unpredictable Yellow River.

 

Meticulous reports of the river's torment have been

kept since the 7th century B.C. and flooding along its

densely-populated lower reaches became so rampant in

the 17th and 18th centuries the Qing dynasty emperor

created a high-ranking government post to address the

problem.

 

Copyright 2001, Reuters

 

 

 

 

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