The Black River is an important continental river in the northwest which has a basin area of 143, 000 square km, the total length is 821 km, and it runs through Qinghai Province, Gansu Province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The upstream is beyond the Yingluo Gorge, the middle stream covers Zhangye City, Linze County and Gaotai County, and the downstream is below the Zhengyi Gorge. It runs through Jinta County in Jiuquan and Alashanmengejina County in Inner Mongolia, and eventually arrives at the East Juyan Sea and the West Juyan Sea. With the elevation lowered and the altitude raised, the precipitation in the drainage basin is reduced gradually. The annual precipitation in the upper stream is 450-250mm, in the middle stream 157-100mm, and 40mm or so for the downstream. But the annual amount of evaporation was increased from hundreds of millimeters in the upstream to over 3000mm in the downstream, which shows the importance of the Black River. The total volume of water resources in this basin is 2.81 billion cubic meters, and the volume which can be supplied is 1.63 billion cubic meters, but the total water demand in the region is 2.04 billion cubic meters. Therefore, the demand exceeds the supply. Disputes about water frequently arise and the Black River becomes shorter and narrower. The weaker mother-river resulting from irrational utilization has to suffer helplessly from the destruction and deterioration of the ecological system in the down stream. From the 1960s, especially from more than ten years ago, the volume of water being released has decreased acutely. At Langxinshan Hydrologic Station, the border of the middle stream and the lower stream, the average annual runoff has been reduced from 534 million cubic meters to 305 million cubic meters. The zero-flow time in a year exceeds 200 days, and the length of dry section in the lower stream increases each year. The West Juyan Sea and the East Juyan Sea had an area of 267 square km and 35 square km respectively in 1950s, but they were dry in both 1961 and 1992. Subsequently, the lakes and springs in the downstream were dry, and the ground water level decreased to a large extent, and forest, grass and plant life deteriorated seriously and, as a result, the desert has substituted for them. The desert area is becoming larger and larger, but the space where people can live becomes very limited. According to observations, since the 1960s, an area of 3, 700, 000 mu of water has disappeared; each year, an area of 40, 000 mu of narrow-leaved oleaster, diversiform-leaved poplar, and Chinese tamarisk dies; and the number of plants in the grassland is reduced from more than 200 kinds to about 30 kinds; 65% of the wells for drinking along the river have dried, or have insufficient water, and the quality of water has degenerated. Judging from the aerial photographs and the information from TM, from 1980s to 1994, the area of forest, whose coverage was over 70%, reduced by 2, 880, 000 mu, i.e, a reduction of 210, 000 mu per year on the average. But in Ejina County in the downstream area, the Gobi and desert area where plant coverage was less than 10% increased by 462 square km from the 1960s to the 1980s, and the annual increase was 23.1 square km on average. Meanwhile, because of the degeneration of the bedding plane which involves water, plants and sand, the climate in this region evolves gradually, and the weather with less rain, high temperature and more sand-storms increases year by year.

In April 1996, the Yellow River Conservancy Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources set up a preparatory group of the Black River Administration Bureau which was officially approved and licensed by the State Council in 1999. On January 26, 2000, the Black River Administration Bureau of the Yellow River Conservancy Commission began its business in Lanzhou City. On May 22, the Yellow River Conservancy Commission held a coordination meeting on water dispatch of the year in the trunk of the Black River. According to the water distribution plan in The Report on Water Programming of the Black River (the Liyuan River included) drafted by the Ministry of Water Resources and approved by the State Planning Commission in 1992, when the average runoff at the Yingluo Gorge was 1.58 billion cubic meters, the volume of water releasing would be 0.95 billion cubic meters in Zhengyi Gorge. In light of the specific situation in 2000, the Black River Administration Bureau eventually proposed that when the average runoff in the Yingluo Gorge was 1.58 billion cubic meters, the volume of water released would be 0.80 billion cubic meters in Zhengyi Gorge, and this proposal was agreed by both Gansu Province and Inner Mongolian.

On June 1, Zhang Jiyao, vice-minister of the Ministry of Water Resources inspected the middle and downstream of the Black River, conveyed Premier Zhu Rongji’s instruction on the unified management of water resources of the Black River, and emphasized that the key for dispatching water from the Black River was in Gansu Province.

According to the request of the Ministry of Water Resources, on June 17, 2000, the Black River Administration Bureau sent some people immediately to the site in Zhangye to start the dispatch of the water in the Black River. On the same day, Premier Zhu Rongji wrote an important instruction again on the report about the Black River submitted by Wang Shucheng, Minister of the Ministry of Water Resources.

The staff of the Black River Administration Bureau sticks to the rules, investigates thoroughly, dispatches scientifically, coordinates fairly and supervises strictly. They drew up a practicable, reasonable and feasible technique for dispatch. From June 19 to October 20, they held five meetings, formulated four plans for the monthly dispatch, and did a large amount of work in coordination, management and examination. With the support of the Ministry of Water Resources, the Yellow River Conservancy Commission and the provinces or region concerned, from August 21, the trunk of the Black River used the method of “closed in the whole line and centralized release” successfully five times. As a result, the unified management of water resources in the river basin had a historical breakthrough.

On August 30, water ran through the cross-section in Ejina County; on September 13, through the cross-section of Langxinshan in Ejina County. At 6 p.m. on October 13, the eve of the Golden Autumn Festival, water ran along the East River to Laikubu Town, capital of Ejina County, the people were very happy and joyful. Below Langxinshan，the length of the running water in the West River was 30 km, and 180 km in the East river, and over 20, 000 mu of forest and grass was irrigated.

After mid-October the flow of water in Yingluo Gorge was obviously more than before. Because there were not bigger regulating projects on the trunk, the remain-term was short, the chances of regulation were slim and as it was just in the peak of winter irrigation the water dispatch of the Black River met a lot of unexpected difficulties. On November 19, Zhangye City, Lingze County and Gaotai County in the middle stream, began to carry out the fifth “closed in the whole line and centralized release”. The Black River Administration Bureau sent three supervision groups to three counties or cities for on-the-spot inspection. Zhangye City took effective and urgent regulating measures to open Baijiamingtang Reservoir, the Tiancheng Lake and the Houtou Lake in Gaotai County and dispatch water to Zhengyi Gorge by the channel of the Black River.

By November 19, the total volume of releasing from Zhengyi Gorge was 650 million cubic meters，consistent with the corresponding volume of 1.462 billion cubic meters which was the volume of dispatching from Yingluo Gorge of the year. From then on, the dispatching of water in the Black River in 2000 was completed satisfactorily.

From July 8 to July 23, 2002，the Black River Administration Bureau and some other departments concerned used the method of “closed in the whole line and centralized release” for 15 days. 23, 500, 000 cubic meters water arrived at the destination, the Dongjuyan Sea in Ejina County in Inner Mongolia，as a result, the maximum area of the Dongjuyan Sea reached 23. 66 square km，the maximum depth of water was 0.63 m, the storage volume during the maximum water area was 10, 360, 000 cubic meters. The Dongjuyan Sea which had been dry for ten years took on a lively look. This is the 7 th implementation of “closed in the whole line and centralized release” from 2000 when scientific water dispatching began in the Black River. This was the first time for water to pass through the whole channel by artificially dispatching and the first time to dispatch water successfully to the Juyan Sea. Due to the long time dry in the riverbed and the serious infiltration, water vanished before long. In September, water was dispatched to the downstream of the Black River again, the scale was enlarged, and the time extended to 40 days, so that it took only three or four days to form a large water area. Dispatching water scientifically in the Black River will benefit the ecological environment in this area. 

     Source:  www.yellowriver.gov.cn   Editor:HuangFeng