Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Source of Pearl River Drying Up In Yunnan?

This is from the front page of the Zhujiang Evening Post, March 26, 2010 - On the front page of the Zhuhai Evening News (珠海晚报) is a picture showing the source of the Zhujiang River, or Pearl River, which is apparently near to drying up.

The photo was taken on March 25 in Yunnan province, Zhanyi county (云南省沾益县), and released by Xinhua. The caption informs that the water level has lowered significantly; the trace of the current water imprint around half a meter higher than the water.

The Xi Jiang [Zhu Jiang] (Pearl) River is the third long river aside from the Yellow River and the Yangtze. The drought that is blazing through southwestern China has been covered in newspapers all across China this week.

Yunnan Province is in the far South of China on the border to Tibet, Burma, Laos and Vietnam. The the origin of the Pearl River, Qujing city is located in the eastern of Yunnan Province, it is the third longest river in China, which forms the Pearl River Delta that flows out into the South China sea between Hong Kong and Macau. Beginning high Starting high in the Yunnan-Kweichow mountains, the Xi Jiang runs for more than 1,300 miles (2,000 km) .. The Pearl River Delta is one of the most advanced regions in China and its per capita GDP and income are among the highest in the world.

In 2007 the Autumn rains in China fell by 90 percent [Reuters] .. the current drying up of the source of the River Xi has been a long term - and will continue to be a long term issue in an area that produces much of the rice and fish consumed across China. In 2010 the worst drought in a Millenium is creating severe food shortages in China.

Cultivation of rice in Japan, India and China require vast amounts of water. Perhaps in the coming years, in a world experiencing a dramatic fall in fresh water supplies, people will apply the teachings of Masanobu Fukuoka [see - The One Straw Revolution]. Of course, letting go of the dams .. as it will probably take 100 to 200 years for the river systems to recover from the mess human interference has created.

Drought turns southern China into arid plain - Human Error Worsen Drought - Dams Have Dried Up In Southwest China - China Plan 15 Mekong Dams