Wu Guangqiang

    THE mere mention of Lop Nor reminds us of a barren, lifeless area that lies within the Tarim Basin of the eastern Takla Makan Desert, in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It gained worldwide recognition as one of China’s nuclear weapon test bases in the 1970s. But, even in China, few know that it was once a huge lake, occupying roughly 2,000 square kilometers in the 1950s, and that it ceased to exist by about 1970 after irrigation works and reservoirs were completed on the middle reaches of the Tarim River, one of its former tributaries.

    Another more mysterious and pathetic tale is the sudden disappearance of the ancient city of Loulan, about 300 km northeast of Ruoqiang County, Xinjiang, and adjacent to another ancient city, Dunhuang in Gansu Province. Established as a kingdom in 176 B.C., flourishing for over 800 years, the city was like an oasis traversed by a limpid river and situated next to a bountiful lake. With a population of over 14,000, Loulan was one of the major stops on the ancient Silk Road, where merchants met to trade silk, tea, fruit and jewels. Around the year 630, Loulan suffered a natural disaster of epic proportions. Due to unceasing human deforestation, raging sandstorms ravaged the region, rerouting waterways and literally transforming the city into a desert wasteland. A civilization vanished.

    Despite its unparalleled intelligence, the human race has a fatal weakness: a short memory. Few of these shocking upheavals lodge in our memory. It is as if they had never occurred. But we don’t have to turn to history to recognize how seriously drought threatens human civilization, as we have just witnessed the effects of drought in many areas of China, most of which had been abundant in water.

    I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw on TV that Poyang Lake, China’s largest freshwater lake in Jiangxi Province along the Yangtze River, had, although probably temporarily, turned into grassland. The same thing happened to Dongting Lake, a large, shallow lake in northeastern Hunan Province. It is spine-chilling to see these formerly vast lakes covering thousands of square kilometers shrink to ankle-deep ponds. Many cities and provinces along the Yangtze River in central China are grappling with the country’s worst drought in more than 50 years.

    That China’s northern and western parts are thirsty is well-known. But what is happening to the traditionally water-abundant southern and eastern parts? Theoretically, if lakes like Poyang and Dongting — which get endless replenishment from precipitation as well as from the Yangtze River — should dry up, no lake or river could survive.

    The lack of hard evidence leads to speculation. By most accounts, a number of factors are responsible.

    First, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, China has been losing moisture steadily since 2000. To be more precise, we’ve lost 35 billion cubic meters of water annually since 2000. That’s 350 billion cubic meters in total for the country, which means as much water as flows down the Yangtze River and past Shanghai in eight months.

    Second, and probably the most important factor, the exploitive use of water, a scarce resource in China. There are now more than 86,000 reservoirs of various sizes across the country, exploiting 60,000 rivers. As shown on the map on the wall of the Design Institute of Hydropower and Water Resources of China, nearly all the rivers in the west of China have been dammed. Fierce debate over the Three Gorges Dam has never ceased and will definitely continue. But the cost may be too heavy for a nation to bear if it turns out more harmful than good in the future. As a layman, I can deduce by common sense that the more water the dams in the upper reaches intercept, the less will go down to the lower reaches and lakes that depend on them, leaving the latter at the mercy of the precipitation for replenishment. Nothing could be more apparent to prove the drawbacks of overbuilding of dams than the drying up of these huge lakes. Nevertheless, against the worldwide tide of “restoration of rivers,” China is still bent on constructing more dams. Along the Yangtze River, there are 100 dams in various stages of construction that, much like the Three Gorges Dam, will have large reservoirs.

    To feed and clothe its huge population and become richer, China is always hungry for energy. But the insatiable appetite seems to have   burst at the seams in everything: crude oil, coal, natural gas, hydropower and nuclear power. Whenever summer comes, power shortages plague many cities.

    It’s extremely difficult to strike a balance between meeting the enormous demand for energy and the preservation of water resources. But, recognition of the severity of worsening drought and a commitment to tackling the problem is prerequisite for successful solutions to potential water crises.

    Torrential rain has eased the drought in eastern and central China and is even causing flooding. If this reinforces the view that there won’t be a serious drought along the Yangtze River, it will become a real danger. Unless we realize that tragedies like Lop Nor and Luolan may be repeated if we continue to abuse nature, we will ruin the civilization of our own creation. It’s only a matter of time.

    (The author is an English tutor and a freelance writer. He can be reached at jw368@163.com.)