Aydingkol Lake in Turpan Filling
up with Water Again
Having dried up for nearly 10 years, Aydingkol Lake, the lowest
place of China, is filling up with water again thanks to the
water-saving efforts by the local people.
Last winter, people who made casual visit to the Aydingkol
Lake surprisingly found the lake full of water, covering a
surface of at least 40 square km.
This March, the Water Conservancy Bureau of the Turpan City
confirmed that the lake has so far a water-surface, measuring
three-km from south to north and more than 10-km from east
to west, which is some 147 meters below sea level.
The Aydingkol Lake, 154 meters below sea level in the Turpan
Basin, is the lowest place in China. Because of its heavy
evaporation that makes it impossible to keep balance between
evaporation and water supplement, it was predicted that the
lake would disappear sooner or later.
It is very dry and hot in Turpan, and so it is nicknamed
as the "Fiery State". Owing to large-scale reclamation
of lands by the people for tapping possible water resources,
at the beginning of 1990s the last drop of water finally disappeared
under the scorching sun. The prediction came to true.
"Water-saving Agriculture" got popularized among
the local people who suffered a lot from the drought. They
sought for water saving technology from all over the world.
In 1997, they first imported dripping and saturating technology
from Israel. This year, the water-saving technology from the
U.S. and Australia will also be put into effect.
Now, there is enough water and to spare in Turpan. Apart
from irrigation and evaporation, 85 per cent of the river
water in summer days gets into the ground, adding about 0.1
billion cubic meters of water for groundwater supply. According
to the person in charge, thanks to the frequent mountain torrents
in recent years, the groundwater level was on the rise and
finally emerged out of the ground and filled the dried lake
again. This year, Turpan has a plan to irrigate 10,000 mu
(1 hectare = 15 mu) fields by adopting the advanced technology
imported from Israel. By then, the water used to irrigate
one-mu of land will decrease from 1,000 cubic meters of water
to 400. Experts say, even if the local people continue to
reclaim more new land, the Aydingkol Lake will have adequate
water to supply.
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