Let the Yellow River be a river of happiness for the benefit of the people.
Liujiaxia Hydropower Station is located in the main stream of the Yellow River in Yongjing County, Gansu Province. The first unit began to generate electricity in 1969. It is the first large-scale hydropower station with a million kilowatts level independently surveyed, designed, manufactured, installed and debugged in China. This year, Liujiaxia Reservoir completed the flood season in early June, and the Yellow River basin entered the main flood season in July. The reservoir increased the discharge flow, lowered the water level and freed up more flood control storage capacity.
The picture shows the speedboat sailing on the water of Liujiaxia Reservoir in Yongjing County, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province. Photo by Shi Youdong (Image China)
Sanmenxia Water Control Project is the first large-scale water control project built on the main stream of the Yellow River after the founding of New China, connecting Henan and Shanxi provinces. It was basically completed and put into operation in April 1961. At present, Sanmenxia water control project, as an important link of flood control engineering system in the lower Yellow River, plays a very important role in the joint operation of water and sediment regulation together with Xiaolangdi and Wanjiazhai.
The picture shows Sanmenxia water control project opening the gate to adjust water and sediment. Sun Meng photo (image China)
Wanjiazhai Water Control Project is located in Tuoketuo-Longkou Gorge, the main stream of the North Yellow River. It is the first large-scale water control project planned for cascade development in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. It is also the leading project of Shanxi Province’s Yellow River Diversion Project and the standby water source of Beijing’s water diversion from the northern line. In November 1998, the first unit was connected to the grid to generate electricity. The designed annual average power generation is 2.75 billion kWh, and the designed annual water supply is 1.4 billion cubic meters, including 1.2 billion cubic meters for the Yellow River Diversion Project in Shanxi Province and 200 million cubic meters for Zhungeer Banner in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which is of great significance in serving the harnessing and development of the Yellow River, the economic and social development of the basin and the improvement of people’s living standards along the Yellow River.
The picture shows overlooking Wanjiazhai Water Control Project. Photo by Gao Xiaozhong (People’s Vision)
Xiaolangdi Water Control Project is located in the main stream of the Yellow River in Henan Province, with the south bank belonging to Mengjin District of Luoyang City and the north bank belonging to Jiyuan City. The first 300,000 kW generating unit of the hub was connected to the grid in January 2000. Since 2002, Xiaolangdi Reservoir has been carrying out water and sediment regulation every year, using "artificial flood peak" to send the sediment deposited in the downstream riverbed into the sea and reduce the sediment deposition in Xiaolangdi Reservoir. From June 19 to July 7 this year, Xiaolangdi Reservoir participated in water and sediment regulation before flood season, and started flood control operation on July 17 to lower the reservoir water level ahead of schedule.
The picture shows tourists enjoying the magnificent scenery of water and sediment regulation at Xiaolangdi Water Control Project. Photo by Huang Zhengwei (image China)
Longyangxia Hydropower Station is located at the junction of Gonghe County and guinan county, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. It is the first large-scale cascade hydropower station planned in Longqing section of the upper Yellow River. Today, Longyangxia Hydropower Station and the Eco-photovoltaic Power Generation Park in Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture constitute the water-light complementary power station with the largest installed capacity in Qinghai Province.
The picture shows the Longyangxia Hydropower Station overlooking it. Our reporter Yi Yushe
Chart source: Yellow River Water Conservancy Commission of Ministry of Water Resources
The Yellow River is the mother river of the Chinese nation. General Secretary of the Supreme Leader stressed that we should jointly protect and promote great governance, so as to make the Yellow River a river of happiness for the benefit of the people.
The water of the Yellow River flows into the sea. The Yellow River, with a total length of 5,464 kilometers and flowing through nine provinces and regions, plays a very important role in China’s economic and social development and ecological security. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee has focused on the overall situation of ecological civilization construction, made clear the idea of "giving priority to water conservation, spatial balance, systematic management, and exerting efforts with both hands", and put forward the strategy of ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin. Great changes have taken place in the economic and social development and people’s lives in the Yellow River Basin.
Large-scale water conservancy projects play a key role in protecting and harnessing the Yellow River. Down the river, the water conservancy hub embraces mountains and waters, and the high gorge and Pinghu are like bright pearls. Storing and discharging rooms, turning rolling waves into surging green electricity, bringing gurgling clear water to irrigate fertile fields, and dressing up beautiful mountains and rivers with thousands of hectares of blue waves.
Scientific cooperation, cascade operation and comprehensive benefits of large-scale water control projects will be brought into full play. Looking at flood control, the reservoirs represented by Xiaolangdi are jointly dispatched to stop floods and cut peaks, so as to protect the An Lan of the Yellow River from entering the sea. Looking at water supply, Qingtongxia, Wanjiazhai, Sanmenxia, etc. store abundant water to supply water resources for coastal agricultural irrigation areas, energy bases and important towns. The Yellow River basin supports the water demand of 12% of the population and 17% of the cultivated land with 2% of the river runoff in the country. Looking at power generation, the theoretical reserves of hydraulic resources in the Yellow River basin are 43.312 million kilowatts, ranking second among the seven major rivers in China. Laxiwa, Longyangxia and Liujiaxia in the upstream canyon store water and release energy, helping the western region to build a multi-energy complementary system of scenery and water. Looking at ecological protection, Sanmenxia and Xiaolangdi continue to drain water and sediment, and continue to replenish water to the Yellow River estuary delta.
Protecting and harnessing the Yellow River has a long way to go. Flood risk, ecological fragility and water shortage still plague the Yellow River. The Yellow River harnessing project, represented by Guxian, Heishanxia and Qikou large-scale water control projects, has been accelerated, providing more powerful support for enhancing the capabilities of flood and drought disaster prevention, water resources conservation and intensive utilization, optimal allocation of water resources, and water ecological protection and management.
(Reporter Wang Hao)