Although there has been a severe drought this year, sources from the provincial Yellow River Resources Committee said the water is still flowing thanks to the State's intervention.

Wang Jianzhong, head of the committee, said Ningxia Hui and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions as well as Henan and Shandong provinces along the river have carried out plans to conserve water.

Statistics show that since this March, reservoirs on the upper reaches, such as Liujia Gorge, Sanmen Gorge and Xiaolangdi, sent out an extra 4 billion cubic meters of water to the lower reaches.

This year Shandong experienced its worst drought since 1916. But the sections of river that flow through Shandong's Heze, Jinan, Dezhou, Binzhou and Dongying cities have not dried up thanks to government intervention.

This is the first time China has succeeded with a big river water management project.

The source of the Yellow River is in Qinghai Province, and the river flows through Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan provinces and autonomous regions, passing finally through Shandong Province before flowing into the Bohai Sea.

Shandong sections experienced dry-out firstly in 1972. Between 1972 and 1999 the river dried out in 23 years. During the 1990s the dry periods became longer and longer. From 1996 to 1998 the river was dry for an average of 106 days each year.

It is estimated that the dry-out has caused more than 20 billion yuan (US$2.52 billion) worth of economic loss to Shandong since the 1990s.

Research shows the decline of rainfall in the upper reaches of the river was the main cause of the dry-out. The amount of water in the lower reaches is only one third of what it was in the 1980s. And excessive water diversion and water wastage have also been reasons for the dry-out.

The volume of water at the source of the river has decreased by 15-20 percent in the past 20 years but water usage in the upper and middle reaches has increased four times in the same period.

Since the end of 1998 the whole of the Yellow River has been managed by the Yellow River Control Bureau, a significant step in helping to reduce water loss.

(China Daily 12/11/2000)