New Era China Research Tour · Yellow River Chapter | Beautiful Butterfly Transformation of "Several Character Bend" - Inner Mongolia solidly promotes ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin | Yellow River | Inner Mongolia

Hohhot, September 18 (Xinhua) - Beautiful Butterfly Transformation of "Several Character Bend" - Inner Mongolia solidly promotes ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin

Xinhua News Agency reporter

When the flowing Yellow River flows into Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, it outlines a magnificent "few character bend". The Inner Mongolia section of the Yellow River has a total length of 843.5 kilometers, accounting for approximately one sixth of the total length of the Yellow River. For a long time, Inner Mongolia has taken on the responsibility of maintaining national ecological security, coordinating the integrated protection and systematic governance of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasslands, and sands, continuously improving the ecological environment in the basin, and surging momentum for high-quality development.

Green in and sand out, building a solid barrier to prevent sand from entering the yellow "gate"

The Inner Mongolia section of the Yellow River is one of the regions with the most concentrated and severe desertification and desertification land in China. To control the Yellow River, we must first control sand.

In early autumn, the Ordos Plateau, through which the Yellow River flows, is still lush with greenery. In Xiliugou, a tributary of the Yellow River in the hinterland of the Kubuqi Desert, the reporter saw trees and shrubs growing vigorously on the bank slope, and sand barriers firmly locked the sand dunes. "In the past, there were flowing sand dunes everywhere here, often covering rivers," said Zhang Yongping, director of the Dalate Banner Water Resources Bureau in Ordos City.

The Xiliugou, which is ecologically improving, is one of the ten major bends in the Yellow River. The ten major boreholes are all first-class tributaries of the Yellow River. From the air, the ten great holes are like ten sharp arrows, piercing through hills, deserts, and plains from south to north, and heading straight into the Yellow River. Since the 1950s, the sediment carried by the Ten Great Kongdui has blocked the Yellow River eight times, and about one tenth of the Yellow River sediment comes from it. It is one of the direct producers of the "suspended river above ground" in the Inner Mongolia section of the Yellow River.

In order to coordinate the relationship between water and sediment, Ordos City has carried out comprehensive management of the entire basin of the Ten Major Kongdui, and has implemented "prescription treatment" for each of the Ten Major Kongdui. Zhang Yongping said that in practice, the local government has summarized comprehensive management models such as "planting trees on the mountaintop and wearing hats, returning farmland to the hillside and planting grass and wearing robes, building terraced fields on the mountaintop and tying belts, and building dams and silt on the bottom of ditches and wearing boots". As of 2022, the average annual inflow of yellow mud and sand from the top ten boreholes has decreased from 27 million tons to 18 million tons, and the ecological environment has significantly improved.

The Ten Major Kongdian Governance is a microcosm of Inner Mongolia's efforts in controlling soil erosion in the Yellow River Basin. Since 2019, the Yellow River Basin in Inner Mongolia has completed comprehensive management of 14.43 million mu of soil erosion, achieving a dual reduction in both the area and intensity of soil erosion. Not long ago, Inner Mongolia launched a comprehensive battle against the "bend of the Yellow River", focusing on solving six ecological problems in the region, including sand, water, salinization, farmland protection forests, grassland overgrazing, and river and lake wetland protection, and making every effort to build an important ecological security barrier in northern China.

Using water as a brush to paint a picture of systematic ecological governance

The ecological environment protection in the Yellow River Basin of Inner Mongolia is directly related to the ecological security of northern China. In recent years, Inner Mongolia has continuously improved its governance system, and the "external appearance" and "internal temperament" of the watershed have significantly improved.

The governance of the Yellow River is rooted in the basin. In the past, there were frequent incidents of disorderly construction and dumping around the Dahei River, a primary tributary of the Yellow River. In recent years, Hohhot has implemented the comprehensive renovation project of the Dahei River to enhance the vitality of the river space, expand urban development space, and provide citizens with a good place to relax and play.

Inner Mongolia fully implements the river and lake chief system, purifies the capillaries of the Yellow River with "one river, one policy", and completes the delineation of management scope for 503 rivers and 67 lakes in the basin, achieving full coverage of river and lake management responsibilities in the Yellow River Basin.

Whether the environment is good or not, migratory birds know first. At present, the Wuliangsu Sea is rippling with blue waves, reeds swaying, and birds gathering in abundance. The Wuliangsuhai Lake, located at the top of the "Jizi Bend" of the Yellow River, is the largest lake and wetland in the Yellow River Basin. The ecological quality is directly related to the ecological security of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and North China. Since 2018, Inner Mongolia has adhered to the management of mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, grasslands, and sands in the Wuliangsuhai Basin, achieving integrated and systematic restoration and management from protecting a lake to protecting an ecosystem.

Since 2019, Inner Mongolia has replenished 2.786 billion cubic meters of water to key lakes such as Wuliangsuhai, Daihai, and Bojianghai in the basin, effectively promoting ecological improvement in important lakes and regions. In addition, since 2022, Inner Mongolia has completed tracing and investigation of 3061 river discharge outlets, and all 350 villages within a 3-kilometer radius along the Yellow River have completed domestic sewage treatment. After treatment, the water quality of 35 surface water sections in the Yellow River Basin of Inner Mongolia has reached the historical best level.

Be meticulous in budgeting and make good use of every drop of water to add momentum to development

The Yellow River Basin in Inner Mongolia is facing a shortage of water resources, with per capita water resources less than 40% of the regional average. The prominent contradiction in water supply has become the main bottleneck restricting ecological protection and high-quality development in the basin. To solve this problem, Inner Mongolia is focusing on improving water conservation standards and calling for "comprehensive water conservation in primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, urban and rural areas, and no waste can be made.".

In Houjiayingzi Village, Bainijing Town, Dalate Banner, a 10000 acre high standard demonstration farmland, the intelligent drip irrigation system is accurately delivering water and fertilizer to the roots of crops. "Through timed, quantitative, and precise irrigation, the yield of corn crops has increased from 1800 kilograms to 2000 kilograms, but the average water usage per mu is only 200 cubic meters, which is 150 cubic meters more water-saving than ordinary drip irrigation." Ma Liang, the mayor of Bainijing Town, said that the project has set up two sets of pipelines, namely well and yellow double irrigation, to achieve a balance of groundwater extraction and replenishment while maximizing the protection of irrigation water. "Starting from the third quarter of last year, the groundwater level in the Bainijing overexploitation area has risen by 1.3 meters."

In recent years, Inner Mongolia has fully implemented the principle of "four water and four fixed", regards water resources as the greatest rigid constraint, adheres to the principle of "how much soup to soak and how much bread to make", reasonably plans population, urban and industrial development, resolutely suppresses unreasonable water demand, fights well in the deep water-saving and water control battle of the Yellow River Basin, and promotes the transformation of water use from extensive to economical and intensive. The completion rate of a water-saving society in the counties of the Yellow River Basin in Inner Mongolia has reached 79%.

Inner Mongolia is also exploring the coordinated allocation of unconventional water sources such as mine drainage, surface water, and groundwater, in combination with regional ecological and industrial layout, to quench the thirst for ecological construction and regional development. Yijinhuoluo Banner, a coal producing county in Ordos City, takes the lead in collecting and comprehensively utilizing nearly 60 million cubic meters of mine drainage water annually, injecting new momentum into ecological protection and high-quality development.