Drought in the Yellow River Basin - 2020s

Drought in the Yellow River Basin - 2020s

In the 2020s, the Yellow River Basin is experiencing a severe drought, and water supply is unstable, especially in major cities such as Zhengzhou in Henan Province and Lanzhou in Gansu Province. The Yellow River supplies water to approximately 160 million people in China, or 12% of the total population, and is an important source of water for agricultural areas centered on the North China Plain and industrial areas located in Shanxi Province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. However, due to decreased precipitation caused by climate change and excessive irrigation, the flow rate of the Yellow River has been rapidly decreasing in recent years, and annual water shortages of approximately 3 billion cubic meters have been reported.

This has reduced the production of crops such as wheat, corn, and cotton, and has severely affected farmers, especially in Henan and Shandong provinces. Industrial production has also been hampered, with shortages of water supplies affecting factory operations in heavy industrial areas along the Yellow River.

The government has been using the Three Gorges Dam and the Xiaonamidoko Dam, located in Henan Province, to adjust water volume, and is promoting a plan to stabilize water supply by storing water especially during floods and releasing water during dry periods. However, the storage and water release capacities of these dams have not fully solved the drought problem: in 2020, part of the Yellow River temporarily ran dry, which severely affected agriculture and urban water demand.

In addition, the State Electricity Network has been working to improve the efficiency of hydropower generation in Qinghai and Sichuan provinces in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, particularly through the introduction of pumped storage and new hydropower technologies. However, efficient water resource management remains insufficiently advanced, and further technological innovation is required.

In addition, water pollution of the Yellow River due to wastewater from industrial areas is a major problem. In particular, pollution from chemical plants and power plants has been reported in Shanxi Province and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, where heavy metals and chemical substances are adversely affecting water quality. In response, the government has established strict effluent regulations and strengthened wastewater treatment facilities, but pollution remains a serious problem.

Overall, there is an urgent need for sustainable water resource management in the Yellow River Basin, and water quality improvement is required along with drought countermeasures.