Ecological First Aid Needed for Highland Salt Lake

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 ◆ Ecological First Aid Needed for Highland Salt Lake

Chinese ecologists are calling for tighter controls on the use of water from Lake Ebinur, the largest saltwater lake in northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Experts say the overuse of the lake water will lead to the ecological deterioration of the Ebinur Lake Valley and could turn it into a desert area.

After many years of investigation, ecologists propose that the local government should make a unified management plan to control water usage in the region, plant more trees around the lake and top up the water in the lake.

Formed in the Quaternary Period, the Ebinur Lake has gradually been changed into a saltwater lake from a freshwater lake as a result of climate warming and a shrinking of the water levels.

The lake size has been reduced by 700 sq km over the last 50 years and, for a decade the surface area of the lake has shrunk by 22.6 sq km. each year until its water space now covers only around 520 sq km.

Owing to rapid population growth and fast farmland expansion in recent years, 75 percent less water enters into Ebinur Lake each year and has now dropped to less than 700 million cubic meters annually.

Statistics show that over the past few years, approximately 40 sq km of land has turned into desert annually due to degeneration of the lakeside environment.

In addition, the 1,500 sq km lake bed which is now exposed has become the main source of sandstorms in Xinjiang with 4.8 million tons of sand dust and salt ash blowing into other parts of Xinjiang each year.

In Jinghe county, adjacent to Lake Ebinur, the number of days heavy with suspended sand dust has increased to 112 days annually, nine times more than in the 1960s. Approximately 289 tons of suspended dust falls on Jinghe County yearly.

Salt ash clings to transmission lines, causing massive power failures 30 times a year on average.

Sources with the local railway department say that it has had to spend much money clearing up the railway roadbed on the Eurasian Continental Bridge each year after it is buried by sandstorms.

The annual direct economic loss caused by sandstorms in Jinghe County is 50 million yuan (6 million U.S. dollars), and indirect economic loss reaches several hundred million yuan.