Yellow River Inflow Dropping Continuously Since 1990s - China Daily

[hatrack]

"Warm and dry weather in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in recent years has lowered the inflow of water to the Yellow River. The water inflow in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, China's second longest, has continuously shrunk since the 1990s due to dry and warm weather caused by global warming, meteorologists with Qinghai Meteorological Bureau said.

The bureau's statistics show average runoff reached 375 cubic metres per second in 2002, only 58 per cent of the average volume in past decades. Rainfall, which provides the main inflow of water into the river's upper reaches, has seen sharp reductions in recent years. At the same time, evaporation in rivers across the country is expected to increase by 15 per cent, said Ding Yihui, an expert from China Meteorological Administration.

Ding said global warming could reduce crop outputs across the country by 5 to 10 per cent in 2030, Xinhua said.

EDIT

The river's principal problem has always been the silt deposits caused by exceptionally high levels of sediment. The river now carries some 1.6 billion tons of silt annually with a quarter of this deposited on the riverbed downstream, water experts said. The river bed in the lower reaches was up to 10 metres higher than the surrounding fields in the Henan and Shandong sections, leading to the Yellow River being described as a "hanging river." Worst of all, a substantial amount of sediment left behind has contributed to the silting of the river course. This has significantly raised the river bed and built up another "hanging river" between its trunk stream and the flood plains bordering it."

EDIT

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-11/15/content_391670.htm

[amandabeech]

1. The news on China's future food production seems to be

nothing but bad.

No wonder they've been quick to enter into trade deals with Argentina and Brazil. They're going to suck up a huge amount of the excess agricultural production in the world, especially since the Chinese diet is starting to include more protein.

If the problems with agricultural irrigation water in India from deep wells materializes, world trade in agricultural goods could become a rival of trade in fossil fuels. Just kidding.

Seriously, this is very bad news for the Chinese.

On edit: Perhaps this might change the Chinese attitude toward the Kyoto Treaty. Of course, similar problems appearing here don't seem to be doing much good in persuading the body politic to reduce carbon dioxide and methane emissions.

Really, though, our fate here in the U.S. probably won't be so rosy, either. The western half of the country is returning to historical dryness and the Ogalala Aquifer continues to deplete, especially in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. We'll end up with a lot of scruffy rangeland, but a lot less grain.

That is not including the problems in the Southwest of the combination of growing, thirsty populations and less water. I suppose that it'll sort itself out somehow, but I doubt if it will be pleasant.