The project, the first water-transfer project to run through a desert in China, underwent a successful trial operation recently.

The 160-kilometer-long project diverts Yellow River water at the end of a power project in Jingtai County, sending the water into the Hongyashan reservoir in Minqin County after running through four counties, including a 99-kilometer section in the Tengger Desert.

Minqin County, located at the lower reaches of the Shiyang River, is surrounded by deserts on three sides. The underground water level in the county has dropped to 100 meters below the earth surface from the former three meters, a result of the much lower water flow into the county from the upper reaches of the Shiyang River in recent years.

Water shortages have caused the county to suffer from desertification and deterioration of the environment, plus many other problems.

The central government invested more than 300 million yuan (US$36 billion) to build the project in 1995.

The project is designed to channel 61 million cubic meters of water into the Hongyashan reservoir annually. The project is expected to water the original 44,513 hectares of irrigable farmland and to feed 8,800 more hectares in Minqin County.

(21dnn.com 11/30/2000)