Hongjiannao

Hongjiannao wetland

Hongjiannao wetland

Hongjiannao wetland, located in Shenmu, Shanxi province, is the largest desert freshwater lake in China, covering 32.88 square kilometer in 2012 and an average depth of 8.2 meters. The wetland not only serves as a great place for tourism, but also as the life source for the nearby pasture and a crucial habitat for endangered migrating birds such as the world’s endangered larus relictus. If the wetland dries up the area would turn to complete desert.

But the surface area of Hongjiannao is dramatically shrinking due to several anthropogenic factors:1. Dams and reservoirs on tributaries leads to a sharp decrease in water supply. Of the former 7 tributaries, most of them have dried up. 2. Mining that cause the bottom of the lake to sink and crack, which cause water to leak. 3. Surrounding factories relentlessly take the wetland as a natural sewer.4.Increasing farmland, vegetation cover and tourism also add a noticeable amount of water consumed. To make matters worse,the area also suffers a growing decrease in natural rainfall and increase in evaporation due to temperature rise.

Now the wetland is bad condition: The lake’s salinity increasing; with a pH of 9.6, a sharp increase from 7.2 in the 80s, fish is barely found. Water level continues to fall, about 20 to 30 cm annually after 2002, and it is possible for the lake to completely dry up in a few decades becoming the second Lop Nor, a caused by growing population, imprudent water usage and dam building. 

Several conservation and monitoring project is now underway; nature reserves are set up.

Hongjiannao drying up

Ou Guang-yan, et al(2012). Water Eclology Status and Protection Measures for Hongjiannao Basin. Journal of Hydroecology, vol.33, No.2.

http://news.sohu.com/20120114/n332202809.shtml

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http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2012-12-05/112325736150.shtml

http://www.sxdaily.com.cn/n/2013/0208/c266-5071972.html