The work to dredge silts at 14 key water intakes along the Yellow River has been completed. This signifies the water intake function of the water diversion project in Henan has been basically resumed, sources from the River Administration of Henan Province said.

The areas to be irrigated by water directed from the Yellow River will amount to 9 mln mus this year in Henan, 2.6 times of that in last year.

There are 34 water intakes in 24 Yellow River irrigated areas in Henan Province. But 28 of them have had difficulties in directing water from the River since 2002 because sand sediment, along with three water and sediment regulation experiments carried out in the Yellow River have lowered the water level. This led to decrease of water directed from the River and shrinkage of the area irrigated by Yellow River water.

To address the problem, the Administration directed the irrigation areas to carry out dredging work at 14 key channels. Channels of 50 kms long have been dredged before March 20.

By People's Daily Online