An eight-year geological survey revealed that there is enough underground water to support the country's strategic development plan to construct energy bases in the Ordos Basin in Northwest China, geologists said.

The Ordos Basin covers an area of 360,000 square kilometres, and straddles Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and Shanxi provinces and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The region is rich in resources, boasting 40 per cent of the country's coal reserves and half of natural gas, and 70 per cent of the mineral salt containing natrium.

The Sulige gas field, discovered in early 2001 in the basin, is considered the largest gas field in the country, with an estimated reserve of 600 billion cubic metres.

It was labelled a State-level energy base in 1998, and it was decided to construct five energy bases in the basin.

However, as it is located in the arid western region, water shortage had become a problem, said Meng Xianlai, director of China Geological Survey.

"Water is definitely one of the most important raw materials in any industry," Meng said, "It usually takes 11 tons of water to produce a ton of oil,"

Water demand for both industrial and drinking use will be 7.1 billion cubic metres in 2010 and 9 billion cubic metres in 2030, he predicted.

Meng said that the survey, which took more than 100 million yuan (US$12.7 million) and more than 500 experts eight years to complete, has successfully mapped out the extent of the underground water.

The survey found that the whole basin has an annual underground water supply capability of 10.5 billion cubic metres, of which 5.8 billion can be exploited per year.

Only 1.1 billion cubic metres of underground water are exploited now, Meng said.

The survey also mapped out 161 water sources for future exploitation, Meng said.

"Our preliminary evaluation shows that the combination of underground water and water on land can basically meet the water demand of the construction of the energy bases till 2030," he said.

The results of the survey has already been included in the short and long-term development plans of the five provinces.

"In collaboration with the governments of Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia, we are busy conducting further studies into 30 spots, which have a need to construct energy plants," he said.

Meng said that the unprecedented large-scale geological survey had also helped train many experts who can now make a contribution to the country's "go west" development strategy.

The survey also received the support of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) twice from 2001 to 2004.

"IAEA considered the work as a pilot project to demonstrate the peaceful use of nuclear technology; the isotope research with the help of IAEA has helped us master the moving rules of underground water under the basin," said Hou Guangcai, professor of Xi'an Centre of the Survey.

"The country's fast economic growth has made it imperative to meet its demand for energy," said Zhang Hongtao, deputy director of the survey.

"But we need to do pre-geological surveys before we undertake any large-scale projects to ensure they won't become useless because of the lack of water."

Source: China Daily