Dredgers dig shipping lanes in drying Yangtze
30/5/2007 9:41
Shipping channels in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are
to be dredged as the water falls to its lowest level in 20
years.
Authorities have withdrawn a large silt dredger from a north China
offshore construction site to dredge channels at Heishazhou (Blacksand Shoal),
40 kilometers upstream from Wuhu Bridge on the lower reaches, said Wan Dabin, a
senior official with the Yangtze River Waterway Bureau.
The country's
longest river usually reaches its summer flood season in middle or late May, but
this year the levels are abnormally low.
"Though it's already the flood
season, the water level in the river has kept dropping, which has hindered
navigation," said Wan.
By Monday, the water level monitored near Hankou
on the middle reaches was 4.53 meters, two meters lower than the same period a
year ago, while the water level stood at 1.97 meters near Wuhu on the lower
reaches, more than four meters lower than the record attained a year ago. Less
rain in the entire Yangtze River drainage area has been blamed for falling water
levels.
On May 1, the Ministry of Communications raised the safe
navigation depth in the 1,891-km section between Chongqing on the upper reaches
of the Yangtze and Wuhu on the lower reaches to 7.5 meters this summer, compared
with five meters in previous years.
Monitoring of the navigable course
near Wuhu, in Anhui Province, shows that within 1,200 meters around Heisha, the
depth is just 7.05 meters, 45 centimeters below the safe level for this
summer.
Dredging near Heisha is deemed necessary to ensure safe
navigation because it is unlikely to rain soon.
"Eight more dredgers are
standing by to help dredge the river wherever necessary," said the waterway
bureau's Wan.
Xinhua
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