Chapter 84 Reservoir
Water flows, but it is managed by local officials upstream and downstream, and by various administrative departments with separate responsibilities in the same area.

So we see that the water conservancy department is in charge of reservoir projects and agricultural water conservancy, the environmental protection department is in charge of sewage treatment, and the urban construction department is in charge of urban groundwater exploitation and water supply networks.

As a result, many cities are overexploiting groundwater and shouting that the South-to-North Water Diversion Project must be launched, while at the same time, the leakage rate of urban water supply pipelines is as high as over 10%, and industrial and domestic sewage is still being discharged into surface rivers.

We dared to build the world's largest reservoir, but were hesitant in the face of an inefficient water management system.

In 1958, about 100 kilometers upstream of Qingtu Lake, people in Minqin began to build the Hongyashan Reservoir.

The completion of "Asia's largest desert reservoir" made this place the terminal of Shiyang River, and the Qingtu Lake at its tail became history.

When the reservoir was being built, local leaders strongly opposed it.

It happened that Wuwei was building several water diversion dams upstream, and the conflicts over water use in the basin became particularly prominent, which eventually led to the leaders taking the lead in collectively going to Wuwei to blow up the dams.

At that time, the yellow explosives had already been buried under the canal, but Wu eventually stopped it and the three counties sat down to negotiate.

Finally, a document was issued stipulating that "Wuwei is not allowed to block the dam, and Minqin is not allowed to dig for springs."

However, the water dispute between the two has a long history, dating back to the reign of Emperor Kangxi, and it cannot be resolved by a single document.

In the 70s, another local leader went to the capital to discuss the water issue, but the punishment came down before he even arrived.

From then on, the idea of ​​keeping a low profile became deeply rooted in people's minds, and living a life of mediocrity became a creed.

But nature is always objective and fair.

……

On the way to the reservoir, Muhe and his companions met Master Li, who was using a tricycle to draw water to water the trees. Master Li was the manager of the Hongyashan Reservoir.

Zhuang Zheng asked curiously about the dam bombing incident.

"Yes, yes! The people of Wuwei protected the canal and refused to release water to us. The water that flowed down was intercepted by them and diverted to the fields. People here were anxious. *** led people to pull a truck of explosives to blow up the dam."

"Did you attend?"

"I was still young at that time, but the older people knew about it. If you don't believe me, go ask, everyone knows about it. He was a good cadre. There are no good officials who are willing to stand up for the masses now."

Zhuang Zheng felt like he was listening to a story and admired the county magistrate very much.

While listening, Guo Yang and Lu Hanbin also carefully observed their surroundings.

The pine, cypress and lilac trees on this hilltop look listless. The dam of the Hongyashan Reservoir can be seen clearly in the distance, and the surrounding area is desolate.

“Are all those trees dead?”

Guo Yang pointed to the trees around the dam.

Master Li sighed, "Large tracts of trees and grasslands around the reservoir area have died and withered, leaving only the trees on the Black Mountain. The county has issued a death order that if we fail to maintain these trees on the Black Mountain, our wages will be deducted."

“Why not use a pump to pump the water out?”

"You'll see if you go down there. The reservoir is almost dry. All that's left is sewage. All the fish are dead. The fish farmers in Wenzhou are losing a lot of money!"

Several people came to the reservoir dam, only to see that the huge reservoir had only a small shallow water surface. Dry cracks were visible everywhere on the bed of water due to continuous drought. The exposed reservoir surface looked like a huge spider web from a distance.

The only water surface was also black, and dead fish that had not been caught could be seen on the surface.

Next to the reservoir, there is a huge sign describing the efforts of the people of Minqin - the northern lake area is "returning farmland to forest, planting grass and raising livestock, adjusting the structure, reducing immigration, and transferring the labor force."

Just 20 meters away, an old stone tablet describes the process of the reservoir's construction. It was erected in 1993 and reads, "The people of Minqin overcame difficulties and fought against heaven and earth..."

Guo Yang stood at the edge of the reservoir and looked around. The desert was hundreds of meters away, and the closest one was only a few dozen meters away.

The two major deserts are also approaching the reservoir. When a strong sandstorm passes by, strong winds push tons of sand and dust into the reservoir.

Wind and sand not only damage the reservoir dam, but also greatly reduce the reservoir capacity.

Walking along the shore, you can see dead fish that haven't been cleaned up from time to time, ranging from finger-sized fry to large fish half the length of an arm. "It's so sad." Zhuang Zheng sighed.

A middle-aged man in his early forties walked towards me, his face full of melancholy.

"Is it a reporter?"

He pointed at the camera in Zhang Jing's hand and spoke in Mandarin.

"No, we're here to see the reservoir."

"Oh."

The man looked disappointed. "The reservoir is seriously polluted. The pollution level is more than ten times higher than the national standard."

"You are?"

“The owner of the aquatic tourism company raised fish in the reservoir area, but all the fish died.”

Thinking of the black sewage and the dead fish floating in the water, everyone didn't know how to comfort them.

"There were so many dead fish that we couldn't catch them all. The stench could be smelled from a long distance away. Two to three hundred villagers came to catch fish every day. But they knew the fish were poisoned, so they didn't dare eat them. They took them home to feed the pigs and chickens. Later, the chickens died, too, and no one came to catch fish anymore."

The boss took the initiative to get closer to Zhang Jing's camera and said, "We were attracted by the local government. We invested 200 million yuan at the time and it was very lively. But after the incident, we went to look for them, but they said you can do whatever you want and don't say you went to look for them."

"So what are you going to do, brother?"

"We have no choice but to file a lawsuit. We are suing Ronghua Group and the papermaking company that discharged sewage upstream. The case was filed in July this year, but the court has been dragging its feet and has not opened the trial."

A look of surprise flashed across Guo Yang's eyes.

Ronghua Group, which mainly engages in corn deep processing and agricultural film production, is the second largest enterprise in Longnan Province and a listed company. It is also the darling of the municipal government!
"When local people in Minqin heard that we were suing Wuwei over the reservoir, they came to support us. Some lent us cars, some gave us money. They said we were venting our anger on behalf of the 30 people in Minqin, and if we needed help, we could just ask."

Guo Yang sighed to himself.

The competition for water among people upstream and downstream seems to have become an unsolvable knot, but the Wenzhou boss should not be regarded as a "hero"!

……

After saying goodbye to the boss from Wenzhou, everyone felt a little heavy-hearted. Zhuang Zheng was like an eggplant wilted by frost, and never mentioned restoring Qingtu Lake again.

"That's discouraging!"

Zhuang Zheng and Zhang Jing both looked at the boss, thinking he had a solution.

Guo Yang still smiled and joked: "There are more difficulties than these!"

"Agricultural and industrial water use in the upper reaches of the Shiyang River has surged, resulting in less and less water coming to Minqin downstream, and the river has even dried up in some seasons."

"Fresh running water can't even dilute the sewage. Coupled with the continued drought, the Hongyashan Reservoir will be completely dry in a year at most."

"It's not just the Hongyashan Reservoir. Some other reservoirs are also facing the risk of a sharp drop in storage capacity or even drying up."

Seeing that his boss was still in the mood to joke, Lu Hanbin kept recalling the hydrological data he had seen, one by one appearing in his mind.

Where should the water come from?

Suddenly, Lu Hanbin seemed to have grasped something.

"Boss, are you planning to transfer water through the Jingdian Phase II water transfer project?"

Guo Yang nodded approvingly.

"But the amount of water diverted by Jingdian Phase II is limited, and the price of water diversion is ridiculously expensive!"

(End of this chapter)