The Weihe River, the largest tributary of the Yellow River and the main source of water for Shaanxi Province in Northwest China is seriously short of water, according to a recent environmental investigation.

It was carried out by the Shaanxi Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau last month, with the aim of better understanding and protecting the river, said Wang Xinrong, deputy director of the bureau.

According to the investigation report announced yesterday, the Zhuyuan and Qingyuan rivers, two main sources of the Weihe River, have become seasonal rivers, with no water for half of the year.

"At the point of the Weihe joining the two sources, the water flow is now only one cubic metre per second. But that was at least 6 cubic metres per second in the 1950s," the report said.

Water data from a hydrological station in Longxi, a county next to Weiyuan County where the two source rivers are located, indicates there is no water for 180 days every year in the 180-kilometre long Weihe River going through Longxi County.

This means the average water supply for each Longxi resident is only 140 cubic metres per year, one ninth of the average level in Gansu Province, according to Wang.

In Weiyuan, the county seat of Weiyuan County, the water supply has to sometimes be limited in some areas for its 23,000 residents, according to Zhang Juchang, an official with the county's urban construction bureau.

"The underground water level in the county seat area has dropped by 2 metres in recent years," the official added.

The investigation found that the situation has been caused by increased human activity and environmental deterioration.

Cutting down trees and turning grassland into farmland between the 1950s and 1980s seriously damaged forests which had helped to conserve water in the region of the Weihe River Valley. Industry development and population increases, both needing more water, made the situation worse, the report said.

According to Li Wenzhong, director of the Weiyuan County Ecological Protection Office, the local government has paid great attention to improving the environment in recent years. Some projects involving forest planting and soil and water conservation are being carried out.

"But there is a long way to go to completely improve the ecological environment along the Weihe River Valley," Li said.

(China Daily September 8, 2006)