Chinese water conservancy experts are working to divert water through new channels to the lower reaches of the Tarim River to ensure the section has water permanently.

The new plan is to divert water from Lake Bosten, through Qiwenkuoer River and Laota River, two old river courses of Tarim River, to the current river course in the lower reaches. With the materialization of the plan, the lower reaches of the Tarim River could have a stable supply of 350 million cubic meters of water annually as of 2007.

China has diverted water from Lake Bosten directly to the river in dry seasons since April 2000 as a temporary measure. But because of high sand content and excessive branches of the Tarim River, a large quantity of water was squandered during the diversion procedure.

"Lake Bosten is likely to undergo years of normal or dry weather in the years ahead, thus new channels for water injection needs to be considered," said Hu Wenkang, spokesman for the autonomous regional ecological geography institution.

The 1,321 km-long Tarim River is the longest inland river in China's western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Running west to east along the northern edge of the Taklimakan Desert, China's largest desert, the river valley is home to 120,000 local residents and covers some 86,670 hectares of farmland.

Because of the deteriorating ecological environment, local population increase, excessive reclamation and overuse of water, the 320-km section of the lower reaches of the Tarim River dried up in 1972.

To improve the eco-environment in the river valley, the Chinese government in 2001 earmarked 10.7 billion yuan (about 1.3 billion US dollars) to launch a Tarim River comprehensive management project, in which advanced irrigation technologies are introduced to farmers living at the river's upper and middle reaches in a bid to reduce water consumption on agriculture.

(Xinhua News Agency April 26, 2004)