China encounters agricultural water crisis in many places

There is no water coming out of the borehole.

Water resources are becoming more and more scarce, and the water bottleneck in agricultural development is becoming more and more prominent-a problem that has been more fully exposed in the severe drought in many places this year. In some areas, due to falling groundwater levels, wells drilled only last year or the year before last have been unable to pump water to irrigate cracked fields. Some villagers said helplessly that no one came out of the well all over the ground. This is not only a helpless lament in the face of drought, but also a true portrayal of the agricultural water crisis.

The old well has no water to pump, but the new well gets deeper and deeper.

Huaxian County, the Central Plains granary, the largest grain producing county in Henan Province. As there are no large rivers flowing through the territory, and there are no controlled water storage projects on the surface, at present, in addition to the limited diversion of water from the Yellow River, agricultural irrigation and urban life mainly rely on groundwater. Local groundwater resources have been faced with severe challenges, coupled with the severe drought this year, the problem has become even more prominent.

According to the village branch book and Ding Quan of Minzhai Village, Baidaokou Town, Huaxian County, cultivated land only needs to be irrigated once in a normal year, but most of the plots in the village have been irrigated three times this year. It is understood that 6200 mu of arable land in Minzhai Village is equipped with 100 motor wells, half of which was scrapped after the severe drought. Although 31 new 70-meter deep wells have been drilled in the village, it is still not enough. Villagers estimate that at least 70 70-meter deep wells are needed in the village.

The new well is not enough, so we can only continue to use the old well, but the groundwater level drops seriously, and the water output of the old well is obviously insufficient. Villager Zhao Wencai said: "the water from the old well went down and down. In the past, it only took an hour to water one mu of land, but now it takes two days to water 3 mu of land, which wastes time and electricity."

Weishi County in Kaifeng City is close to the Yellow River, and the hydrological conditions are better. Due to the dry climate and less precipitation in recent years, the groundwater level has dropped obviously. Li Hongchi, director of the Weishi County Water Conservancy Bureau, said that the groundwater level in Weishi County has generally dropped by 20.3 meters this year, and by 50.10 meters in some areas.

On the other hand, due to the high topography in the mountainous area of western Henan, the decline of groundwater level is more serious. The 600 mu of land contracted by Cheng Tianbiao, a major grain grower in Anxi Village, Yixian County, Pingdingshan, has lost more than half of the harvest this year. "the well of 70 meters in the ground can no longer be pumped, and no irrigated land can be found." Cheng Tianbiao said. In order to solve the problem of draught, the villagers of Laoshanxue Village, Anliang Town, Yixian County, raised more than 10,000 yuan to drill a well of more than 90 meters this year, but it nearly dried up in less than 20 days.

Niu Village is a low-lying village in Anliang town. in previous years, a 90-meter-deep motor well in the village could ensure villagers' drinking water and farmland irrigation. since June this year, the machine well has basically dried up, pumping water for only 20 minutes a day, and the water quality is muddy. Du Guoqiang, secretary of the village branch, said: "not to mention pumping water to irrigate the land, when it is most difficult, there is not enough draught. Villagers can only go to other villages to get water to eat, and sometimes they have to run out for more than ten miles."

Wang Zimin, deputy director of the Water Resources Bureau of Yixian County, said that due to the obvious drop in the groundwater level, most of the villagers' own water extraction wells have dried up. At present, the newly drilled wells need to reach about 200 meters before they can be discharged, and even more than 300 meters in mountainous and hilly areas. It is understood that 21 of the 22 reservoirs in Yixian County have dried up this year, 13 rivers have been cut off, 3700 of the 8353 irrigation wells have dried up, and the groundwater level has dropped by more than 15 meters on average.

In recent years, Henan has experienced drought almost every year. In 2012, more than 20 million mu of autumn crops were affected by drought; in 2013, more than half of the cities and counties suffered a severe drought; this year, there was another severe drought. "the continuous extraction of groundwater has made the situation of groundwater resources in some areas of Henan Province worrying. The groundwater level in western and southern Henan has dropped significantly, and the attenuation of motor wells has exceeded 30%." Zhao Lianfeng, inspector of Henan Provincial Defense Office, said.

This is not only the case in Henan, but also in Hebei, Shandong, Inner Mongolia and other places. The motor well in Hengshui, Hebei Province is scrapped by 3% to 5% every year, and the well is being drilled deeper and deeper, with the deepest reaching 600 to 700 meters. The reporter found that it has become a common phenomenon that old wells have no water to pump and new wells are being drilled deeper and deeper. More and more boreholes are close to the wellbore, which has almost become a "scene" in many well irrigation areas.

The rivers and lakes are dry and there is no water available for diversion irrigation.

"the investment in water conservancy construction should be changed, wells should be dug if they cannot fight drought, and if the groundwater table falls one after another without effective replenishment, a vicious circle will be formed." Han Xiaowei, deputy director of Huaxian County Water Bureau, said.

At present, in order to reduce the extraction of groundwater, Huaxian County has begun to build surface water storage projects and increase the amount of water from the Yellow River at the same time. Han Xiaowei said that Huaxian County needs 300 million cubic meters of agricultural water each year alone. Since 2008, Huaxian County has supplied underground water through the diversion of the Yellow River, but due to the reduction of the amount of water in the Yellow River, the water supply is very limited.

In recent years, with the water and sediment regulation of Xiaolangdi Reservoir, the water surface of the Yellow River has decreased obviously, and the outlet of the Yellow River diversion has needed to lift water. Han Xiaowei reflected: "We are relatively far away from the Yellow River, and in dry years, we even need secondary irrigation to attract water from the Yellow River, and the amount of water is very limited, so agricultural irrigation and water supply are very difficult to achieve."

The difficult problem of drawing the Yellow River from the Yellow River also exists in Kaifeng City, which is near the Yellow River. In order to reduce the consumption of groundwater resources, Weishi County of Kaifeng City invests 750000 yuan to increase the amount of water diversion from the Yellow River every year to ensure uninterrupted water diversion all the year round, but the effect is limited due to the reduction of the amount of water from the Yellow River.

"groundwater resources are very valuable, especially the accumulation of deep groundwater can not be restored in a few years and decades, so we hope to recharge groundwater by increasing the amount of yellow water diversion, but the amount of water in the Yellow River is decreasing, and the amount of water diversion is very limited." Li Hongchi, director of Weishi County Water Resources Bureau, said. It is understood that the amount of water diversion from the Yellow River in Kaifeng City has been unable to meet the demand in recent years. Due to the decline of the water level of the Yellow River, one of the four Yellow River diversion outlets in Kaifeng City already needs to lift water.

In addition to the Yellow River, the same is true of rivers, lakes and reservoirs in many places. During this year's drought, the storage capacity of reservoirs and ponds in Xiangyang, Hubei Province is seriously insufficient. According to statistics, more than 240 rivers in the city, such as Chunhe, Gunhe, Little Yellow River, Heiqing River, Manhe and so on, are cut off or at a low water level, and the Changshan area where Xiangzao is suitable for joining is short of surface water, resulting in a situation that there is no water to resist drought.

In Lutou Town, Zaoyang City, Liu Guoqiang, secretary of the town's party committee, said that the local area has been dry for five consecutive years, and the water level of Shahe, Jihe and other large and medium-sized reservoirs has been lower than that of the dam, and there is no water to discharge. Six of the eight town-managed small reservoirs dried up, and 525 of the 646 Weir ponds dried up.

"the bottoming out of reservoirs and the loss of river flows are the result of years of accumulation, and repeated droughts remind us of the need to think about how to build a strong water security line for grain production." Shi Haibo, inspector of flood control and drought relief of Henan Water Resources Department, said.

"We never thought that there would be no water in the lake."

Jiangxi is located in the subtropical monsoon humid climate zone, the territory is covered with rivers and lakes, is a veritable water-rich area in the south. However, in recent years, Jiangxi, wearing the hat of "abundant water area", has also experienced frequent droughts, which has brought great tests to agricultural production.

July 2011 was supposed to be a rainy season in the south, but there was a summer drought in Jiangxi. At that time, in Yiji Village, Changbu Town, Anyi County, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, the reporter saw that a large area of rice fields dried up, and there were even three cracks with wide fingers in some fields. "after the drought in the early rice, there is another drought in the late rice. Twice a year, the drought is ruined." Du Muhuo, a big local grain grower, said.

In Jiangxiang Town, Nanchang County, on the edge of Poyang Lake, drought also occurred that year. The area relies entirely on the lakeside for water, and there is no reservoir. Cao Hongfu, director of Jiangxiang Town Water Conservancy Station, told reporters that local farmland irrigation depends on Ganjiang water. "We never thought that there would be no water in the lake." Of the 150000 mu of late rice in Jiangxiang town, about 100000 mu were affected by drought.

At the beginning of the new year in 2012, news of drought came from the Poyang Lake region: the water area of Poyang Lake shrank to less than 200square kilometers, less than 1/20 of the flood season, and the water level of the iconic water level station fell below 8 meters.

In 2013, drought hit Jiangxi again. Since July 16, there has been no rain in Gao'an, Jiangxi Province. by mid-August, more than 5500 mu of paddy fields in the city have been short of water.

In fact, as the largest freshwater lake in China, seasonal drying up of Poyang Lake often occurs in recent years. When interviewed by this reporter in November last year, this reporter saw that a number of water plants in villages and towns along the lake in Yugan County, Poyang County, Duchang County, and other places had difficulties in obtaining water to varying degrees or even had no water at all; in some rural areas along the lake, because the groundwater level was low, there was a serious shortage of water from drinking water wells and pressurized wells, and the daily output of many farmers' wells was only enough for one person to drink.

"the cost of farming will go up in a minute."

The shortage of water resources leads to the difficulty and cost of irrigation, and farmers invest more and more in watering.

Not long ago, the reporter saw Niu Xueyin watering the field in Xihao Village, Yuanshi County, Hebei Province. She told the reporter that the well water is used to irrigate the land in the village, the water level is low, and many people are used, and it takes five to six hours to irrigate one mu of land.

Yao Fengjuan, Nanyaojiazhuang, Zhao County, Shijiazhuang City, said that there is too much investment in farming and watering at present. According to her, their village also uses wells to irrigate the land, and the amount of water produced by the wells is small. "the cost of farming goes up at once, and it takes about 100 yuan to plant an acre of wheat to water it."

In Gaomi, Shandong Province, Wang Cuifen, a big grain grower, also realized that water is as expensive as oil. "the drought was too severe in the first half of this year. Last year, the yield of wheat per mu was 1100 jin to 1200 jin, and this year it was only 700 jin to 800 jin. Agriculture cannot be done without water. " Wang Cuifen said helplessly that wheat planting this year "lost a lot of money" because of the drought.

Wang Cuifen said that she also drilled a few wells. Now the drilling well is more than 100 meters, which is very deep. In the past, it was only dozens of meters at most. With the increase of depth, the increase of cost is more obvious, which costs more than 20,000 yuan for one well. As the water is not very prosperous, it has greatly increased the cost of electricity.

At 5 o'clock every morning, Wang Cuifen, who has been farming for nearly 20 years, comes to the field on time to smell the "fragrance of the soil." Wang Cuifen hopes that the government will increase subsidies to promote water-saving, energy-saving and efficient sprinkler irrigation equipment, so that more large grain growers can use such good equipment and save more water resources. In addition, she also teamed up with major grain growers and planned to set up a water-saving irrigation association. "first, there is a serious water shortage in agriculture, and second, she has joined forces to promote the concept of water conservation, and now dozens of people are interested in joining."

"I've been thinking that equipment and labor can be bought with more money, but water resources are wasted, and no matter how much money you add, you can't buy it back. Saving water is not only for ourselves, but also for future generations. " Wang Cuifen said.