A river management official announced yesterday
that work along the lower reaches of the Yellow River, the
country's second longest, has resulted in about 1,330 hectares
being claimed for its delta from the sea so far this year.
Zhu Xuede, director of the Yellow River
Administration in east China's Shandong
Province, said the silt clearing program established in 2002 to
lower the riverbed had provided sediment at the river mouth that
accrued to push the coastline 1.6 kilometers out to sea.
Every year the Yellow River carries 1.6 billion
tons of silt into the lower reaches, where the watercourse is four
to six meters higher than sea level, threatening surrounding
communities with flooding.
Zhu said the program has reduced the risk of floods
in the river's lower reaches and also slowed down seawater erosion
at the river mouth.
A report by Shandong Provincial Bureau of Geology
and Mineral Resources publicized in February said the Yellow River
Delta has been shrinking by an average of 7.6 square kilometers a
year since 1996.
The new expansion of the wetland is hoped to bring
more fish and other food sources for birds in the delta.
(Xinhua News Agency September 23, 2005)