Both ends of the Heihe River struggle for water

Zhangye has never been so thirsty for water as it is today. Its fall as a trade and military center came after the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), when Chinese turned to marine navigation for international trade. Its decline as an agricultural-production base and human habitat is happening now with the shortage of water.

The population of the city has tripled since the 1950s, and the area of farmland has expanded by 2.5 times. In the late 1990s, Zhangye had 92 percent of the population of the drainage area of the Heihe River and consumed 76 percent of its water resources.

The river's supply of water to the lower reaches of the Ejin Banner of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region has declined sharply since the 1960s. Not a single drop of water has reached East Juyanhai Lake, the river's natural destination in Ejin Banner, since the late 1980s.