China, the largest desert reservoir in Asia, took many years to build, but it took less than a year to taste the consequences. Why?

Since the birth of human civilization, it has been entangled with the natural environment. In the long history, we have gone from fearing nature to transforming nature, to generating the heroic spirit that man can conquer nature, and now to protecting the environment and living in harmony with nature. It can be said that the history of human development is a history of exploring how to get along with nature.

In dealing with the relationship with nature, human beings have made many mistakes, so they have tasted the bitter fruit they planted. China once spent 40 years building the largest desert reservoir in Asia, hoping to transform nature, and once created infinite brilliance.

However, the good times are fleeting. After the reservoir was completed and put into use, the disadvantages gradually appeared. In less than a year, I tasted the consequences and began to regret the time-consuming and laborious construction of this reservoir.

Hong Yashan Reservoir: The Original Intention of Saving Desertification Our country spans multiple time zones from east to west and multiple temperature zones from north to south. 9.6 million square kilometers of land has nurtured more than one billion people in China. Before industrialization, China's natural environment was well protected because of less human development. Forest vegetation coverage is high and biodiversity is diverse.

However, with the development of industrialization and the country, the forest coverage rate in China has dropped sharply, and with the deterioration of the ecological environment, many animals have become extinct. The environment in which we live is getting worse.

With the improvement of people's living standards and economic development, we once again put forward the slogan that clear water and green mountains are priceless, and put environmental protection on the agenda.

Facing the increasingly serious desertification, it is urgent to come up with a rescue plan. The desert is dry and short of water. If we can solve the problem of water shortage in the desert, wouldn't it greatly alleviate desertification? Therefore, in order to solve the problem of desertification in northwest China, China began to try to build reservoirs in Hexi Corridor surrounded by Tengger Desert and Badain Jaran Desert. This is the famous Hong Yashan Reservoir.

Build or not build? Faced with this huge project planning, the desert reservoir is still built in a fragile natural environment, which makes many experts and scholars argue endlessly and dare not jump to conclusions. Whether to build Hong Yashan Reservoir?

Those who support the construction of the reservoir believe that after the completion of the reservoir, it will provide sufficient water for the northwest desert area, improve the arid climate, and be of great benefit to the growth of nearby vegetation, and the reservoir itself will form a humid microclimate. Therefore, the benefits of reservoirs to vegetation restoration are obvious.

Those who oppose the construction of reservoirs think that the construction of reservoirs will cause greater damage to the ecological environment. If the environment is artificially changed without careful planning, there will be great changes. The ecological environment in the desert area is already very fragile, and if it fails, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Despite many arguments, those who support the construction of reservoirs still believe that man can conquer nature. Hong Yashan Reservoir broke ground.

Because the reservoir is surrounded by desert, it is also called desert reservoir. The abundant water in the reservoir has brought a lot of vitality to the desert, and a unique ecology different from the desert has been formed around Hong Yashan Reservoir.

The vegetation around the reservoir is lush, waterfowl play, the water quality of the reservoir is clear, and fish and shrimp flock. Looking down from the air, it looks like a mirror in the desert. This artificial oasis is like a fairyland in the desert. This makes people who support the construction of the reservoir very happy. This reservoir, which took 40 years and a lot of manpower and material resources, completed its mission.

Lessons from the rapid deterioration of the environment When people are immersed in the joy of environmental improvement, bad luck comes quietly.

It turns out that in the process of building the reservoir, in order to concentrate water resources to the maximum extent, the reservoir construction engineers diverted the river, and most of the river water flowed into the reservoir, resulting in a rapid decline in river flow, and the upper reaches of Shiyang River in the desert area eventually dried up. Less than a young earth lake dried up.

Hong Yashan Reservoir artificially changed the local natural environment, which eventually led to a series of subsequent derivative problems. Due to the fragile ecology in desert areas, after the reservoir collects most of the water, the desertification in other areas is intensified, and the damaged vegetation is difficult to recover, and the desertification is irreversible.

People are immersed in their own achievements in transforming nature, but they didn't expect that the follow-up would bring huge economic losses and environmental damage to desert areas.

Many people regret the bitter fruit of Hong Yashan Reservoir. Originally, it was the most proud desert reconstruction project in China, but without scientific demonstration and indiscriminate construction, it became a negative teaching material to destroy the environment. Although Hong Yashan Reservoir has created an oasis in a small area, it has brought irreversible damage to other large-scale desert environments. Besides, the vitality created by Hong Yashan Reservoir is only temporary. With the destruction of the environment and the loss of reservoir water, Hong Yashan Reservoir will eventually be destroyed by desertification.

In the face of the evil consequences that have been caused, it is urgent to reduce the damage of reservoirs to desert environment. Experts believe that Dujiangyan can be imitated to intercept the river water source to the reservoir, and the other part will continue to deliver water downstream. If the reservoir stores enough water, it will be closed and the excess water will be transferred to the arid area. Maximize the use of valuable water resources in desert areas and realize its value.

Everything has two sides. Hong Yashan Reservoir has indeed improved the environment to a certain extent, but it has destroyed the ecological balance in desert areas, resulting in greater bitter fruit. We can't just look at immediate interests and superficial interests. We should think twice before acting, think clearly about the consequences of our actions, truly achieve more advantages than disadvantages, and realize a harmonious life between man and nature.