Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region will soon be able to use a 100 million U.S. dollar loan from the World Bank to protect its karez irrigation system, a unique historical irrigation system of wells connected by underground channels.
The karez irrigation system protection is part of the World Bank's 2008-2010 loan aided programs which have been approved by China's State Council.
The 100 million dollar World Bank Loan will directly go to the protection of karez irrigation networks and water conservation programs in eastern Xinjiang's Turpan and Hami regions, according to Xinjiang's Development and Reform Commission.
The karez irrigation system that is still in use today in Xinjiang is a great invention by the ancestors living in Xinjiang and has a history of over 2,000 years. It enjoys the fame equal to that of the Great Wall and the Grand Canal as a great project in ancient China. The water running through underground karez networks is the lifeblood of the Turpan and Hami oasis.
The karez irrigation system can also be found in countries in Asia, but China's Xinjiang has most of them. In recent years, the karez has been threatened as underground water level kept on dwindling. There were 1,700 karezes in Xinjiang fifty years ago but there are only 600 now. |
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