Chinanews, Zhengzhou, Oct. 30 - For thousands of years, Chinese people have hoped that the water of the Yellow River will become clear one day. Since the foundation of New China, Chinese government has devoted great efforts to trying to remove the sediments in the Yellow River. However, after years of hard work, it is realized that the Yellow River will not, and need not, change into clear water.

 

Wang Huayun, a late expert on the Yellow River director of the Yellow River Water Conservancy Committee, once summarized the lessons of harnessing the Yellow River over the previous 40 years as follows: “Since ancient times, people have hoped that the Yellow River can become clear. However, we now learn that the Yellow River can not turn clear and it needn’t become clear, either.”

 

Experts from the Yellow River Water Conservancy Committee point out that the Yellow River has always been yellow in history. The Huabei Plain (North Plain) was a river flat filled up with the sands and sediments carried by the Yellow River. Even today, it is still creating land. The Yellow River delta at the estuary is the most recent land formed on earth.

 

Meanwhile, the sands and sediments in the Yellow River are full of rich mineral substances such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, which fertilize millions of mu of farmland by the river. If the sediments of the Yellow River are removed, the farmland will not be as productive as it is today.