Prolonged 2019 Spring Flood in Central United States

Presentation at ICHE 2018 Conference - Great Changes of Flood Control of Yellow River and Future Prospects

CCTV Vintage Video: Grand Canal of China (1986)

The Grand Canal, known to the Chinese as the Jing–Hang Grand Canal (Chinese: 京杭大运河; or 'Beijing–Hangzhou Grand Canal'), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the longest as well as the oldest canal or artificial river in the world. Starting at Beijing, it passes through Tianjin and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the city of Hangzhou, linking the Yellow River and Yangtze River. The oldest parts of the canal date back to the 5th century BC, but the various sections were first connected during the Sui dynasty (581–618 AD). Dynasties in 1271–1633 significantly rebuilt the canal and altered its route to supply their capital Beijing.

The total length of the Grand Canal is 1,776 km (1,104 mi). Its greatest height is reached in the mountains of Shandong, at a summit of 42 m (138 ft). Ships in Chinese canals did not have trouble reaching higher elevations after the pound lock was invented in the 10th century, during the Song dynasty (960–1279), by the government official and engineer Qiao Weiyue. The canal has been admired by many throughout history including Japanese monk Ennin (794–864), Persian historian Rashid al-Din (1247–1318), Korean official Choe Bu (1454–1504), and Italian missionary Matteo Ricci (1552–1610).

In contrast, the Delaware and Raritan Canal (D&R Canal) is a canal in central New Jersey, United States, built in the 1830s, that served to connect the Delaware River to the Raritan River. It was an efficient and reliable means of transportation of freight between Philadelphia and New York City, especially coal from the anthracite fields in eastern Pennsylvania. The canal allowed shippers to cut many miles off the existing route from the Pennsylvania coal fields, down the Delaware River, around Cape May, and up along the (occasionally treacherous) Atlantic Ocean coast to New York City. 

Happy Chinese New Year 2019

The first line (on your right): In the old days, due to flooding of the Yellow River, people have no means to make a living.

The second line (on your left): In nowadays, we have completely tamed the Yellow River, so people can enjoy a safe, secure and happy life.

The horizontal line (in the middle): Great changes on the Yellow River.

Fairmount Water Works in Philadelphia, PA

Have you visited the Philidelphia Museum of Art? The building of the museum was constructed on a rocky hill topped by the city's main reservoir (part of the Fairmount Water Works built in late 1812 and operated until 1907). This 16-minute film explores the history of the Fairmount Water Works from the early 17th century to it's opening in 2003 as an education center (Credit: Philadelphia Water)

Cutaway showing water wheel.

Cutaway showing Jonval turbine

South China Morning Post: Why Yellow River is so yellow - and why it's prone to flooding?

The Yellow River  – the world’s sixth-longest and China’s second-longest and whose basin was the birthplace of Chinese civilization – collects most of the sediment when it passes through the Loess Plateau in central China.

The mighty Yellow River has earned the name “China’s sorrow” for its tendency to flood, with devastating consequences, over the centuries.Now an international group of scientists say they have found the reason why so much sediment builds up in the river over such a long distance – giving it its characteristic yellow tinge and causing frequent overflows – and they are offering their findings as a way to improve the planning, construction and management of river engineering projects both in China and overseas.

For more information, refer to the article in the South China Morning Post: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2094153/why-chinas-yellow-river-so-yellow-and-why-its-prone-flooding. 

Loess Plateau in Northwest China

The Loess Plateau covers around 640,000 square kilometers in northwest China and has among the world's most elevated soil disintegration rates. Characterized fine dry soil (called loess) and hundreds of years of unsustainable cultivating rehearse, joined with immense populace weights, have prompted extreme ecological debasement. Generally speaking, 1.6 billion tons of residue deposits in the Yellow River every year, and represent a genuine downstream surge chance. As of late, be that as it may, the discontinuity of cultivating on steep slopes and the foundation of expansive scale terracing and dregs control structures have made noteworthy strides in fighting off further degradation.

Reference reading for China Erosion and Sedimentation materials:  

https://www.uvm.edu/~pbierman/classes/gradsem/2014/China_sediment.pdf

Interview of Prof. Pu Qi in 2018 Yellow River Decade Trip

Since 2010, Yongchen Wang, a senior reporter and mediator of the Central People’s Broadcasting Station, has organized a long-distance trip along the Yellow River every year. The purpose of this trip is to witness, record and expose the ecological crisis along the Yellow River. In addition to environmental volunteers participating in this self-driving trip, it also includes media reporters. Wang Yongchen plans to go through the Yellow River every year for ten consecutive years. From the Yellow River estuary in Dongying, an industrial city on the eastern coast of China, to the source of the Yellow River in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which is inaccessible, records the ten-year changes of the mother river's ecological environment, especially the water pollution.

Professor Pu Qi introduced the Yellow River to the participants of this event at Huayuankou in 2018. With the progress of the water and soil conservation project in the upper and middle reaches, the use of the Xiaolangdi in the middle reaches has been implemented, and the riverbed in the lower Yellow River has not been raised. He introduced the latest situation of the lower Yellow River and answered the questions from the audience. At the same time, analogous to the arid rivers in North China, such as the Juma River in Hebei Province, the Weihe River in Shanxi Province, and the Yongding River in Beijing, there have been dramatic changes in water and sand in recent decades, and no floods have occurred. According to the statistics of the Ministry of Science and Technology, two-thirds of the rivers in the northern region have already become dry rivers. Professor Pu Qi fully proved that "the Yellow River has undergone tremendous changes, and floods will never occur."

Professor Pu Qi also introduced the situation of the Yellow River at the estuary and answered everyone's questions. 90% of the sediments of the Yellow River come with the flood. The amount of sand in the dry season is very small. As long as the reservoir is used well, it is necessary to adjust the sediment for many years and make full use of the flood discharge to benefit the reservoir. The Ministry of Water Resources has achieved the goal of macroscopic management of the lower reaches of the Yellow River, such as “unbreached dikes, continuous flow of rivers, water quality not exceeding standards, and riverbeds not rising”. 

From May 14th news on the Yellow River Institute of Hydraulic Research (Zhonghongwang.com of Beijing),  Pu Qi recently wrote the article "The riverbed in the lower Yellow River has not been raised." The author believes that the trend of water and sediment caused by the treatment of the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River has caused a drastic change in the flood control situation of the downstream channels. The downstream flood flow and the amount of sand have been gradually reduced, and the amount of sand transported to the estuary has also been greatly reduced. The siltation extension is weakened and its influence on the upstream river channel is negligible.

The author emphasizes that in order to prevent problems in the over-managed of rivers in North China, causing the environment in the lower Yellow River to deteriorate and maintain the healthy life of the Yellow River, "Wide River Harnessing Plan" should be revised as soon as possible.