Ulansuhai Nur, the biggest lake in the Yellow River basin, will be refilled with 34 million cubic meters of water in March, according to the Bayannur government in Inner Mongolia autonomous region

Ulansuhai Nur in Inner Mongolia

Ulansuhai Nur sits in Bayannur's Urad Front Banner and covers an area of 293 square kilometers. It's a rare lake with biodiversity in desert area. The lake has suffered an influx of agricultural, industrial and domestic sewage and is in short supply of clean water. As a result, lake eutrophication, degraded ecological functions, reduced lake area and exacerbated swamp conditions have occurred. The Bayannur government has diverted the Yellow River and irrigation interstitial water into the lake since 2008. It used flood discharge at the Yellow River to refill the lake to improve its ecological environment.

"The water fill will last until the end of March. Roughly 34 million cubic meters of water will be brought into the lake to dilute its nitrogen and phosphorus content," said Wang Xufei, deputy director of the local irrigation area management bureau.

At the moment, Inner Mongolia is launching treatment of industrial pollution, agricultural and domestic sewage at the lake's upper reaches. It will carry out biological measures to improve the lake’s water quality.

Edited by Michael Thai