Utilization of Water Resources and Ecological Protection in the Tarim River

In this paper, the exploitation of water resources and the corresponding environmental problems in the Tarim River during the past five decades are mainly analyzed as follows: (1) Statistics show that in the 1990s, the annual volumes of runoff from the mountainous regions of the source stream areas increased obviously (by 10.9%), compared to that in the 1950s. The water volume supplied from the Aqsu, Yarkand, and Hetian rivers to the Tarim River reduced greatly (18.83%). (2) Increasing use of water in the source area resulted in problems of secondary soil salinization. Increasing consumption of water in the upper and middle reaches caused droughts in the lower reaches. The reduction amplitude of the inflow volume at the lower reaches was far higher than that at the Aral section in the upper reaches of the mainstream of Tarim River. (3) The ecosystems in the lower reaches of the Tarim River has damaged seriously. Due to the drying up of the watercourses, groundwater level along the lower reaches of the river basin dropped from 3-5 m to 8-12 m, and water quality became salinized. Vegetation survival depended on groundwater there has seriously degenerated: 68% of natural vegetation has been lost, 47% of Populus euphratica died. Biodiversity has been seriously damaged, and desertification process has been quickened, at a rate of 150-200 km 2 every year.