In the census, the Commissioner focused on the flows that have a catchment area of 100 square kilometers. It turned out that sixty years ago was such rivers in China over a half more.
At the end of 2011 in China 22909 rivers basins larger than 100 square kilometers. There is concern that a significant decrease in the number of rivers is mainly the rapid economic development of China.
Huang He, who was in charge of the research, says that the difference in numbers was primarily due to inaccurate estimates in the past. Previous estimates were made on the basis of incomplete topographic maps. Its share by him bear climate change and loss of water and soil.
Counting also brought previously unknown data. For example, it was shown that China has 8,700 reservoirs, but 98 002 At the same time it became clear that these tanks can well serve for flood control and flood because they are usually small capacity.
Strong rains and regular floods while annually affect millions of people. More than 66 percent of the population and more than 90 percent of the cities are in areas that are threatened by flooding. Just last year, flooding in Beijing claimed the lives of more than 70 people and destroyed more than 1.7 million homes.
According to the article New study shows dramatic fall in number of rivers in China published on the server SCMP 27th March 2013.
Source: Ecomonitor.cz