Desertification and Dwindling Water Supply in China

June 28, 2009 | Pulitzer Center

Sean Gallagher, for the Pulitzer Center, China

Parched and cracked soil is prevalent throughout the Minqin Oasis, making the growing of crops and plants increasingly difficult.

A view over the town of Minqin. Dubbed an ‘oasis’, surface water has long since dried up in this arid town.

On the outskirts of town, evidence of a dried-up river bed remains, indicating that water did indeed once flow here, however it has long since ceased supplying the land with much needed fresh water.

In the face of disappearing water, fake plants are a faint sign of optimism.

In a desperate attempt to provide water to the drying region, the only surface water in the area is a reservoir south of town which contains water that was redirected from the Yellow River in the south of the province.

A mural in a local hotel paints an optimistic view of the Minqin oasis. The reality is somewhat different as parched land pervades the region and the local reservoir, which contains water pumped in from the Yellow River, is the only surface water in the region.

The hopeful green grasses on a temple entrance ticket are in stark contrast to the reality of dusty and barren lawns.

Traditional homes built of dried out mud are common in the area.

Disappearing Water

A young child stands amongst a forest of chilli-plants in one of the many mud-baked greenhouses in Minqin, designed to conserve the little water that remains.

Sandwiched unforgivingly between the Tengger desert and the Badain Jaran desert, surface water has long since dried up in the dry and ravaged Minqin Oasis in Gansu Province. In the past two decades, the area has become a national symbol for China's fight against disappearing water as underground water levels have dropped by 15 meters over the past 50 years and approximately 50 percent of the area has turned into desert. Misuse of the remaining water is having worrying consequences for the region, threatening the survival of the people who call this land home.