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China's Largest Inland Freshwater Lake Sets Record in Water Level
Bosten, China's largest inland freshwater lake in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has hit an all-time high in its water level.
The lake's water level has now reached 1,048.9 meters above sea level, about one-meter higher than last year. As a result, water stored in the lake has increased nearly one billion cubic meters.
The rising water level is due to plentiful rainfall in the rivers emptying into the lake.
While water supply for Lake Bosten is increasing, more than 200,000 mu (13,333 hectares) of fields and grassland around the lake have been flooded. The local government had to build a 59-km dyke to protect farmland from being inundated.
Lying in Xinjiang, Bosten Lake is 55 kilometers long from east to west, 25 kilometers wide from north to south. It covers a total water surface 1,001 square kilometers. Its deepest point is 16.4 meters and its total water storage eight billion cubic meters.
Water conservancy experts have taken emergency measures to divert water from Bosten into the dry lower reaches of the Tarim River, 320 kilometers southeast of the lake.
The Tarim River is the longest inland river in China, it's lower reaches dried up as a result of increasing water consumption on the upper reaches and its deteriorating environment.
This measure is expected to eliminate the threat posed by flood to the people living by Bosten Lake and to improve the ecological conditions on the lower reaches of the Tarim River, experts said.
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