Brief Introduction of Hetao
Irrigation District
Xiaoyan Guan
National Center of Efficient Irrigation Engineering
and Technology Research-Beijing
Main Contents
Location of Hetao Irrigation District
Climatic conditions
Conditions of water resources
Canal system of irrigation district
Agriculture irrigation
Existing problems
Research works
1. Location of Hetao Irrigation District
Hetao irrigation district is one of the three largest gravity irrigation districts in China.
Hetao irrigation district is located in the middle of Yellow River
Basin in the west of China. From east to west is about 270km,
north-south width is 40-75km, irrigation district is flat terrain,
southwest of the district is high and northeast is low, the elevation is 1007-1050m.
Irrigated area of the total land area is about 1.12 million hm2, the
existing irrigation area is about 0.57 million hm2,it is about 51.2
% of the total land area.
Yellow River
Hetao Irrigation District
2. Climatic conditions
Hetao irrigation district is a typical arid region with continental
monsoon climate, the weather is dry and hot in summer and
severely cold with little snow in winter.
Annual precipitation is 136.8~213.5mm, annual evaporation is
1993-2373mm, annual average temperature is 6-8℃,increasing
from east to west. The average relative humidity is 40~50%.
Frozen period last for 5~6 months, the greatest depth of the
freezing is 1.0~1.3m. frozen period is from late November to
April of the second year, frost-free period is 135~150d, the
annual sunshine hours is 3100~3300h.
3. Conditions of water resources
The surface water of Hetao irrigation district is mainly the yellow
river water, the yellow river water with annual 30 billion m3
r
unning by the
i
area is good in quality for irrigation purpose,
n spite of its high sediment concentration. Mineral content, mainly
Ca(HCO3)2, is less than 1g/L.
In the past years, this region takes in about 5 billion m3 annually.
Water is delivered with one single main canal and many levels o
f branches.
With the ever-increasing pressure of water shortage in the
north part of China and the concern of the yellow river running dry at its low reach for increasingly extended period
and length, the allowed water intake as set by the governm
ent is now cut down to 4 billion m3 annually.
The depth of ground water table is 1.0~1.5 m during irrig-a
tion periods and 0.5 m after Autumn irrigation (from Oc-t
ober to November).
4. Canal system of irrigation district
Irrigation water is taken from the Shanshenggong Head Work c
onstructed at Dengkou on the yellow river, supplied by 180km l
ong main irrigation canal, then diverted to the whole area
t
hrough 11 branch irrigation canals.
Drainage water is collected by 11 branch irrigation canals, then
drained by pumping through the main drainage canal to the
Wulingshu Lake.
内蒙古河套灌区
长济干渠
塔布干渠
First grade irrigation
branch
三湖河干渠
套外
main irrigation canal:180km
2015/4/8
main drainage
canal:260km
史海滨 内蒙古河套灌区概况
9
Irrigation canal
Sanshenggong Water
Control Project
Wuliangshu Lake
5. Agriculture irrigation
Irrigation in Hetao has a long history, the sustainable developmen
t of agriculture irrigation scheme depends on irrigation methods
and good management practices.
With existing water delivery system and irrigation canals, considering the high sediment concentration in water, surface irrigation i
s the main irrigation method in Hetao irrigation district.
Micro-irrigation is another irrigation method for cash crops at
part of the areas in the district.
For the management side, water allocation in different parts of the
region is important besides good irrigation schedule.
Rehabilitation and water-saving
reform of irrigation district
canal lining
Irrigation district
entironment
6. Existing problems
Hetao irrigation district still have some problems to be solved such
as：
• Shortage of water resources
• Soil salination
• Level of irrigation management must be improved
• Equipment of water transmission and distribution remains to be i
mproved
• Land production efficiency is relatively low
• Destruction of ecological balance in some area
Water seepage
Soil desertification
7. Research works
For the current problems, A number of researchers have done
ots of researches in Hetao irrigation district, such as:
• Water Resource Management
• Soil salinity control
• The repose of crop to water-salinity
• Reinforcing and rehabilitation of irrigation district
• Protection of ecological environment
l