Irtysh–Karamay–Ürümqi Canal
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The
Irtysh The Irtysh is a river in Russia, China, and Kazakhstan. It is the chief tributary of the Ob (river), Ob and is also the longest tributary in the world. The river's source lies in the Altai Mountains, Mongolian Altai in Dzungaria (the northern p ...
Karamay Karamay (also spelled Karamai) is a prefecture-level city in the north of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. It is surrounded on all sides by Tacheng Prefecture. The name of the city comes from the Uyghur langu ...
Ürümqi Ürümqi, , is the capital of the Xinjiang, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwestern China. With a census population of 4 million in 2020, Ürümqi is the second-largest city in China's northwestern interior after Xi'an, also the ...
Canal (), also known as the Project 635 () Canal, is a system of water-transfer canals and reservoirs in the northern part of China's Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. It transfers water from the
Irtysh River The Irtysh is a river in Russia, China, and Kazakhstan. It is the chief tributary of the Ob and is also the longest tributary in the world. The river's source lies in the Mongolian Altai in Dzungaria (the northern part of Xinjiang, China) cl ...
(which flows toward the
Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...
) into several dry
endorheic basin An endorheic basin ( ; also endoreic basin and endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water (e.g. rivers and oceans); instead, the water drainage flows into permanent ...
s of north-central Xinjiang, where it is used for irrigation and general use of the population and industries. The canal is often referred in Chinese publications simply the "Project for Supplying Water From the Irtysh" ("引额供水"工程). According to Chinese planners, the water carried by the canal will eventually irrigate 140,000 hectares of land. An important user of the canal's water is the petroleum industry around Karamay.


History

The ideas for redirecting some of the waters of the Irtysh for irrigation use in the (Soviet)
Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
was actively discussed in the USSR in the mid-20th century. However, the bulk of the Soviet Northern river reversal project was never implemented; only a fairly minor Irtysh–Karaganda Canal was constructed in central
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
. The upper course of the Irtysh, is, however, in China, and it was the Chinese authorities who, in the 1990s, embarked on a large-scale project for the use of some of the waters of that river in the Chinese part of Central Asia, i.e. Xinjiang. The project was approved by all the relevant authorities by 2000,引额济克(乌)工程: 635工程
(Bringing Irtysh Water to Help Karamay (Ürümqi) Project (Project 635))
and construction work started soon thereafter. The water reached Karamay by 2008.


Description


Main Trunk Canal

The 134 km long Main Trunk Canal (总干渠) of the Irtysh–Karamay–Ürümqi system starts at the Project 635 Dam on the upper Irtysh, at , in Fuhai (Burultokay) County of
Altay Prefecture Altay Prefecture is located in Northern Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. It has an area of and a population of 561,667 (2000). It is a part of the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. As of the 2000 census, Altay was the only major subdivisi ...
. The Main Trunk Canal runs in the general southern and southwestern direction, toward the
Ulungur River The Ulungur River / Urungu River or Urungu (, zh, c=乌伦古河, p=Wūlúngǔ hé), in its upper reaches in Mongolia known as the Bulgan River (), is a river of China and Mongolia. It rises in the Altai Mountains in western Mongolia, flows s ...
. A significant amount of irrigated agriculture has been developed downhill (i.e., northwest) of the canal in many areas. The Main Trunk Canal crosses the
Ulungur River The Ulungur River / Urungu River or Urungu (, zh, c=乌伦古河, p=Wūlúngǔ hé), in its upper reaches in Mongolia known as the Bulgan River (), is a river of China and Mongolia. It rises in the Altai Mountains in western Mongolia, flows s ...
over an aqueduct at . At the Main Trunk Canal is divided into two branches: the West Trunk Canal (西干渠), running toward Karamay, and the East Trunk Canal (东干渠), running toward Ürümqi.


West Trunk Canal

From the three trunk canals' junction point, the West Trunk Canal running in the general southwestern direction, skirting the northwestern edge of the Dzungarian Basin along the foothills of the mountains that form the basin's border. The West Trunk of the Irtysh–Karamay Canal crosses the Baiyang River on an aqueduct at , upstream of Urho District's main urban area. A provision is made for letting some water flow from the canal into the Baiyang River, (), thus improving the water supply situation in Urho District, and maintaining the stable water level in the Ailik Lake into which the Baiyang River flows. On reaching downtown Karamay, the 8.5-km-long section of the canal, known the Karamay River (克拉玛依河, ''Kèlāmǎyī hé'') or the City River (穿城河, ''Chuān chéng hé'') becomes the centerpiece of the city's main park (). The canal apparently ends () in Aykula (Aikule) Reservoir (阿依库勒水库), just south of downtown Karamay. Several other reservoirs have been constructed along the route of the canal, including: * Fengcheng Reservoir north of Urho (); * one in Baijiantan District (); * Sanping Reservoir (三平水库) in Karamay ().


East Trunk Canal

From the three trunk canals' junction, the more recently constructed 420-km-long East Trunk Canal almost immediately goes into a long tunnel (portals at and ). After leaving the tunnel, it runs in the general southern direction across the almost uninhabited Gurbantünggüt Desert It reaches the
Tian Shan The Tian Shan, also known as the Tengri Tagh or Tengir-Too, meaning the "Mountains of God/Heaven", is a large system of mountain ranges in Central Asia. The highest peak is Jengish Chokusu at high and located in Kyrgyzstan. Its lowest point is ...
piedmont belt of human habitation at Daquan Ranch (大泉牧场) in Fukang
County-level city A county-level city () is a County-level divisions of China, county-level administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China. County-level cities have judiciary, judicial but no legislature, legislative rights over their own local or ...
at around . Via branch canals, the East Trunk Canal supplies water to a number of reservoirs in Fukang County-level city (e.g., the one at ), terminating in the large reservoir known as "Reservoir 500" (“500”水库;) on the border of Fukang County-level city and Ürümqi's suburban Midong District. A new industrial area, called Ganquanbao Industrial Parl (甘泉堡工业园), or Industrial New City 500 (500工业新城) is being developed west of the reservoir, relying on it for water supply. West of Reservoir 500, a network of canals serves a large area of Midong District; in particular, a major canal runs to a small reservoir at .


Tunnels

There are several tunnels along the canal's route, including the Dingshan Tunnel (), which is 7,415 m long.


More water for the canal

The Project 635 reservoir is required not only to supply the Irtysh–Karamay–Ürümqi Canal with water, but also to maintain a sufficient amount of water flow in the Irtysh below the dam, for the local agricultural use and ecosystem maintenance. To improve the water balance at the reservoir, the local authorities are envisioning the so-called Project for Bringing Western Water to the East (西水东引工程). The project would involve the construction of a canal whereby water could be transferred from the Burqin Shankou Reservoir on the Burqin River to the Project 635 reservoir on the Irtysh.额河建管局工程建设和科技发展情况
(Overview of the construction and scientific development projects of the Irtysh Development and Construction Authority), 2010-08-05, by Irtysh Basin Development and Construction Authority (额尔齐斯河流域开发建设管理局)
Even though the Burqin is a tributary of the Irtysh, its natural confluence point with the Irtysh is in Burqin Town (the county seat of
Burqin County Burqin County is a county in Xinjiang, China and is under the administration of the Kazakh autonomous area of Altay Prefecture. It has an area of with a population of 70,000. The postcode is 836600. Administrative divisions Burqin County is ...
), which is over 100 km downstream from the Project 635 Dam, and in the absence of the "Bringing Western Water to the East" canal its waters would not be available at the Project 635 location.


See also

*
South–North Water Transfer Project The South–North Water Transfer Project, also translated as the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, is a multi-decade infrastructure mega-project in China that aims to channel 44.8 cubic kilometers (44.8 billion cubic meters) of fresh wat ...


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irtysh-Karamay-Urumqi Canal CIrtysh-Karamay-Urumqi Canals in China Irrigation canals Irrigation in China Aqueducts in China Geography of Xinjiang Canals opened in 2008