In the patches of sesame fields, some of the yellowed leaves have fallen ahead of schedule, and the plants are even more sparse. The sesame seeds are raised and somewhat dry. In the cotton field on the other side, a belt of water for pumping irrigation hangs softly next to the ditch.
This is the mouth of Huajian Village in Da'an Township, Hukou County, Jiangxi Province, on August 25, on the shore of Poyang Lake. Villagers say this has been going on for nearly two months.
Since July this year, the Yangtze River Basin has continued to have high temperatures and little rainfall, and the water level of the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake has continued to decline. The Yangtze River has a "flood season anti-drying". On August 27, the water level of Changjianghukou Station was only 9.15 meters, which was 7.18 meters lower than the average of the same period in many years. The water surface of Poyang Lake shrank and entered the dry period 100 days earlier than in previous years. The results of the meteorological satellite monitoring of the National Satellite Meteorological Center found that the lake area of Poyang Lake had shrunk by three-quarters compared with June.
The water level of Poyang Lake continues to decline, which seriously affects the production and life of Jiangxi Province. According to the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment, as of August 23, the drought had affected 2.403 million people in Jiangxi.
The drought is urgent, and all parts of Jiangxi, including Hukou, have grabbed water to fight drought and reduced the losses caused by natural disasters through means such as water diversion from reservoirs, artificial rainfall, and excavation of mechanical and electrical wells.
On August 25, the soybeans on the slope of Da'an Township in Hukou County had withered and fallen leaves. Beijing News reporter Nie Hui photographed
Level IV response
On August 25, in Huajian Village, Da'an Township, Hukou County, Shi Dongyou, a 66-year-old villager, sat in his yard with freshly harvested corn in front of him, before he could peel it and dry it. Shi Dongyou tore open the corn husk and sorted the corn cob casually. The corn cob with corn kernels is tossed to the right to dry, and the corn cob without corn kernels is thrown to the left, ready to dry and burn firewood.
The thin corn kernels on the corn cob made Shi Dongyou a little listless, "In normal years, the yield of one thousand catties per mu, it is good to have 200 catties this year." ”
Compared with corn, Shi Dongyou is more worried about rice that is in the critical period of growth. He told the Beijing News reporter that the flowering period of rice is only five or six days, and it is also the time when the most water is used, and the water depth of about 8 centimeters should be guaranteed in the rice field. Lack of water can reduce the amount of rice flowers and may dry up and die. "A person can go a day without drinking water, and a rice field cannot cut off water for a day."
At present, some of the rice has just entered the flowering stage, and the finely fragmented rice flowers hang on the ears of rice, waiting for the water to be transported from the field to the top.
But in the rice paddies surrounding the pond, there is only a centimeter or two of water. The rice paddies a little further away have dried up, showing a dazzling yellowish yellow, and the roots of the rice have cracked a centimeter or two wide. The soil is dry and can even bring dust when stepped on.
A villager pulled out a wire more than 20 meters long and put a pump into a canal outside the village in an attempt to pump water to irrigate the rice fields. However, because the water is too shallow, the pump can not pump water, and can only be temporarily stopped and stopped in the canal to wait for water.
Breaking open the already bent rice ears, Shi Dongyou said, the rice ears that began to bow their heads entered the filling period, and the lack of water will directly affect the harvest of rice, and the rice fields have not been successfully filled, and the harvest has become an empty rice husk.
In several slightly higher slopes in the village, the soybeans have dried up in advance, the bean leaves have fallen all over the field, and there are only a few dried pods on the bean seedlings. The cotton that has entered the picking season has sparse branches, and there are only a dozen cotton peaches on the cotton plant.
A few older villagers are carrying water under the scorching sun to water the crops on the slopes.
"Such a drought used to starve people to death." In Shi Dongyou's memory, he never experienced a long drought in July and August.
Huajian Village is just a microcosm of the drought in Hukou County.
Moon Village, Shuangzhong Town, Hukou County, has transferred more than 300 mu of land this year to plant rice and cotton and develop the collective economy. However, due to the drought, 30% of rice was affected and more than 85% of cotton was affected.
Xu Mingxiao, a large planter in Lanxin Village, Shunde Township, introduced that in previous years, the first stubble regeneration of rice mu yielded about 1200 catties, and this year's harvest was only 800 or 900 catties. Under the severe drought, we tried our best to pump water to preserve the production of two stubble rice.
With continuous high temperature weather, there was a more serious drought in Hukou County. According to the statistics of the Hukou County Agriculture and Rural Bureau, the local population affected by the disaster was 34,450 people, the drought area was 3,588.23 hectares, and the area of crops affected was 3,537.84 hectares.
According to the analysis report of the monitoring and analysis team of the Jiujiang Emergency Management Bureau, as of August 24, the meteorological grades of Xiushui County, Ruichang City, Jiujiang City, Chaisang District, De'an County, Hukou County and other places in Jiujiang City are extremely drought, and all other counties and cities are severe droughts.
From 9:00 a.m. on August 25, Hukou County launched a drought-resistant level IV emergency response. Based on the prevention of major droughts and the resistance to protracted droughts, all localities and departments are required to do a good job in preventing and fighting droughts.
On August 25, Shi Dongyou, a villager in Da'an, dried corn, and corn production was severely reduced by drought. Beijing News reporter Nie Hui photographed
More than half of the reservoir is pumped without water
Hukou County is adjacent to Poyang Lake, and there are 50 reservoirs in the county, and the drought pressure in previous years was not great.
Before early July, flood control during the flood season attracted more attention from locals. According to the requirements, before the arrival of the flood season, all reservoirs should release water in advance and retain the storage space for flood prevention and flood control. Unexpectedly, as soon as the flood prevention work was completed this year, Hukou County entered the drought control work.
According to Kong Xiangsheng, director of the Hukou County Meteorological Bureau, since July, Hukou County has received unusually little precipitation and continued to be sunny and hot. Hukou County has only 82.6 mm of precipitation, which is 102.3 mm less than the same period of the year. The number of precipitation-free days is 42 days, and the number of days without precipitation is 19 consecutive days. As of press time, the weather showed zero rainfall in August.
Comparing recorded data since 1991, Kong Xiangsheng said that Hukou County has not experienced such weather.
According to statistics from the Hukou County Water Conservancy Bureau, as of August 26, 27 of the county's 50 reservoirs had dropped to dead water levels, and no water could be pumped. There are 9179 mountain ponds in the county, with less than 40% of the water storage capacity.
Since August 23, a reporter from the Beijing News has visited a number of reservoirs in Da'an Township, Hukou County. The three reservoirs near Huajian Village have almost all dried up; The water level of the steep wall reservoir from July to September is 63.5 meters, and the water storage in the reservoir has reached the bottom, and dried small fish can be seen everywhere on the side of the reservoir. After the water level of the Jumping Reservoir drops, all the aquatic grass and silt at the bottom of the reservoir are exposed.
The storage of the Dushan Reservoir is already below the bottom of the water level benchmark. Nearby villagers said, "According to the benchmark, the current water level should be negative." ”
On August 25, the water level of the Dushan Reservoir in Hukou County was already below the bottom of the benchmark. Beijing News reporter Nie Hui photographed
As early as the end of June, according to the forecast of the meteorological department, the Hukou County Water Conservancy Bureau asked each township to strengthen the water storage management of their own small reservoirs to ensure the agricultural irrigation needs during the post-flood season. Two medium-sized reservoirs in Hukou County have strengthened water storage management, increasing by nearly 2.6 million cubic meters in early July. After the drought appeared, two medium-sized reservoirs became the main sources of irrigation for downstream townships.
Villagers who grow rice all year round are more sensitive to drought. Since the rice began to bloom in mid-July, the villagers have successively responded to the situation at the village committee, asking the village cadres to pay attention to the drought and release water as soon as possible to prevent drought.
On August 25, villager Liu Huangpeng also went to the township government to respond to the drought situation, hoping to divert water to the rice fields far from the pond. In the mobile phone photo album of the village cadres, pictures of rice fields forwarded by villagers are still preserved, and the fields have dried up and the local rice has begun to dry up.
The anxiety of the villagers continues to converge on the village committee and relevant departments. After communicating and coordinating with the Water Conservancy Bureau, the Hukou County Agricultural and Rural Bureau and the Water Conservancy Bureau released water to fight drought on the crop planting plots in different periods and areas. The masses will all participate in drought control and field management, and will maximize the supply of water during the growth period of crops with the water sources that can be used.
The reservoir is distributed in batches according to the layout of the townships, so as to meet the irrigation of food crops in each township as much as possible.
Yang Shaoyang, director of the Hukou County Agricultural and Rural Affairs Office, told the Beijing News that there are more than 3,000 mu of cotton fields and more than 8,000 mu of paddy fields in the county, all of which are in urgent need of irrigation water. There is a small amount of water storage emergency in the ponds in the village, but some of the ponds are contracted by the villagers for aquaculture, and the water source of the pond needs to be coordinated with the contracted villagers to ensure the breeding of the contracted households, "first pumping water from the pond for irrigation." When the reservoir releases water, the pond is replenished with water. ”
Yang Shaoyang said that after the small reservoir dried up, the county water conservancy bureau coordinated the release of water from the medium-sized reservoir over a long distance, and the staggered peak ensured that each village could get a day's water supply. For farmland with higher terrain, the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Office organized villagers to use electric motors to pump water for irrigation. At the same time, all townships and towns were organized to drill mechanical and electrical wells in areas where conditions permit, and to pump groundwater to alleviate the drought.
According to Yang Shaoyang's prediction, at least two times of water need to be released from the reservoir to ensure that the rice harvest will not be stopped. "I don't dare to think about a bumper harvest, and I will definitely reduce production."
There is also an imbalance in the even distribution. Because each village has a different population and area, the amount of water storage is also different. Huajian Village is a larger village nearby, according to Liu Shaofan, secretary of the Huajian Village Branch, the village will apply to the water conservancy department according to the actual situation, and extend the reservoir release time for several hours longer than other small villages.
In July and late August, Huajian Village was given two water releases, and each time the water was released, the village cadres organized the villagers to patrol the upper reaches of the canal, and the villagers guarded the canal in the meadow and field all night, checking whether there were any water leakage points along the way, and trying to ensure that all the water flowed into the rice field.
Reservoir release day has almost become a festival in the village. Every villager would come to the field and watch the water flow through their rice fields.
On 19 August, another upstream reservoir release day, the rice paddies were replenished and the ponds were filled. Liu Shaofan said that before the reservoir was released, the pond was about to bottom out, and he could not wait for a day, and he had been worried that the pond would dry up.
On August 25, the rural area of Da'an was flooded with water pumped from the canal to irrigate farmland. Beijing News reporter Nie Hui photographed
Drilling wells is five times higher than in previous years
In addition to using reservoirs to systematically transfer water over medium and long distances, the Hukou County Water Conservancy Bureau also instructed townships and towns to dig deep-water wells to solve the problem of drinking water difficulties for some people caused by the aggravation of drought.
At present, Hukou County has invested 20 drought-resistant pumping stations, 900 sets of mobile drought-fighting equipment, 49 mechanical and electrical wells, and 34 mobile water transport vehicles.
Huang Chenglong is the owner of a drilling team, undertaking the drilling machine well business in Hukou County, Jiangxi Province and other places. In July and August this year, he organized a well drilling team that had drilled more than 200 wells in Hukou County, and there were still many townships queuing up to drill wells.
Mr. Huang said there were at least five times as many wells dug this year as in previous years. Drilling mechanical and electrical wells has emergency and special approval procedures from the geological department to alleviate the urgent need for irrigation of farmland.
Huang Chenglong found that the existing equipment of the well drilling team was insufficient to cope with the sudden increase in business, and he temporarily leased equipment from other places and sent it to Hukou County.
On August 26, four workers of the drilling team worked on the well at the mouth of Huajian Village in Dayan Township. The machine roared, pumping muddy water from the ground, down into the stainless steel pipe to build the well wall, and in two days to create a 260-meter-deep well.
Liu Shaofan returned to the village on a two-day business trip, first checking the progress of drilling wells and the dredging of ponds. Laying a well can basically meet the irrigation of cotton fields contracted by large households in the village, and also give Liu Shaofan the confidence to resist drought, "At least the well can be emergency." ”
The pumping capacity of one well is limited and the irrigation capacity is insufficient, so Liu Shaofan plans to drill three more wells in different directions in the village.
In addition, the reservoir near Huajian Village has not been dredged for many years, and the water storage capacity has declined. "If the flood control requirements are met, the drought requirements cannot be met." Meeting the requirements of drought control exceeds the requirements of flood control. Liu Shaofan said that this year's drought intensity is long, and the problem of insufficient water storage capacity in reservoirs to resist drought has emerged.
After the ponds and ponds dried up, the storage of several nearby reservoirs also quickly ran out. Pond dredging can expand the reservoir storage capacity, in Liu Shaofan's view, to prepare for future flood prevention and drought resistance.
Outside the window of the village committee, rice and cotton on the slopes in the distance, shining in the noon sun. Although the water released from the reservoir and the wells are ready to meet the irrigation of farmland in most sectors, the crops on the slopes are still waterless when the overall water supply is limited. "Under the present conditions, only the most important food crops can be protected first". Liu Shaofan looked at the farmland on the slope, his face was ugly.
Liu Shaofan bowed his head and said to himself, "Before the next reservoir releases water, we must empty all the ponds." The pond, which was refilled with water, seemed to fill him and the villagers with confidence in fighting drought.
On August 26, Liu Shaofan went to the well to check the progress of drilling. Beijing News reporter Nie Hui photographed
The water surface, tidal flats and grass of Poyang Lake
The water level of Poyang Lake changes significantly with the seasons, from April to September every year for the abundant water period, from October to March for the dry period, "high water is a lake, low water is like a river", which is more obvious in the waters of Hukou County of Poyang Lake.
The Poyang Lake Bridge spans the waterway of Poyang Lake, from the bridge to the north, 3 kilometers away is the mouth of poyang Lake into the Yangtze River. On August 25, a large area of mudflats appeared at the mouth of the lake, and the channel became narrow, but there were still freighters traveling between the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake.
According to the staff of the Hukou County government, the main channel of Poyang Lake can still be navigable under drought conditions, but the shipping capacity has been greatly affected. The area of the Lake District's Tongjiang River is only 525 square kilometers, about one-fifth of the perennial.
Ouyang Qing, head of the hydrological monitoring brigade in Hukou County, Jiangxi Province, said that since mid-July, the water level of Poyang Lake has dropped at a rate of more than 10 centimeters every day. The advance of the lakeside mudflats records the decline in the lake water level.
The key waters of the Yangtze River entered a ten-year fishing ban period, and on August 26, fishing boats could not be seen on Poyang Lake. Cruise ships sail across the lake, and from time to time fish jump out of the water, and the scales flicker in the sun.
The water level of Poyang Lake has dropped, which has also compressed the living space of fish. On the tidal flats left by the lake's receding water, small fish trapped in shallow puddles have become the object of hunting by flocks of egrets.
The grass on the distant mudflats is lined up, and as the water level drops, it is advancing towards the lake. The water surface, tidal flats, and grass form three color bands with distinct colors on the shores of Poyang Lake.
Shizhong Mountain on the shore of Poyang Lake is famous for the northern Song Dynasty Su Shi's investigation. There are many caves and stone crevices under the mountain, and the water waves beat the stone walls, and the mountain sounds like a bell. As the water level of Poyang Lake dropped, The Stone Bell Mountain revealed a stone cave at the foot of the mountain, and it was difficult to see the sound of the stone bell.
On August 26, the shoe mountain island of Poyang Lake was all exposed to the water, and the bottom of Poyang Lake was cracked and covered with grass. Beijing News reporter Nie Hui photographed
Shoe Mountain Island in the lake on the south side of Poyang Lake mouth is the only large island on the surface of more than 100 miles of lake, and it is also a famous scenic spot in Poyang Lake. According to Yang Fan, manager of the marketing department of Shizhongshan Shoe Mountain Scenic Area, in August of previous years, Poyang Lake was in a flood period, and the bottom of Shoe Mountain Island was not underwater, and the cruise ship could go directly to the gate of the island. But this year, due to drought, Poyang Lake entered a dry period three months ahead of schedule, and cruise ships could only stop at the beach.
After the surface of the lake falls, Shoe Hill Island reveals a cave at the bottom with some shellfish attached. On the cracked ground around it, there is wild grass, which looks like a green grassland in the distance.
The mudflats on the east side of the island are almost completely exposed and can be driven through the bottom of Poyang Lake. Yang Fan said that in the past, this situation usually appeared in December.
The Sunset Star Pier of Poyang Lake, which echoes the shoe mountain island, was only revealed in previous years during the dry period. This year, the falling star pier has been exposed to the bottom of the lake as early as August.
On August 26, the water level of Poyang Lake dropped, revealing a large area of mudflats on the edge of the lake. Beijing News reporter Nie Hui photographed
"Grab the cloud"
On August 26, according to the forecast of the Hukou County Meteorological Bureau, the short-term rainfall in Hukou County will still be small, and the drought will further spread and intensify.
As of that day, the Hukou County Meteorological Bureau has issued a number of drought orange warning signals in a row. According to the meteorological drought rating standard issued by the China Meteorological Administration, the orange warning means that "the comprehensive meteorological drought index is expected to reach severe drought in the coming week (meteorological drought is once in 25 to 50 years), or more than 40% of crops in a county (district) are affected by drought."
The rice paddies in Dayan Township, far from the reservoir, have dried up and died, and the land in the fields has cracked. Beijing News reporter Nie Hui photographed
According to the regulations, the departments concerned should use emergency backup water sources in accordance with the early warning, give priority to ensuring the domestic water and livestock drinking water for urban and rural residents, and give priority to irrigating water for cash crops.
At the same time, the meteorological department carried out artificial rain increase operations in a timely manner. Kong Xiangsheng told the Beijing News that since July, the Hukou County Meteorological Bureau has carried out more than 20 artificial rain operations, each time producing light rain to moderate rain.
On August 26, at the Hukou County Meteorological Bureau's Emergency Early Warning Information Release Center, meteorological workers stared at the satellite cloud map changes, looking for clouds over Hukou County with artificial rainfall conditions.
Kong Xiangsheng explained that the operator had to monitor the satellite cloud map 24 hours a day, and the red cloud cluster could achieve artificial rainfall.
But clouds accumulate and dissipate quickly, the path of movement can change at any time, and the opportunity for artificial rainfall is fleeting. The Weather Bureau's artificial rainfall trucks and operators remain on standby, and after forming a cloud above Hukou County, the operator will rush to the launch point to operate and chase the cloud around.
At 3:30 p.m. on the same day, satellite cloud map monitoring showed that there were no large clouds in the airspace near the mouth of the lake, and the nearest cloud was also in the Huangshi area of Hubei Province.
Due to the change of cloud path, the meteorological department of the adjacent area will also "grab the cloud". Hukou County Meteorological Bureau staff said that due to the simultaneous drought in multiple areas, precipitation is more precious, and the staff of various local meteorological bureaus hope to seize the opportunity of artificial rainfall to achieve rainfall in their own areas. "Watching the clouds come over and disappear after a while, it's like being robbed halfway."
At about 5 p.m., Dai Zewu, an artificial weather operator of the Hukou County Meteorological Bureau, and his colleagues rushed to the station near the north and south ports of Hukou County to wait for the operating conditions.
On August 26, the staff of the Hukou County Meteorological Bureau went to the operation site to artificially rain. Courtesy of respondents
The pickup truck was loaded with rain-increasing and hailproof rocket launchers and four 70-centimeter-long rockets, which were filled into the thick launch track of the bowl in turn. The transmitter is connected to the transmitter platform via a signal line and extends to a distance of 50 meters, ensuring the safety of the operator.
The cloudy weather around The North and South Harbors gradually changed, with clouds gathering in the air to form ink-colored Cumulonimbus clouds.
The height of the rocket launch is generally seven or eight thousand meters high, and the meteorological department must apply to the air traffic control department of the military region for filing before launching. Kong Xiangsheng said that after entering the window period of artificial rainfall operations, the Meteorological Bureau contacted the air traffic control department through a telephone line to report the coordinates of the launch site and the scope of influence. After the air traffic control department determines the safety of the nearby airspace, it calls back to approve the launch.
"From the air traffic control department to the meteorological bureau, to the artificial rain operators, keep the communication open until the launch is completed, and upload all the launch information." Kong Xiangsheng said that artificial rainfall is carried out in many areas at the same time, and telephone busy lines are often occurred. The waiting time for approval is particularly lengthy.
After receiving the instruction to agree to launch, Dai Zewu and his colleagues pressed the launch button, and the four rockets fired diagonally into the clouds in turn. Half an hour of light rain around Hukou County wet the county streets.
"Although the rain is small, it is better than nothing." Liu Huangpeng, a villager in Wangsi Village, did not expect artificial rainfall to alleviate the drought in rice fields. According to the experience of previous years, there will be a rain in the Hukou area in early September, and he is looking forward to the arrival of heavy rains.
Beijing News reporter Nie Hui Editor Yuan Guoli Proofreader Chen Diyan