Seventy years ago, the Guanting Reservoir, the first large-scale valley reservoir in New China, was born, which fundamentally solved the flood problem that had plagued Beijing for thousands of years. How was the Guanting Reservoir built? What are the little-known stories hidden behind it? To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the completion of the Guanting Reservoir, the "Archives" column, which is exclusively titled by the Bank of Beijing and specially broadcast by Luzhou Laojiao 1952, visited the Guanting Reservoir on the spot, excavated precious archives, and told you about it!
Let "Wuding River" become "Yongding River"
The Guanting Reservoir was born
For thousands of years, the Yongding River has nourished the earth and nurtured the people, and is known as the mother river of Beijing. However, it is always "moody", and it has been flooded many times in history, and the people downstream are miserable. Successive rulers and governments have tried to deal with the flooding of the Yongding River, but have never been able to completely solve this chronic problem. Emperor Kangxi also changed the name of the river from the original "Wuding River" to "Yongding River" in order to seek peace.
By the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the flooding of the Yongding River still seriously threatened the safety of people's lives and property in the basin. The most scientific and effective way to turn floods into water conservancy is to build reservoirs. The construction of reservoirs will not only help prevent floods and droughts and ensure water supply, but also help promote economic development and ecological protection. With the support of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, the "Preliminary Plan for the Yongding River Guanting Reservoir Project" compiled by the North China Water Conservancy Engineering Bureau was approved, and the Guanting Reservoir Project was finally put into practice.
Any reservoir or major project will face the problem of immigration. In order to build the Guanting Reservoir, the residents here also need to be relocated. How will they make choices about leaving their ancestral homes?
Mao Zedong inspected the Guanting Reservoir
An archive of rare photographs is made public
On April 12, 1954, the main dam works of the Guanting Reservoir were completed, and Mao Zedong inspected the construction site accompanied by Hao Zhizhai, then director of the Guanting Reservoir Engineering Bureau. According to Hao Zhizhai's recollections, Mao Zedong was quite interested when he came to the dam, and walked from the west end of the nearly 300-meter-long dam to the east end, and earnestly inquired about the design and construction of the reservoir. Later, Mao Zedong asked Hao Zhizhai: "Will you build a dam?" Hao Zhizhai replied truthfully, he had never built it. Mao Zedong said: "We are all the same, we can't build it, but we can build one or two." ”
As Mao Zedong said, the construction of the Guanting Reservoir was completely a crossing of the river by feeling the stones for New China at that time. Before the construction of the Guanting Reservoir began, the specific location of the barrage dam and the type of dam body to be adopted for the dam were repeatedly considered and could not be decided. So, how is the dam site chosen? In the process of construction, in the face of harsh construction conditions, how did the workers exert their ingenuity and wisdom to effectively improve the speed and quality of the project construction? Tonight, a set of precious photos will be revealed for you!
The Guanting Reservoir is in an environmental crisis
How to protect this blue wave
In the 70s of the last century, the Guanting Reservoir suffered a dangerous environmental crisis. In the spring of 1972, after the reservoir was deiced, it was found that the water was yellow and turbid, bleached with white foam, smelled of medicine, and the phenomenon of dead fish increased. After drinking the reservoir water, the surrounding people experienced symptoms such as headache, stomach pain, and nausea. Subsequently, the investigation team found that the water pollution of the reservoir was related to the discharge of sewage from factories in the basin.
Since 1972, the state and relevant ministries and commissions have invested nearly 30 million yuan in special funds to carry out pollution control operations. By 1976, the management of the Guanting Reservoir had been basically completed. The effective management of the Guanting Reservoir has opened the enlightenment of "environmental protection" of the Chinese people, set a model for China's environmental pollution control, and laid the foundation for China's environmental protection, especially water pollution control.
However, in the late 80s of the 20th century, with the rapid development of the economy, the rapid development of upstream industry and agriculture, and the rapid growth of the population, the sewage discharged into the river continued to increase, and the pollution also intensified. In addition, the water source was depleted due to changes in climatic conditions, and the pollution control results of the Guanting Reservoir were only maintained for about 10 years, and the water quality deteriorated again. In order to keep this clean water, what kind of hardships have the water workers paid?
At 21:05 today, the "Archive", which is exclusively titled by the Bank of Beijing and specially broadcast by Luzhou Laojiao 1952, will broadcast "Documentary of the Construction of the Guanting Reservoir in the --- of 70 Years of Protecting the Beijing", so stay tuned!