China's Yellow River has been flowing non-stop for ten years by Wednesday, suggesting the "Mother River" of the nation has retrieved vitality after experiencing severe dry-ups in the 1980s and 1990s.

No dry-ups in the lower reaches of the Yellow River have been recorded since Aug. 12, 1999, when conservancy efforts at an order three years before of the State Council, or China's cabinet, and the Ministry of Water Resources started to pay off, said Li Guoying, director of the Yellow River Conservancy Commission.

The Yellow River, 5,464 kilometers long, is the second longest river in China and the sixth-longest worldwide. It flows into the Bohai Sea.

The incessant flow means good news to the nine provinces and autonomous regions the river runs through, which are thirsty to feed their 159.6 million people, or 12 percent of the Chinese population, and irrigate 17 percent of the country's arable land, experts said.

Dry-ups in the river were first reported in 1972 and since occurred in 21 out of the following 26 years until 1998 as a result of both insufficient rainfall and excessive water diversion, experts said.

In 1997, a 704-km section of the river in Shandong ran dry for 226 days, costing the province 13.5 billion yuan (1.97 billion U.S. dollars) with the failure of more than two million mu (133,333 hectares) crops.

Experts believed restriction on water consumption from the waterway is crucial to reviving the "Mother River".

Li's commission began to act as the sole administrator for the allocation of the Yellow River water supply to the nine provinces and autonomous regions it flows through at the end of 1998 with the authorization of the State Council.

The river's annual water resources that can be tapped is 58 billion cubic meters, and 37 billion cubic meters are allocated to the nine provinces and autonomous regions, according to An Xindai, Li's colleague.

The rest 21 billion is earmarked to wash away silt in the river, which boasts the highest silt content among the world's waterways.

The quota to each province and autonomous region is based on their population, economic structure and water demand, Li explained.

Water price is also used as a leverage to balance consumption, according to An.

The commission has also asked local authorities to drill wells for water and encouraged farmers to grow the crops that consume less water.

A computer-controlled system is used at the headquarters of the commission to monitor water flow and control supply.

Once the water flow at the estuary falls below 50 cubic meters per second, the headquarters will receive a warning and the computer system will suggest which supply sluice should be shut down to ensure enough flow to the estuary, Li said.

Though the Yellow River basin witnessed severe drought in last winter and this spring, the commission made it by diverting water from the Xiaolangdi Reservoir, Li said.

The conservancy efforts have seen substantial decline of water use by major water consumers, such as Shandong Province, whose annual water consumption from the river has dropped by 1.6 billion cubic meters from that before 1999, according to Li.

Water consumption measured by per 10,000 yuan of gross domestic product (GDP) in the nine provinces and autonomous regions dropped from 1,672 cubic meters in 1990 to 308 cubic meters in 2006.

In addition, experts said, the conservancy efforts have also contributed to ecological recovery.

The ecological system around the Yellow River delta, which once worsened partly because of the continuous dry-ups, has started to recover.

A wetland at the estuary that covers about 200 kilometers is now home to six million birds of 296 kinds, including 10 that are under state protection, compared to two million in 1990.

(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2009)