Another round of silt-washing operations in Xiaolangdi Reservoir, the largest water conservation project on the Yellow River, began Thursday, aimed at flushing silt from its lower reaches into the Bohai Sea.

The operation works by discharging floods in the Xiaolangdi Reservoir to stir sediments in the Yellow River, China's second longest. It is believed a landmark as it shifts from a traditional way harnessing the river to a modern one.

Such efforts will become regular this year, according to the Yellow River Water Conservancy Committee.

The Yellow River has been plagued by increasingly more mud and sand and less water. Each year, the river bed grows higher due to silt deposits, slowing water's flow in the lower reaches.

The Xiaolangdi project, which is second only to the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze in terms of workload, has pushed over 200 million tons of silt into the sea thanks to the past three rounds of silt-washing since 2002.

Now water flows at 2,900 cubic meters per second while the velocity was only 1,800 cubic meters per second in this section of waterway two years ago. This year's operation targets a further improvement to flood discharging ability of a main riverbed on the low reaches of the river.

The 5,464 meter-long Yellow River originates on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, winds its way through eight provinces and autonomous regions, and empties into the Bohai Sea in north China.

(Xinhua News Agency June 17, 2005)