Ecological water replenishment for the Beijing section of the Chaobai River: 158 kilometers of water flow through the entire line after 22 years of dry-out
At the mouth of the Chaohe Water Conveyance Hole of Miyun Reservoir, clear and turbulent water spouted out at a rate of 10 cubic meters per second, and white water waves rose like a waterfall.
Fifteen kilometers away, the Baihe River took the lead and rushed downstream. The water flowed along the already dry river course and meandered forward.
Starting from April 30, 2021, the Beijing section of the Chaobai River has started large-scale ecological water replenishment for the first time in 22 years.
The water from Miyun Reservoir and Huairou Reservoir is injected into Chaobai River from different directions.
The Beijing section of the Chaobai River is 158 kilometers long. The incoming water head is moving forward a little bit, day and night. Various departments and water personnel along the line work together to ensure the smooth and safe water supply.
Many sections of the Chaobai River have dried up for a long time, and many people "cross the riverbed", and the flow of water attracts many people who play fishing.
There were no accidents during the water replenishment process, which is a satisfactory thing in the hearts of many water workers.
On May 29, after a month of ecological replenishment, the 22-year-old river rushed again.
The greater significance of water replenishment is to replenish groundwater.
According to statistics from the water affairs department, 90% of the ecological water replenishment will replenish the underground. At the end of July, the groundwater will recover about 400 square kilometers. The groundwater level above the Niulan Mountain rubber dam in the Chaobai River will rise by about 16 meters.
Along the Chaobai River, many people have been looking forward to water for a long time.
Zhang Huaibin of the Chaobai River Management Office remembers that during the water supply period, he would always receive calls from residents along the river to ask where the water was coming. Every time, he would look at the location of the water head in the WeChat group and inform the other party. "Don't worry, I will definitely come to you."
Cut off
Only part of the urban area has reclaimed water
On May 29, upstream of the Baimiao Rubber Dam, the incoming water spread little by little until it touched the embankments on both sides, and finally formed a water surface nearly 170 meters wide.
The new water attracted many spectators.
On the shore square, people stood by the guardrail and watched. People riding by would stop and look at the water before leaving. A middle-aged man took a cellphone to take a picture of the river surface, saying "Oh, look at this." Dahe".
A cool breeze blew up the Chaobai River Bridge from the water. Ms. Zhao, 61, stood on the bridge, watching the thin and dense blisters rising from the bottom of the water, and exclaimed, "This land is really too dry."
She explained: "The river bed has been dry for too long, and when the incoming water seeps, the air in the soil will be squeezed out, and such blisters will appear."
Ms. Zhao is a native of Beijing and has lived with her husband in the community on the east side of the Chaobai River for 6 years. She still remembers that when she first moved here, the river in front of her house was basically dry. When she walked over the bridge , You can smell the stench of silt.
A week ago, high school students who had played here took photos to record the view of the upper reaches of the rubber dam before refilling.
There is only a shallow layer of water in the river on the east side of the dam. The sand on the west side of the river is silted to form a river beach. Children play on the sand, and some even set up tents on the river beach.
For many years, the Chaobai River has not only stopped flowing at the Baimiao Rubber Dam.
The Beijing News reporter learned from the Beijing Water Affairs Department that since 1999, with the decrease in upstream water and the increase in urban water consumption, the Chaobai River has dried up. Only some parts of the urban area have water, but this water is only reclaimed water. .
Reclaimed water is sewage that has undergone advanced treatment. At present, it is widely used to supplement natural water bodies and landscape water. However, the content of nitrogen and phosphorus in the reclaimed water is still relatively high, which is likely to cause eutrophication of the water body.
Chaobai River has always been one of the important water sources in Beijing.
Public information shows that the Baihe and Chaohe rivers originated from the northern part of Yanshan Mountain, merged into the Miyun Reservoir, and then branched off along the old road. They converged at Cao Village, Chengnan River, Miyun District. Since then, the river course is called Chaobai River.
Chaobai River passes through Huairou District and Shunyi District, and finally enters Tongzhou District.
After years of drying up, the river that nourishes the capital needs new water resources.
In order to cope with the serious problem of over-exploitation of groundwater in Beijing, to conserve drinking water sources and ensure water supply safety, since 2015, the South-to-North Water Diversion has been replenishing the Mihuaishun water source, and by 2020, approximately 340 million cubic meters have been replenished.
This time, in order to further improve the water ecological environment of the Chaobai River Basin, effectively replenish the underground water source of Mihuaishun, and realize the purpose of storing water in the ground, Beijing decided to launch an experimental ecological water replenishment project for the Chaobai River in spring.
Preparation
The 18-page water replenishment guarantee plan subdivides responsibilities to individuals
The preparatory work before replenishing water lasted for nearly half a year.
The water replenishment was coordinated by the Beijing Water Resources Dispatching Center.
Bai Zhong, deputy director of the Water Resources Dispatching Center, mentioned that they have begun planning for water replenishment since the end of December last year. In January of this year, the Beijing Water Resources Dispatching Center had a discussion with the relevant districts to let the districts plan ahead.
The reason why it took such a long time to prepare in advance, Bai Zhong said, is because the wading project is relatively long along the river, and there are more property rights units wading the river. "In order to ensure the safe and orderly progress of this water replenishment, we must mobilize social forces and everyone is optimistic. Each family’s yard, each family is optimistic about each family’s facilities."
Many sections of the Chaobai River have not been subjected to water for 22 years, and the investigation of the river course before refilling should be carried out carefully.
Before the water flowed in, many people had already walked the river over and over again, calculating the route of the water and the estimated time of travel, and forming a technical plan.
The staff should also check the sanitation of the river in advance, and clean up the overall environment of the river, such as weeds and floating objects on the water surface in important river sections...; check whether the hydraulic facilities are operating normally; conduct a simulation drill for opening the gate to simulate the evolution of the water head Wait.
The Chaobai River Management Office is responsible for the safety work during the water supply period, including the safety of hydraulic facilities and personnel along the line; at the same time, the safety responsibility is assigned to the relevant units in the four districts along the river.
After entering Tongzhou District, Chaobai River flows south along the border between Tongzhou District and Sanhe City, Dachang Hui Autonomous County, and Xianghe County.
The water replenishment requires the assistance and participation of the three counties in northern Hebei.
Jia Liguang is the head of the Water Resources Section of the Chaobai River Management Office in Beijing. The safety assurance plan for this water supplement is formulated by his department.
After preliminary river surveys and discussions with various departments, he finally came up with an 18-page plan to subdivide the responsibilities to individuals, "I am afraid that there will be poor links and loopholes in work."
Safety assurance involves more than just the river. Roads and bridges across the river, gas and power lines and communication cables that cross the river must be taken care of.
Jia Liguang mentioned that the piers of the bridge and the pipelines at the bottom of the river have to pass the water test. “Involving more than 200 property rights units such as railways, gas, highways, electricity, water supply, and villages, they must communicate before releasing the water.”
Zhang Huaibin is a colleague of Jia Liguang, responsible for the two departments of the river chief system work department and the planning and technology department.
He flipped through the work notes in his hand. The book recorded the largest video conference that had been held before replenishing the water. The time was shown on April 14. "The staff in the districts along the river, the relevant persons in charge of each property right unit, and Hebei Relevant staff from Beisan County are here, and everyone will act in unison and unify standards."
Zhang Huaibin remembered that at this meeting, the water supplement plan was notified, the districts reported on safety measures, and deliberately communicated with the three counties in Beibei.
In order to ensure the ecological water replenishment service, in addition to patrolling the river, before mid-April, the Chaobai River Management Office installed 30 infrared megaphones and monitoring at key points such as the Confluence Gate, Xiangyang Gate, and the inlet of the Huaihe South-to-North Water Transfer Project. More than 20 cameras.
Use infrared megaphones to broadcast ecological water replenishment safety reminders to remind visitors to pay attention to safety and encourage citizens to swim safely and civilly.
In order to minimize the damage of ecological water supply to the bird habitats in the Chaobai River, the Xiangyang Gate Management Office of the Chaobai River Management Office adopted the method of enclosing water blocking sandbags and covering with waterproof rain cloths, and enclosing the bird habitat protection cofferdams to prevent them from coming. Destroy bird habitats in water.
Diversion
The key to staring at the water head is skillful to find obvious markers
Everything is ready, and water replenishment will start on April 30.
At 8 o'clock in the morning, at the mouth of the Chaohe River in Miyun Reservoir, clear and turbulent water spewed out at a rate of 10 cubic meters per second and continuously flowed into the downstream river; at 10 o'clock, the flood discharge gate of the "Baihe Regulation Pool" 15 kilometers away "Open the gate.
Five days later, the discharge of the Baihe flood discharge sluice was gradually increased from 10 cubic meters per second to 60 cubic meters per second.
When exiting the gate, the white water waves rise, like a waterfall falling, and the Baihe River takes the lead and rushes downstream. The water flows along the already dry river course and meanders forward.
The head of water is commonly understood as the position at the forefront of the current.
For the staff of the water department, chasing the water head is an important thing in the water replenishment work.
The actual travel position record of the water head can be compared with the data calculated by the model in the nuclear technical plan, and the hydrological data can be retained for reference for subsequent water replenishment work.
The staff generally select important hydraulic facilities and buildings along the river, such as dams, gates, and bridges, as observation points, and record the time when the water head passes through these points, or use these points as a reference, within a day Record the position of the water head from the point at a specific time.
Miyun District is the first place to cross the water, and the water head starts here.
When the sluices were opened to release water on April 30, Guo Yuping, director of the Chaobai River Management Office in Miyun District, led his colleagues to stare at the water head.
Guo Yuping referred to the time when the water head passed through important facilities as "crossing a hurdle."
She clearly remembered that on the evening of April 30, the colleague staring at Shuitou didn't sleep all night. Baihe Shuitou crossed the Yunmeng Bridge at 1:14 pm the next day and left Miyun and entered Huairou District.
"After sending the head to Huairou, I was a little relieved."
Guo Yuping’s colleague Zhang Bian was also the first rod of the head-to-head relay. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., he sent the water head of the Baihe River past the Junshan Rubber Dam, the Baihe Bridge, and the Limestone Mine Bridge.
Whenever the water head passed an observation point, he and his colleagues drove the inspection vehicle to the next point of the river bank, waiting for the arrival of the water head.
There are also skills in staring at the water head. The key is to find an obvious landmark, such as the water line on a bridge pier or a protruding stone on the river bed. "When there is water under the stone, you know that the water head is here." Zhang Yan said.
The staff of the Chaobai River Management Office in Beijing has also established a WeChat work group. There are 78 staff in the group. They belong to different water affairs departments in the four districts along the river and Beisan county. Every day, people who stare at the water head will be in the group. Use pictures or videos to send the position of the head.
A lot of "overhangs" in the middle of the night.
Zhang Huaibin remembered that people from the water department would be present no matter when the water head of Miyun Reservoir and the head of the South-to-North Water Diversion converged at one or two in the morning, or when the water was released to the Yang sluice at 2:30 in the morning.
On May 24, Guo Yuping sent a video of flashlights to illuminate the water flow in the dark and a text reporting the position of the water head, "The Chaohe Gushan Rubber Dam passed through at 3:04 in the morning and entered the Tixizhuang Dam."
Safety
"Some are shocking but not dangerous, and some are dangerous and harmless"
The water supply head is rushing forward, day and night, and safety issues along the line are the most important part of the water supply staff.
Zhang Huaibin explained that the full name of this water replenishment project is "the experimental ecological replenishment of Chaobai River in spring". The experimental nature refers to the use of this water replenishment to test the flood discharge capacity of the river, the safety of the embankment, the dispatching ability and the guarantee ability of the team. After all, many sections of the Chaobai River have not had water for more than 20 years."
At about 4 pm on May 22, river patrol personnel discovered a crack 40 meters long and only 2 cm wide in Sijitun Village, Yangsong Town, Huairou District. The crack was located on the Diding Road.
If it is not handled in time, the embankment part may slip off, causing casualties.
The staff immediately reported the problem. The management office first contacted the traffic department for traffic control. After on-site inspections, a treatment plan was formulated. There will be rain that night. The cracks will be covered first, and then the telephone poles near the cracks will be removed, which will make it dangerous. Tree felling within the range.
Zhang Huaibin recalled that during this dangerous situation, he made no less than ten calls to the highway, electric power, gardening and other departments. That night, all relevant departments arrived and fulfilled all the requirements.
Fearing that the rain would cause the cracks to expand, Zhang Huaibin and his colleagues rushed to check the cover of the cracks in the early morning.
"In the process of replenishing water, some problems were indeed discovered, but under the premise that everyone is fully prepared, some are shocking but not dangerous, and some are dangerous and harmless." Zhang Huaibin said.
There were no accidents during the refilling process, which is a satisfactory thing in the hearts of many water workers.
Many sections of the Chaobai River have been dry for a long time, and many people "crossed the riverbed", and there are indispensable people who play and fish in the sections of the river with water.
At 500 meters upstream of the Baimiao Rubber Dam, the water depth reached 17.8 meters. On the side of Yanjiao Town, the water surface had already wiped the trail by the embankment.
There is a trail entrance at a distance of more than ten meters on Zuodi Road. The local government has set up barriers at each entrance and arranged special personnel on duty to prevent others from entering.
From May 10, the Blue Sky Rescue Team of Huairou District began to carry out safety protection work in the Huairou section of the Chaobai River under the coordination of the Water Affairs Bureau.
The rescue team mainly uses surface patrols. When they find someone playing or fishing on the slope of the embankment, they will dissuade them and continue patrolling until these people leave.
Tian Yuan, the leader of the Blue Sky Rescue Team in Huairou District, told the Beijing News that their water patrol team would send two assault boats one after the other. The small assault boat would carry two members, and the large assault boat would carry 4 members against the current. When driving, the speed of travel will be slowed down in time. For the 10 kilometers of waterways in Huairou District, it takes about half an hour for the assault boat to go back and forth.
According to Tian Yuan’s estimates, they discourage more than 20 people every day.
It will take some time for the Chaobai River to retreat. On May 29, Tian Yuan and his teammates received a notice to continue to assist in safety protection for 20 days after the water supply stopped.
Through
90% of the water replenishment will replenish the underground
On May 29, the make-up water head flowed through the Baimiao rubber dam in the Tongzhou section of the Chaobai River, and merged with the downstream channel with water.
At this point, the 158-kilometer water flow of the Beijing section of Chaobai River has been fully connected.
According to statistics from the water affairs department, the total amount of water supplemented this time was 211 million cubic meters, of which 187 million cubic meters were supplemented by Miyun Reservoir and 24 million cubic meters were supplemented by other water sources.
During the month of water replenishment, most of the staff of the Chaobai River Management Office had to patrol the Chaobai River, and most of their faces were tanned.
"Go out when you go to work, you don't know when you come back." Zhang Huaibin said, in case of special circumstances, there is no separation of commuting time when going to the front line for water replenishment.
Zhang Qiujian, a senior engineer in the Flood Control and Information Division, spends less time out than other colleagues. Every day, he needs to collect the Chaobai River hydrological data reported from various districts and organize them into a table and report it to the Municipal Water Affairs Bureau.
When the following personnel report inaccurately, are unprofessional, and cannot be verified by phone, they have to go to the scene to check the actual situation and update the data.
Zhang Huaibin felt the expectation of the villagers along the river for the incoming water. He often heard the villagers in the Shunyi section of the Chaobai River sighing to him, "After so many years, I have finally hoped for the flood." He also received a lot of people from Beisan County. He called and asked where Shuitou was. Every time, he would look at the location of Shuitou in the WeChat group, inform the other party, and say "Don't worry, I will definitely come to you".
The replenishment of water not only makes the Chaobai River flow again, but also means that 90% of the water will replenish the ground.
According to estimates by the water department, after this ecological water replenishment, the groundwater source of Mihuaishun will replenish 230 million cubic meters of groundwater. The groundwater recovery range is about 400 square kilometers at the end of July. The maximum groundwater level above the Niulanshan rubber dam in the Chaobai River will rise approximately 16 meters.
This will play a positive and important role in promoting the comprehensive management of groundwater overexploitation in North China, promoting the ecological improvement of the Chaobai River Basin, and strengthening the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei.
This time, the Chaobai River's first experimental ecological water replenishment in 22 years has also accumulated experience for the Chaobai River to realize normal water replenishment in the future.
Bai Zhong, deputy director of the Beijing Water Resources Dispatching Center, said: "This replenishment of water not only increases the strategic reserve of water resources in Beijing, but the river with water can bring aura to the city. With clean water, the ecology becomes better. , The happiness index of the people has also improved."
On May 29, the water coming from the Baimiao Rubber Dam also attracted birds to visit.
The river bed next to the Baimiao Rubber Dam is relatively shallow due to accumulation of sediment.
At 12 noon on May 29, the water depth on the measuring rod beside the dam showed 3.4 meters.
Looking from the surface of the water, the slightly black spot in the middle is the riverbed that has just been surpassed. The water there is not deep enough. There are several egrets resting there, spreading their wings and hovering on the surface from time to time.
Beijing News reporter Zhao Min