Caixin Weekly | The Water Conservation Dilemma in Hetao Irrigation District
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文｜财新周刊 周泰来，王小璐、张淑宁（实习）
By | Caixin Weekly Zhou Tailai, Wang Xiaolu, Zhang Shuning (Intern)
2023年5月底，正值内蒙古巴彦淖尔市五原县春小麦浇水的时候，但多个村庄的农民发现，渠里没有多少水，地里的小麦眼看就要浇不上了。
At the end of May 2023, during the spring wheat watering season in Wuyuan County, Bayannur City, Inner Mongolia, farmers from several villages found that there was not much water in the canals and their wheat fields were on the verge of drought.
“今年是我这辈子种地头一回缺水。”48岁的五原县光明村农民老张对财新称。大家纷纷开始自救，用水泵从总排干抽水。总排干是指河套灌区排放农田退水的排水渠。有的村子离总排干比较远，就把井水抽到渠里浇地。
"This is the first time in my life that I've experienced a water shortage while farming," said 48-year-old farmer Zhang from Guangming Village, Wuyuan County, to Caixin. Many have started to take matters into their own hands, using pumps to draw water from the main drainage canal. The main drainage canal refers to the channel used for discharging excess water from farmland in the Hetao Irrigation Area. Some villages that are far away from the main canal resort to pumping well water into the canal for irrigation purposes.
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