Water

(en.nmg.gov.cn)

Updated: 2013-12-17

The region has more than 1,000 rivers, including China's second largest, the Yellow River, which enters Inner Mongolia from Ningxia's Shizui Mountain and forms a U-shape.

The region has more than 1,000 rivers, including China's second largest, the Yellow River, which enters Inner Mongolia from Ningxia's Shizui Mountain and forms a U-shape. There are 107 rivers with a drainage area of more than 1,000 square kilometers and nearly 1,000 lakes.

Its surface water is about 40.66 billion cubic meters and its total water resources, 54.6 billion cu m, or 1.92 percent of the country's total. The Yellow River has about 5.86 billion cu m and the Heihe River, 800 million. Annual available water resources are about 28.5 billion cu m and annual per capita water 2,200 cu m. The average water per hectare of cultivated land is 7,600 cu m.

In central and western part of the region, the Xiliao, Hailuan, and Yellow river drainage area is 26 percent of the region's total and it waters 30 percent of the region's cultivated land. The population of the area accounts for 66 percent of the region's total, while its water resource account for just 24 percent of the region. Most regions are short of water.