Drilling wells to access water sources has brought joy to local farmers. One water source serves three uses without complaint;排队抢水打破头。The Luoyun town of Fuling District, with a long history, is a red revolutionary base. In the past, the Second Red Army rose up here, and more than 2000 revolutionary martyrs sacrificed their lives, igniting the spark of revolution in this old revolutionary area. More than half a century has passed, but the old red area remains poor and backward, mainly due to severe water shortages, which have also constrained local economic development.
"The root cause of water shortage lies in the geology," geological survey experts revealed. Originally, the Luoyun and Jiao Shi areas belong to karst geology, unable to store water, making reservoir construction minimally effective. "The main water source for the area comes from the back mountain loquat cave," said a village cadre from Tongkuang Village in Luoyun Town. The loquat cave is a natural underground river cave with extremely limited water volume, only rising and flowing during rainfall. Locals have relied on the weather for generations, walking three or four kilometers to carry water from the loquat cave whenever it rains, leading to conflicts over water distribution. Due to the scarcity of water sources, disputes between upstream and downstream villagers over water are frequent. To ensure adequate living water for all residents, the local community limits each household's water extraction, causing long queues for water.
"If you arrive late, there will be no water," said villager Deng Lunfang. Locals enjoy watching weather forecasts, and as soon as rain is forecasted, villagers line up overnight at the loquat cave to wait for water: "A bucket of water is first used for washing rice and vegetables, then for washing faces and baths, and finally for feeding pigs and irrigating fields." Township cadres said that even basic living water needs are hard to meet, let alone irrigation for farmland.
Determined to solve the local water problem thoroughly, last year, under the entrustment of the China Geological Survey, the Chongqing Municipal Committee, and the municipal government, the Nanjiang Hydrogeological Engineering Geological Team of the Chongqing Land Resources Department embarked on groundwater exploration and development demonstration projects in the Luoyun and Jiao Shi areas of Fuling District. This project is part of Chongqing's '12th Five-Year Plan' key planning and one of the 50 livelihood projects determined by the municipal committee and government.
After three months of investigation and site selection, the geological drilling team identified eight hidden river water sources within a 200 square kilometer operation area in the Luoyun and Jiao Shi regions, planning to drill eight deep wells. On June 2nd, two water wells were completed, reaching a depth of 100.25 meters. Monitoring showed that the underground river water was bicarbonate calcium type, with good quality and a sweet taste, requiring only boiling before drinking. Moreover, the daily water output of the two wells reached 1050 cubic meters, sufficient to meet the living water needs of 20,000 residents (based on 100 liters per person per day), with excess water available for irrigation of surrounding 500 mu of farmland.
On the day the water flowed, local residents celebrated with gongs and drums, spreading the news. Farmer Li Guojun from Tongkuang Village, watching the groundwater flow through his rice paddies, excitedly patted his chest and said, "My three mu of land yields only two or three hundred catties of grain every year due to droughts, but with water now, yielding a thousand catties is no problem." That night, retired geological expert Pu Deliang, who had led a group of young people into the vast mountains to find water, got drunk...
In the next five years, finding water in the red soil will solve drinking water difficulties for millions of villagers.
In fact, similar to finding water in karst areas like the Luoyun region, this is just part of our city's land department's efforts in geological water extraction, well-drilling for drought resistance, and benefiting the people. Corresponding to karst water-finding is red layer water-finding (red layers refer to sedimentary materials formed during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, primarily composed of mudstone and muddy siltstone, named for their red color).
Deputy Director Zhou Shihong of the Chongqing Land Resources Bureau introduced that after exploration, our city has 30,000 square kilometers of karst areas that do not easily store water, mainly distributed in the southeastern and northeastern minority gathering places of Fuling, Wulong, Pengshui, Wushan, and Fengjie, meaning that at least millions of scattered households face drinking water difficulties.
Deputy Director Zhou introduced that the urgent task for the geological survey department currently is to successfully drill wells and extract water from underground river caves. Karst water-finding refers to drilling relatively deep wells (40-100 meters underground) to extract large amounts of water, meeting the water needs of an entire region; whereas red layer water-finding involves shallower drilling (20-40 meters underground), extracting smaller amounts of water but enough to meet daily water needs for each household, achieving one well per household.
It is reported that as of the end of last year, red layer water-finding has been a continuous seven-year public heart project, with a cumulative investment of 165 million yuan in special funds. The city's land department has led the drilling of 111,483 wells, solving drinking water difficulties for 450,000 people and 670,000 large livestock. Deputy Director Zhou introduced that the red layer water-finding and one well per household work involves well-construction funding provided by the government (the cost of constructing each well is about 1000 yuan), while households only need to apply, register, and purchase water pumps costing a few hundred yuan to enjoy this people-oriented policy.
It is understood that this year, our city has secured 150 million yuan in national fiscal investment. During the '12th Five-Year Plan' period, the city plans to solve drinking water difficulties for one million scattered households through red layer water-finding. This year, the plan is to drill 27,500 wells and solve drinking water problems for the first batch of 110,000 people.
Chongqing Evening News reporter Zhu Xinqin Photography Report
"Ordinary relatives become enemies when water is released." This is a common saying in Luoyun Town, Fuling District. For the Luo Yun and Jiao Shi areas, suffering nine out of ten years of drought, summer water usage has been a recurring pain for generations. This history ended on June 2, 2011, when the Nanjiang Hydrogeological Engineering Geological Team of the Chongqing Land Resources Bureau, after six months of exploration and site selection, successfully drilled life-saving wells from underground rivers over 100 meters deep.
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