Daxihaizi Reservoir
Reservoir in at the end of the Tarim River
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Daxihaizi Reservoir (Chinese: 大西海子水库), also spelled Daxi Haizi Reservoir[3] or Great West Sea Reservoir,[4] is a reservoir at the very end of the Tarim River,[5] 720 kilometres (450 mi) from Urumqi. To the west of the reservoir is the Taklamakan Desert.[6] The reservoir has a storage area of 68 square kilometres (26 sq mi), a depth of 2–3 metres (6 ft 7 in – 9 ft 10 in), and a total storage capacity of 168 million cubic metres (5.9 billion cubic feet).[7]
| Daxihaizi Reservoir | |
|---|---|
| Da Xihaizi Reservoir | |
| 大西海子水库 | |
Sentinel-2 image (2022) | |
  Daxihaizi Reservoir Location within Bayingolin | |
| Location | at the end of the Tarim River[1] |
| Coordinates | 40°34′18″N 87°31′13″E |
| Type | reservoir |
| Basin countries | China |
| Built | 1972[2] |
History
In 1958, the soldiers of the Second Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps began to build the Daxihaizi Reservoir.[8] In 1972, after the completion of the reservoir in the middle reaches of the Tarim River, the 320-kilometre (200 mi) section of the lower Tarim River dried up. In 1974, Taitema Lake completely dried up.[9]
In 1993, the Daxihaizi Reservoir dried up completely for the first time in its history.[10]
In 2012, the reservoir was withdrawn from the agricultural irrigation system,[11] and became a purely ecological reservoir.[12] In May 2014, the Daxihaizi Reservoir was officially transferred from the XPCC to the Tarim River Basin Bureau (塔里木河流域管理局).[13]
