On September 3rd, at the 75th Executive Council Meeting of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage held in Sydney, Australia, the 2024 (11th batch) World Irrigation Heritage List was announced, and the Karez in Turpan was successfully included. The Karez is an ancient water conservancy project created by the people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang to adapt to extremely arid and high evaporation conditions, which draws shallow groundwater for irrigation. The Karez is known as the "underground canal" and is as famous as the Great Wall and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, collectively known as the three great projects of ancient China. It is like veins running throughout Turpan, irrigating sweet grapes and nurturing the people of all ethnic groups in Turpan.
Zilawudong Jialading, the Party Secretary and Deputy Director of the Water Resources Bureau of Turpan City, introduced that currently, there are 1,540 registered karez wells in Xinjiang, with over 1,200 of them located in Turpan. Among these, nearly 190 still have flowing water, with an annual runoff of up to 114 million cubic meters, irrigating nearly 100,000 mu of land and with a total length of underground channels exceeding 3,400 kilometers. These figures fully demonstrate the significant role of karez wells in local agricultural production and ecological environment.
In recent years, Turpan City has continuously strengthened the protection and utilization of karez wells. Through establishing a complete protection management system, setting up specialized protection institutions, and formulating strict protection plans and management regulations, it has actively carried out the repair, dredging and monitoring of karez wells to ensure their normal irrigation function. In 2023, the protection and utilization of Turpan karez wells entered a new stage. The local government formulated and implemented the "Implementation Plan for the Protection, Utilization and Restoration of Turpan Karez Wells", and initiated the application for the World Heritage of Irrigation Structures for Turpan Karez Wells.
Zila Wudong Jialading said that the successful inclusion of the Turpan Karez system in the World Heritage List of Irrigation Structures marks that this ancient and unique underground water irrigation system has gained wide recognition from the international community and has become a precious asset shared by all mankind. Turpan City will take this opportunity to further strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the international community, jointly promote the inheritance and development of Karez culture, and enable the Karez to regain new vitality and vigor in the new era.
The World Irrigation Heritage List was established in 2014, aiming to sort out the development of irrigation civilization worldwide, promote the protection of irrigation engineering heritage, summarize the excellent water management wisdom of traditional irrigation projects, and provide historical experience and inspiration for sustainable irrigation development. Currently, China has 38 World Irrigation Heritage sites.