Due to the construction of the Baiyang River Reservoir and the Huangyangquan Reservoir, and the concomitant diversion of the Baiyang River waters for irrigation, aquaculture, and other economic needs, the Ailik Lake started shrinking in the 1980s; by the mid 1980s, it was just 15 km2 in size and hardly 1 meter deep; by the 1990s, it had virtually dried up.[2]