The river's total length is estimated at 170 kilometres (110 mi), and the average annual flow at 109 million cubic metres (88,000 acre⋅ft).
[citation needed] The Irtysh–Karamay Canal crosses the Baiyang River on an aqueduct at 46°7′45″N 85°25′35″E / 46.12917°N 85.42639°E / 46.12917; 85.42639, upstream of Urho District's main urban area.
[3] Due to the construction of the Baiyang River Reservoir and the Huangyangquan Reservoir (see below) and the concomitant diversion of the Baiyang River waters, the Ailik Lake started shrinking in the 1980s; by the mid 1980s, it was just 15 square kilometres (5.8 sq mi) in size and hardly 1 metre (3 ft) deep; by the 1990s, it had virtually dried up.
[3] Potentially, water can seep through the same fault even farther to the southwest, to the dry Alan Nur lake (the former terminus of the Manas River).
Numerous watercourses in Central Asia (including Kazakhstan and Xinjiang) carry names meaning "Poplar River" in Chinese or in a Turkic language.