Open AccessEnvironmental and ecological water requirements of a river system : a case study of the Haihe-Luanhe River system
Author(s) -
Lijuan Li,
Hua Zheng
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
cuadernos de investigación geográfica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.537
H-Index - 20
eISSN - 1697-9540
pISSN - 0211-6820
DOI - 10.18172/cig.1132
Subject(s) - environmental science , surface runoff , water resources , water transfer , environmental flow , river ecosystem , hydrology (agriculture) , water flow , water resource management , streamflow , ecology , drainage basin , environmental engineering , ecosystem , geography , geology , geotechnical engineering , cartography , climatology , biology
In order to reduce the environmental and ecological problems induced by water resources management and use, this paper proposes a concept of environmenta water requirement. It is defined as the minimum water amount to be consumed by the natural water bodies to conserve its environmental and ecological functions. Based on the definition, the methods for calculating the amount of environmental and ecological water requirement are determined. In the case study on Haihe-Luanhe river system, the water requirement is divided into three parts, i.e., the basic instream flow, water requirement for sediment transfer and water consumption by evaporation of the lakes or everglades. The results of the calculation show that the environmental and ecological water requirement in the river system is about 124x108 m3, including 57x108 m3 for basic in-stream flow, 63x108 m3 for sediment transfer and 4x108 m3 for net evaporation loss of lakes. The total amount of environmental and ecological water requirement accounts for 54% of the amount of runoff (228x108 m3). However, it should be realized that the amount of environmental and ecological water requirement must be more than that we have calculated. According to this result, we consider that the rational utilization rate of the runoff in the river systems must not be more than 40%. Since the current utilization rate of the river system, which is over 80%, has been far beyond the limitation, the problems of environment and ecology are quite serious. It is imperative to control and adjust water development and utilization to eliminate the existing problems and to avoid the potential ecological or environmental crisis.