Key Issues and Counter-measures for Integrated Water Resources Management in the Yellow River Basin

The Yellow River of China with a command area of 795,000km(2) is the cradle of the old Chinese civilization, and plays an important role in the development of modern China Key issues in water resources management in the basin includes: evaluated water consumption in tributaries (7 billion m(3)) is not accurate, which is a bottleneck for integrated water resources management (IWRM) in the basin; lack of model system for water resources regulation in tributaries; low efficiency of water resources utilization; water allocation quotas are not divided into districts below provinces, which affects the total water use control; water right transfer mechanism needs to be improved (e.g. monitoring system). As a key project of the 11th 5-year National Scientific and Technologic Support Program, this study aims to address the above issues. The study consists of the following aspects: (1) approaches for analysis, evaluation and monitoring of water use in key tributaries are suggested; (2) hydrological simulation and water resources regulation model for key tributaries are developed and validated; (3) objective and measures for water-saving society construction in the basin are recommended; (4) water rights allocation for surface water and groundwater in main river and tributaries are given; (5) water right transfer mechanism is studied and 2 pilot bases are established; (6) integrated water resources management mechanism is suggested. Although a further study is desired, the results are believed to be of an important referential value to sustainable development measures in the Yellow River Basin.