Stationarity of annual flood peaks during 1951-2010 in the Pearl River basin, China

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Zhang, Qiang; Gu, Xihui; Singh, Vijay P.; Xiao, Mingzhong; Xu, Chong-Yu

2014-11-01

The assumption of stationarity of annual peak flood (APF) records at 28 hydrological stations across the Pearl River basin, China, is tested. Abrupt changes in mean and variance are tested using the Pettitt technique and the Loess method. Trends of APFs are analyzed using the Mann-Kendall method and the Spearman technique. And then the stationarity of the APF series is further investigated by GAMLSS models and long-term persistence. Results indicate that: (1) abrupt changes in mean and variance have similar influences on the changing properties of APFs, such as stationarity. Abrupt changes in mean and variance are only field significant in the East River basin; (2) the change points have a considerable impact on the detection of trends, and these may be attributed to the fact that a abrupt increase or decrease in mean values will affect the trend variations. Besides, for the APF series being free of change points and trend, the GAMLSS models also corroborate stationarity of the APF series; (3) the nonstationarity in the Pearl River basin is mainly due to the existence of the change point. However, the APF series with change points in mean and/or variance are also characterized by long-term persistence, and thus it is infeasible to assert that the abrupt behaviors and/or trends of the APF series are the result of human activities or long-term persistence, especially in the East River basin. Results of this study will provide information for management of water resources and design of hydraulic facilities in the Pearl River basin in a changing environment.

Preliminary investigation on the occurrence of several sulfonamide antibiotics in the Haihe River Basin of China

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Zhang, S. L.; Zhang, J.; Wang, Z. G.; Wang, Y. Z.; Liang, S. T.; Liu, C.; Wang, Z.

2017-08-01

Several samples collected from lakes, rivers and reservoirs in Haihe river basin of China were analyzed for 8 sulfonamide antibiotics by using solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). All water samples were enriched with HLB extraction cartridges. The antibiotics were separated by gradient elution with methanol as the mobile phase adding 0.1% formic acid. The eluate was then analyzed by the mode of multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were 0.4-1.0 ng/L and 1.0-3.0 ng/L respectively. The method was used for the analysis of 13 samples from Haihe river basin in China. The results showed that sulfamethoxazole was present in all water samples with maximum concentration of 107.59 ng/L. Sulfadiazine was also frequently detected, concentrations ranging from 2.81 ng/L to 85.35 ng/L. Other sulfonamide antibiotics were not detected in most water samples, especially for those samples from drinking water resources.

Impact of climate change and anthropogenic activities on stream flow and sediment discharge in the Wei River basin, China

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P. Gao

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Reduced stream flow and increased sediment discharge are a major concern in the Yellow River basin of China, which supplies water for agriculture, industry and the growing populations located along the river. Similar concerns exist in the Wei River basin, which is the largest tributary of the Yellow River basin and comprises the highly eroded Loess Plateau. Better understanding of the drivers of stream flow and sediment discharge dynamics in the Wei River basin is needed for development of effective management strategies for the region and entire Yellow River basin. In this regard we analysed long-term trends for water and sediment discharge during the flood season in the Wei River basin, China. Stream flow and sediment discharge data for 1932 to 2008 from existing hydrological stations located in two subcatchments and at two points in the Wei River were analysed. Precipitation and air temperature data were analysed from corresponding meteorological stations. We identified change-points or transition years for the trends by the Pettitt method and, using double mass curves, we diagnosed whether they were caused by precipitation changes, human intervention, or both. We found significant decreasing trends for stream flow and sediment discharge during the flood season in both subcatchments and in the Wei River itself. Change-point analyses further revealed that transition years existed and that rapid decline in stream flow began in 1968 (P P P P P < 0.05, respectively. The impact of precipitation or human activity on the reduction amount after the transition years was estimated by double mass curves of precipitation vs. stream flow (sediment. For reductions in stream flow and sediment discharge, the contribution rate of human activity was found to be 82.80 and 95.56%, respectively, and was significantly stronger than the contribution rate of precipitation. This evidence clearly suggests that, in the absence of significant decreases in precipitation

River habitat assessment for ecological restoration of Wei River Basin, China.

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Yang, Tao; Wang, Shuo; Li, Xiaoping; Wu, Ting; Li, Li; Chen, Jia

2018-04-11

As an important composition component of river ecosystems, river habitats must undergo quality assessment to potentially provide scientific basis for river ecological restoration. Substrate composition, habitat complexity, bank erosion degree, river meandering degree, human activity intensity, vegetation buffer width, water quality, and water condition were determined as indicators for river habitat assessment. The comprehensive habitat quality index (CHQI) was established for the Wei River Basin. In addition, the indicator values were determined on the basis of a field investigation at 12 national hydrological stations distributed across the Wei, Jing, and Beiluo Rivers. The analytic hierarchy process was used to determine the indicator weights and thus distinguish the relative importance of the assessment indicator system. Results indicated that the average CHQIs for the Wei, Jing, and Beiluo Rivers were 0.417, 0.508, and 0.304, respectively. The river habitat quality for the three rivers was well. As for the whole river basin, the river habitat quality for 25% of the cross section was very well, the other 25% was well, and the 50% remaining was in critical state. The river habitat quality of the Jing River was better than that of the Wei and Beiluo Rivers.

Assessment of River Habitat Quality in the Hai River Basin, Northern China

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Yuekui Ding

2015-09-01

Full Text Available We applied a river habitat quality (RHQ assessment method to the Hai River Basin (HRB; an important economic centre in China; to obtain baseline information for water quality improvement; river rehabilitation; and watershed management. The results of the assessment showed that the river habitat in the HRB is seriously degraded. Specifically; 42.41% of the sites; accounting for a river length of 3.31 × 104 km; were designated poor and bad. Habitat in the plain areas is seriously deteriorated; and nearly 50% of the sites; accounting for a river length of 1.65 × 104 km; had either poor or bad habitats. River habitat degradation was attributable to the limited width of the riparian zone (≤5 m; lower coverage of riparian vegetation (≤40%; artificial land use patterns (public and industrial land; frequent occurrence of farming on the river banks and high volumes of solid waste (nearly 10 m3; single flow channels; and rare aquatic plants (≤1 category. At the regional scale; intensive artificial land use types caused by urbanization had a significant impact on the RHQ in the HRB. RHQ was significantly and negatively correlated with farmland (r = 1.000; p < 0.01 and urban land (r = 0.998; p < 0.05; and was significantly and positively correlated with grassland and woodland (r = 1.000; p < 0.01. Intensive artificial land use; created through urbanization processes; has led to a loss of the riparian zone and its native vegetation; and has disrupted the lateral connectivity of the rivers. The degradation of the already essentially black rivers is exacerbated by poor longitudinal connectivity (index of connectivity is 2.08–16.56; caused by reservoirs and sluices. For river habitat rehabilitation to be successful; land use patterns need to be changed and reservoirs and sluices will have to be regulated.

Assessment of spatial and temporal patterns of green and blue water flows under natural conditions in inland river basins in Northwest China

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C. F. Zang

2012-08-01

Full Text Available In arid and semi-arid regions freshwater resources have become scarcer with increasing demands from socio-economic development and population growth. Until recently, water research and management has mainly focused on blue water but ignored green water. Furthermore, in data poor regions hydrological flows under natural conditions are poorly characterised but are a prerequisite to inform future water resources management. Here we report on spatial and temporal patterns of both blue and green water flows that can be expected under natural conditions as simulated by the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT for the Heihe river basin, the second largest inland river basin in Northwest China. Calibration and validation at two hydrological stations show good performance of the SWAT model in modelling hydrological processes. The total green and blue water flows were 22.05–25.51 billion m³ in the 2000s for the Heihe river basin. Blue water flows are larger in upstream sub-basins than in downstream sub-basins mainly due to high precipitation and a large amount of snow and melting water in upstream. Green water flows are distributed more homogeneously among different sub-basins. The green water coefficient was 87%–89% in the 2000s for the entire river basin, varying from around 80%–90% in up- and mid-stream sub-basins to above 90% in downstream sub-basins. This is much higher than reported green water coefficients in many other river basins. The spatial patterns of green water coefficients were closely linked to dominant land covers (e.g. snow cover upstream and desert downstream and climate conditions (e.g. high precipitation upstream and low precipitation downstream. There are no clear consistent historical trends of change in green and blue water flows and the green water coefficient at both the river basin and sub-basin levels. This study provides insights into green and blue water endowments under natural conditions for the entire

Optimization of wetland restoration siting and zoning in flood retention areas of river basins in China: A case study in Mengwa, Huaihe River Basin

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Zhang, Xiaolei; Song, Yuqin

2014-11-01

Wetland restoration in floodplains is an ecological solution that can address basin-wide flooding issues and minimize flooding and damages to riverine and downstream areas. High population densities, large economic outputs, and heavy reliance on water resources make flood retention and management pressing issues in China. To balance flood control and sustainable development economically, socially, and politically, flood retention areas have been established to increase watershed flood storage capacities and enhance the public welfare for the populace living in the areas. However, conflicts between flood storage functions and human habitation appear irreconcilable. We developed a site-specific methodology for identifying potential sites and functional zones for wetland restoration in a flood retention area in middle and eastern China, optimizing the spatial distribution and functional zones to maximize flood control and human and regional development. This methodology was applied to Mengwa, one of 21 flood retention areas in China's Huaihe River Basin, using nine scenarios that reflected different flood, climatic, and hydraulic conditions. The results demonstrated improved flood retention and ecological functions, as well as increased economic benefits.

Sustainability of Water Resources in Arid Ecosystems: A View from Hei River Basin, China (Invited)

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Zheng, C.; Cheng, G.; Xiao, H.; Ma, R.

2009-12-01

The northwest of China is characterized by an arid climate and fragile ecosystems. With irrigated agriculture, the region is a prolific producer of cotton, wheat, and maize with some of the highest output per acre in the country. The region is also rich in ore deposits, with the reserves of numerous minerals ranked at or near the top in the country. However, the sustainability of irrigated agriculture and economic development in the region is threaten by severe eco-environmental problems resulting from both global changes and human activities, such as desertification, salinization, groundwater depletion, and dust storms. All these problems are a direct consequence of water scarcity. As global warming accelerates and rapid economic growth continues, the water shortage crisis is expected to worsen. To improve the bleak outlook for the health of ecosystem and environment in northwest China, the Chinese government has invested heavily in ecosystem restoration and watershed management in recent years. However, the effectiveness of such measures and actions depends on scientific understanding of the complex interplays among ecological, hydrological and socioeconomic factors. This presentation is intended to provide an overview of a major new research initiative supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China to study the integration of ecological principles, hydrological processes and socioeconomic considerations toward more sustainable exploitation of surface water and groundwater resources in the Hei River Basin in northwest China. The Hei River Basin is an inland watershed located at the center of the arid region in East Asia, stretching from Qilianshan Mountains in the south to the desert in the north bordering China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Mongolia. The total area of Hei River Basin is approximately 130,000 km2. The research initiative builds on existing research infrastructure and ecohydrological data and seeks to reveal complex

Hydroclimate-driven changes in the landscape structure of the terminal lakes and wetlands of the China's Heihe River Basin.

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Xiao, Shengchun; Xiao, Honglang; Peng, Xiaomei; Song, Xiang

2015-01-01

Changes in the landscape structure of terminal lakes and wetlands along inland rivers in arid areas are determined by the water balance in the river basins under the impacts of climate change and human activities. Studying the evolution of these landscapes and the mechanisms driving these changes is critical to the sustainable development of river basins. The terminal lakes and wetlands along the lower reaches of the Heihe River, an inland river in arid northwestern China, can be grouped into three types: runoff-recharged, groundwater-recharged, and precipitation-recharged. These water-recharge characteristics determine the degree to which the landscape structure of a terminal lake or wetland is impacted by climate change and human activities. An analysis of seven remote-sensing and hydroclimatic data sets for the Heihe River basin during the last 50 years indicates that hydrological changes in the basin caused by regional human activities were the primary drivers of the observed changes in the spatial and temporal landscape-structure patterns of the terminal lakes and wetlands of the Heihe River. In this warm, dry climatic context, the lakes and wetlands gradually evolved toward and maintained a landscape dominated by saline-alkaline lands and grasslands.

Sunshine Duration Variability in Haihe River Basin, China, during 1966–2015

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Jing Ren

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Sunshine can have a profound impact on the systematic change in climate elements, such as temperature and wind speed, and in turn affects many aspects of the human society. In recent years, there has been a substantial interest in the variation of sunshine duration due to the dramatic global climate change. Hence, there is a need to better understand the variation of sunshine duration in order to cope with climate change. This study aimed to analyze the variation of sunshine duration in Haihe River basin, China, and its relationship with temperature, wind speed and low-level cloudiness. The annual, seasonal and monthly changes of sunshine duration were analyzed based on the data collected from 33 meteorological stations over the Haihe River basin during 1966–2015. It is evident that the annual, seasonal and monthly sunshine duration shows a decreasing trend over time. In addition, the annual sunshine duration is lower with a higher climate tendency rate in the southern and eastern coastal regions than that in the northwestern regions. It is negatively correlated with temperature (r = −0.50 and low-level cloudiness (r = −0.29, but positively with wind speed (r = 0.61. Wind speed may be one of the important causes of the decrease of sunshine duration in the Haihe River basin during 1966–2015. These changes may have significant implications for the hydrological cycle in the area.

The Implication of Climate Signal for Precipitation in the Heihe River Basin, Northwest China

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Fei Wang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper studies the stochastic dynamic variability of precipitation, for the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Heihe River basin in Northwest China, by employing Mann-Kendall statistic, Pettitt test, and wavelet transform methods. The possible associations with three prominent climatic patterns, El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO, Artic Oscillation (AO, and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD, are examined by using multiscale wavelet coherence method. No significant trend is identified for the interannual precipitation variability. However, about 2-year significant variability is detected for the lower reach of the Heihe River basin, and this dominating precipitation variability is essentially depicted by AO. The possible influences of ENSO are exerted on long-term timescale, 8–16 years. The obtained knowledge is helpful for the predications of extreme hydroclimatological events and better reservoir operations for regional water resources.

Probability Modeling of Precipitation Extremes over Two River Basins in Northwest of China

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Zhanling Li

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper is focused on the probability modeling with a range of distribution models over two inland river basins in China, together with the estimations of return levels on various return periods. Both annual and seasonal maximum precipitations (MP are investigated based on daily precipitation data at 13 stations from 1960 to 2010 in Heihe River and Shiyang River basins. Results show that GEV, Burr, and Weibull distributions provide the best fit to both annual and seasonal MP. Exponential and Pareto 2 distributions show the worst fit. The estimated return levels for spring MP show decreasing trends from the upper to the middle and then to the lower reaches totally speaking. Summer MP approximates to annual MP both in the quantity and in the spatial distributions. Autumn MP shows a little higher value in the estimated return levels than Spring MP, while keeping consistent with spring MP in the spatial distribution. It is also found that the estimated return levels for annual MP derived from various distributions differ by 22%, 36%, and 53% on average at 20-year, 50-year, and 100-year return periods, respectively.

[Spatiotemporal variation characteristics and related affecting factors of actual evapotranspiration in the Hun-Taizi River Basin, Northeast China].

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Feng, Xue; Cai, Yan-Cong; Guan, De-Xin; Jin, Chang-Jie; Wang, An-Zhi; Wu, Jia-Bing; Yuan, Feng-Hui

2014-10-01

Based on the meteorological and hydrological data from 1970 to 2006, the advection-aridity (AA) model with calibrated parameters was used to calculate evapotranspiration in the Hun-Taizi River Basin in Northeast China. The original parameter of the AA model was tuned according to the water balance method and then four subbasins were selected to validate. Spatiotemporal variation characteristics of evapotranspiration and related affecting factors were analyzed using the methods of linear trend analysis, moving average, kriging interpolation and sensitivity analysis. The results showed that the empirical parameter value of 0.75 of AA model was suitable for the Hun-Taizi River Basin with an error of 11.4%. In the Hun-Taizi River Basin, the average annual actual evapotranspiration was 347.4 mm, which had a slightly upward trend with a rate of 1.58 mm · (10 a(-1)), but did not change significantly. It also indicated that the annual actual evapotranspiration presented a single-peaked pattern and its peak value occurred in July; the evapotranspiration in summer was higher than in spring and autumn, and it was the smallest in winter. The annual average evapotranspiration showed a decreasing trend from the northwest to the southeast in the Hun-Taizi River Basin from 1970 to 2006 with minor differences. Net radiation was largely responsible for the change of actual evapotranspiration in the Hun-Taizi River Basin.

More frequent flooding? Changes in flood frequency in the Pearl River basin, China, since 1951 and over the past 1000 years

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Zhang, Qiang; Gu, Xihui; Singh, Vijay P.; Shi, Peijun; Sun, Peng

2018-05-01

Flood risks across the Pearl River basin, China, were evaluated using a peak flood flow dataset covering a period of 1951-2014 from 78 stations and historical flood records of the past 1000 years. The generalized extreme value (GEV) model and the kernel estimation method were used to evaluate frequencies and risks of hazardous flood events. Results indicated that (1) no abrupt changes or significant trends could be detected in peak flood flow series at most of the stations, and only 16 out of 78 stations exhibited significant peak flood flow changes with change points around 1990. Peak flood flow in the West River basin increased and significant increasing trends were identified during 1981-2010; decreasing peak flood flow was found in coastal regions and significant trends were observed during 1951-2014 and 1966-2014. (2) The largest three flood events were found to cluster in both space and time. Generally, basin-scale flood hazards can be expected in the West and North River basins. (3) The occurrence rate of floods increased in the middle Pearl River basin but decreased in the lower Pearl River basin. However, hazardous flood events were observed in the middle and lower Pearl River basin, and this is particularly true for the past 100 years. However, precipitation extremes were subject to moderate variations and human activities, such as building of levees, channelization of river systems, and rapid urbanization; these were the factors behind the amplification of floods in the middle and lower Pearl River basin, posing serious challenges for developing measures of mitigation of flood hazards in the lower Pearl River basin, particularly the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region.

Public perception of an ecological rehabilitation project in inland river basins in northern China: Success or failure.

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Feng, Qi; Miao, Zheng; Li, Zongxing; Li, Jianguo; Si, Jianhua; S, Yonghong; Chang, Zongqiang

2015-05-01

The need for environmental protection challenges societies to deal with difficult problems because strategies designed by scientists to protect the environment often create negative effects on impoverished local residents. We investigated the effects of China's national and regional policies related to environmental protection and rehabilitation projects in inland river basins, by studying the effect of projects in the Heihe and Shiyang river basins, in northwest China. Interviews and surveys were conducted at 30 sites in the lower reaches of these two arid basins, an area that has experienced severe ecological degradation. The survey results show the ecological rehabilitation projects adversely affected the livelihoods of 70.35% of foresters, 64.89% of farmers and 62.24% of herders in the Minqing region in the lower Shiyang River Basin; also, the projects negatively affected 51.9% of residents in the Ejin Qi in the lower Heihe River Basin. This caused 16.33% of foresters, 39.90% of farmers and 45.32% of herders in the Minqing region to not support the project and 37.5% of residents in the Ejin Qi region said they will deforest and graze again after the project ends. The negative impacts of the policies connected to the projects cause these attitudes. The projects prohibit felling and grazing and require residents to give up groundwater mining; this results in a great amount of uncompensated economic loss to them. Extensive survey data document the concerns of local residents, concerns that are supported by the calculation of actual incomes. In addition, the surveys results show poorer interviewees believe the projects greatly affected their livelihoods. While citizens in this region support environment protection work, the poor require considerable assistance if one expects them to support this type of work. Governmental assistance can greatly improve their living conditions, and hence encourage them to participate in and support the implementation of the projects

Regime Shift Identification of Runoff and Sediment Loads in the Yellow River Basin, China

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Fei Wang

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Runoff and sediment loads have exhibited significant changes over the past six decades in the Yellow River Basin, China. The current study evaluates the changing trends and regime shifts in runoff and sediment loads at both the annual and monthly time scales. The associated spatial and temporal variations are analyzed by a sequential t-test analysis of the regime shifts (STARS approach and the “breaks for additive seasonal and trend” (BFAST model using hydrological data at eight stations from the 1950s to 2011. Both runoff and sediment loads exhibit significant declines (p < 0.05, except in the upper reaches of the river near the Tangnaihai station. The regime shifts detected by the STARS approach are not completely consistent with the results from the BFAST method. In most cases, the regime shifts occurred in 1969 and 1986, due to the construction of large reservoirs. Climate change and other human activities, such as large-scale soil and water conservation measures, can result in abrupt changes in hydrological series at some stations. The trapping effects of reservoirs not only cause regime shifts of runoff and sediment loads, but also adjust their inter-annual and seasonal distributions. Various soil and water conservation measures are responsible for the significant reduction in runoff and sediment loads in the mid-lower reaches of the Yellow River Basin. In addition, water withdrawals from both river runoff and ground water play a critical role in the changing trends in runoff and indirectly alter the sediment loads. The findings provide a good reference for the effective promotion of climate change adaptation, water resources planning and river basin management.

A comparison of integrated river basin management strategies: A global perspective

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Zhao, Chunhong; Wang, Pei; Zhang, Guanghong

In order to achieve the integrated river basin management in the arid and rapid developing region, the Heihe River Basin (HRB) in Northwestern China, one of critical river basins were selected as a representative example, while the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) in Australia and the Colorado River Basin (CRB) in the USA were selected for comparative analysis in this paper. Firstly, the comparable characters and hydrological contexts of these three watersheds were introduced in this paper. Then, based on comparative studies on the river basin challenges in terms of the drought, intensive irrigation, and rapid industrialization, the hydrological background of the MDB, the CRB and the HRB was presented. Subsequently, the river management strategies were compared in three aspects: water allocation, water organizations, and water act and scientific projects. Finally, we proposed recommendations for integrated river basin management for the HRB: (1) Water allocation strategies should be based on laws and markets on the whole basin; (2) Public participation should be stressed by the channels between governance organizations and local communities; (3) Scientific research should be integrated into river management to understand the interactions between the human and nature.

[Spatio-temporal variations of origin, distribution and diffusion of Oncomelania hupensis in Yangtze River Basin].

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Deng, Chen; Li-Yong, Wen

2017-10-24

As the only intermediate host of Schistosoma japonicum, Oncomelania hupensis in China is mainly distributed in the Yangtze River Basin. The origin of the O. hupensis and the spatio-temporal variations of its distribution and diffusion in the Yangtze River Basin and the influencing factors, as well as significances in schistosomiasis elimination in China are reviewed in this paper.

Multi-tracer investigation of river and groundwater interactions: a case study in Nalenggele River basin, northwest China

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Xu, Wei; Su, Xiaosi; Dai, Zhenxue; Yang, Fengtian; Zhu, Pucheng; Huang, Yong

2017-11-01

Environmental tracers (such as major ions, stable and radiogenic isotopes, and heat) monitored in natural waters provide valuable information for understanding the processes of river-groundwater interactions in arid areas. An integrated framework is presented for interpreting multi-tracer data (major ions, stable isotopes (2H, 18O), the radioactive isotope 222Rn, and heat) for delineating the river-groundwater interactions in Nalenggele River basin, northwest China. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were undertaken to estimate the bidirectional water exchange associated with small-scale interactions between groundwater and surface water. Along the river stretch, groundwater and river water exchange readily. From the high mountain zone to the alluvial fan, groundwater discharge to the river is detected by tracer methods and end-member mixing models, but the river has also been identified as a losing river using discharge measurements, i.e. discharge is bidirectional. On the delta-front of the alluvial fan and in the alluvial plain, in the downstream area, the characteristics of total dissolved solids values, 222Rn concentrations and δ18O values in the surface water, and patterns derived from a heat-tracing method, indicate that groundwater discharges into the river. With the environmental tracers, the processes of river-groundwater interaction have been identified in detail for better understanding of overall hydrogeological processes and of the impacts on water allocation policies.

Socio-hydrologic Perspectives of the Co-evolution of Humans and Water in the Tarim River Basin, Western China

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Liu, Ye; Tian, Fuqiang; Hu, Heping; Liu, Dengfeng; Sivapalan, Murugesu

2013-04-01

Socio-hydrology studies the co-evolution of coupled human-water systems, which is of great importance for long-term sustainable water resource management in basins suffering from serious eco-environmental degradation. Process socio-hydrology can benefit from the exploring the patterns of historical co-evolution of coupled human-water systems as a way to discovering the organizing principles that may underpin their co-evolution. As a self-organized entity, the human-water system in a river basin would evolve into certain steady states over a sufficiently long time but then could also experience sudden shifts due to internal or external disturbances that exceed system thresholds. In this study, we discuss three steady states (also called stages in the social sciences, including natural, human exploitation and recovery stages) and transitions between these during the past 1500 years in the Tarim River Basin of Western China, which a rich history of civilization including its place in the famous Silk Road that connected China to Europe. Specifically, during the natural stage with a sound environment that existed before the 19th century, shifts in the ecohydrological regime were mainly caused by environmental changes such river channel migration and climate change. During the human exploitation stages in the 5th and again in the 19th-20th centuries, however, humans gradually became the main drivers for system evolution, during which the basin experienced rapid population growth, fast socio-economic development and intense human activities. By the 1970s, after 200 years of colonization, the Tarim River Basin evolved into a new regime with vulnerable ecosystem and water system, and suffered from serious water shortages and desertification. Human society then began to take a critical look into the effects of their activities and reappraise the impact of human development on the ecohydrological system, which eventually led the basin into a treatment and recovery stage

Comparative Research on River Basin Management in the Sagami River Basin (Japan and the Muda River Basin (Malaysia

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Lay Mei Sim

2018-05-01

Full Text Available In the world, river basins often interwoven into two or more states or prefectures and because of that, disputes over water are common. Nevertheless, not all shared river basins are associated with water conflicts. Rivers in Japan and Malaysia play a significant role in regional economic development. They also play a significant role as water sources for industrial, domestic, agricultural, aquaculture, hydroelectric power generation, and the environment. The research aim is to determine the similarities and differences between the Sagami and Muda River Basins in order to have a better understanding of the governance needed for effectively implementing the lessons drawn from the Sagami River Basin for improving the management of the Muda River Basin in Malaysia. This research adopts qualitative and quantitative approaches. Semi-structured interviews were held with the key stakeholders from both basins and show that Japan has endeavored to present policy efforts to accommodate the innovative approaches in the management of their water resources, including the establishment of a river basin council. In Malaysia, there is little or no stakeholder involvement in the Muda River Basin, and the water resource management is not holistic and is not integrated as it should be. Besides that, there is little or no Integrated Resources Water Management, a pre-requisite for sustainable water resources. The results from this comparative study concluded that full support and participation from public stakeholders (meaning the non-government and non-private sector stakeholders is vital for achieving sustainable water use in the Muda River Basin. Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM approaches such as the introduction of payments for ecosystems services and the development of river basin organization in the Muda River Basin should take place in the spirit of political willingness.

Assessment of gamma radiation levels and natural radioactivity in soils along a subtropical river basin, China

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Huang, Dekun; Yu, Tao [Third Institute of Oceanography, Xiamen (China). Lab. of Marine Isotopic Technology and Environmental Risk Assessment

2017-07-01

The activities of natural radionuclides in the environment can be used to assess radiological effects. Monitoring the radiation level in soils is important for public health. It also has important geochemical implications as most of the sediment eroded from river basins is from soil. Therefore, we carried out a soil sampling campaign along a subtropical river basin in southeastern China (Jiulong River). Surface and depth profile soils were collected, and the natural radionuclide activities were measured. The activities of the natural radionuclides {sup 238}U, {sup 232}Th, and {sup 40}K in the surface soils varied from 31.6 to 132.1 Bq kg-dry{sup -1}, 37.8 to 174.0 Bq kg-dry{sup -1}, and 52.3 to 596.2 Bq kg-dry{sup -1}, with average values of 56.7±30.3 Bq kg-dry{sup -1}, 86.7±41.3 Bq kg-dry{sup -1}, and 352.8±190.6 Bq kg-dry{sup -1}, respectively. The absorbed gamma dose in air and the annual effective dose equivalent (AEDE) in surface soils along the river basin were both higher than the world average. In the depth profiles, excess {sup 210}Pb ({sup 210}Pbex) decreased with depth and significant correlation between {sup 210}Pbex and TOC was observed, suggesting that they are affected by similar processes (leaching and sorption).

Potential relationships between the river discharge and the precipitation in the Jinsha River basin, China

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Wang, Gaoxu; Zeng, Xiaofan; Zhao, Na; He, Qifang; Bai, Yiran; Zhang, Ruoyu

2018-02-01

The relationships between the river discharge and the precipitation in the Jinsha River basin are discussed in this study. In addition, the future precipitation trend from 2011-2050 and its potential influence on the river discharge are analysed by applying the CCLM-modelled precipitation. According to the observed river discharge and precipitation, the annual river discharge at the two main hydrological stations displays good correlations with the annual precipitation in the Jinsha River basin. The predicted future precipitation tends to change similarly as the change that occurred during the observation period, whereas the monthly distributions over a year could be more uneven, which is unfavourable for water resources management.

Spatiotemporal Distribution of Droughts in the Xijiang River Basin, China and Its Responses to Global Climatic Events

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Jizhong Qiu

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The Xijiang River is a main branch of the Pearl River, the largest river in South China. Droughts in this area have seriously influenced local water resource utilization, and socio-economic development. The spatiotemporal distribution of droughts and its responses to global climatic events are of critical significance for the assessment and early warning of drought disasters. In this paper, the spatiotemporal patterns of droughts characterized by Rotated Empirical Orthogonal Function/Rotated Principal Components (REOF/RPC in the Xijiang River Basin, China were evaluated using the Self-calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index (Sc-PDSI. The drought responses to El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO, Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO, India Ocean Dipole (IOD, and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO were analysed by Pearson correlation and multiple stepwise regression. The results showed that one year earlier NAO was the dominant factor impacting the droughts in the Xijiang Basin. Its contribution for the RPC2s of the annual, the first and second half years, winter, summer, autumn, and February were −0.556, −0.419, 0.597, −0.447, 0.542, 0.600, and −0.327, respectively. Besides the two adjacent Pacific and India oceans, the droughts seem be influenced by distant Atlantic climatic events. These results offer new reference insights into the early warning of droughts as well as the planning and management of water resources in the study area.

WRF model for precipitation simulation and its application in real-time flood forecasting in the Jinshajiang River Basin, China

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Zhou, Jianzhong; Zhang, Hairong; Zhang, Jianyun; Zeng, Xiaofan; Ye, Lei; Liu, Yi; Tayyab, Muhammad; Chen, Yufan

2017-07-01

An accurate flood forecasting with long lead time can be of great value for flood prevention and utilization. This paper develops a one-way coupled hydro-meteorological modeling system consisting of the mesoscale numerical weather model Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and the Chinese Xinanjiang hydrological model to extend flood forecasting lead time in the Jinshajiang River Basin, which is the largest hydropower base in China. Focusing on four typical precipitation events includes: first, the combinations and mode structures of parameterization schemes of WRF suitable for simulating precipitation in the Jinshajiang River Basin were investigated. Then, the Xinanjiang model was established after calibration and validation to make up the hydro-meteorological system. It was found that the selection of the cloud microphysics scheme and boundary layer scheme has a great impact on precipitation simulation, and only a proper combination of the two schemes could yield accurate simulation effects in the Jinshajiang River Basin and the hydro-meteorological system can provide instructive flood forecasts with long lead time. On the whole, the one-way coupled hydro-meteorological model could be used for precipitation simulation and flood prediction in the Jinshajiang River Basin because of its relatively high precision and long lead time.

Modeling of soil erosion and sediment transport in the East River Basin in southern China

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Wu, Yping; Chen, Ji

2012-01-01

Soil erosion is a major global environmental problem that has caused many issues involving land degradation, sedimentation of waterways, ecological degradation, and nonpoint source pollution. Therefore, it is significant to understand the processes of soil erosion and sediment transport along rivers, and this can help identify the erosion prone areas and find potential measures to alleviate the environmental effects. In this study, we investigated soil erosion and identified the most seriously eroded areas in the East River Basin in southern China using a physically-based model, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). We also introduced a classical sediment transport method (Zhang) into SWAT and compared it with the built-in Bagnold method in simulating sediment transport process along the river. The derived spatial soil erosion map and land use based erosion levels can explicitly illustrate the identification and prioritization of the critical soil erosion areas in this basin. Our results also indicate that erosion is quite sensitive to soil properties and slope. Comparison of Bagnold and Zhang methods shows that the latter can give an overall better performance especially in tracking the peak and low sediment concentrations along the river. We also found that the East River is mainly characterized by sediment deposition in most of the segments and at most times of a year. Overall, the results presented in this paper can provide decision support for watershed managers about where the best management practices (conservation measures) can be implemented effectively and at low cost. The methods we used in this study can also be of interest in sediment modeling for other basins worldwide.

Modeling of soil erosion and sediment transport in the East River Basin in southern China.

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Wu, Yiping; Chen, Ji

2012-12-15

Soil erosion is a major global environmental problem that has caused many issues involving land degradation, sedimentation of waterways, ecological degradation, and nonpoint source pollution. Therefore, it is significant to understand the processes of soil erosion and sediment transport along rivers, and this can help identify the erosion prone areas and find potential measures to alleviate the environmental effects. In this study, we investigated soil erosion and identified the most seriously eroded areas in the East River Basin in southern China using a physically-based model, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). We also introduced a classical sediment transport method (Zhang) into SWAT and compared it with the built-in Bagnold method in simulating sediment transport process along the river. The derived spatial soil erosion map and land use based erosion levels can explicitly illustrate the identification and prioritization of the critical soil erosion areas in this basin. Our results also indicate that erosion is quite sensitive to soil properties and slope. Comparison of Bagnold and Zhang methods shows that the latter can give an overall better performance especially in tracking the peak and low sediment concentrations along the river. We also found that the East River is mainly characterized by sediment deposition in most of the segments and at most times of a year. Overall, the results presented in this paper can provide decision support for watershed managers about where the best management practices (conservation measures) can be implemented effectively and at low cost. The methods we used in this study can also be of interest in sediment modeling for other basins worldwide. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Hydrological impacts of precipitation extremes in the Huaihe River Basin, China.

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Yang, Mangen; Chen, Xing; Cheng, Chad Shouquan

2016-01-01

Precipitation extremes play a key role in flooding risks over the Huaihe River Basin, which is important to understand their hydrological impacts. Based on observed daily precipitation and streamflow data from 1958 to 2009, eight precipitation indices and three streamflow indices were calculated for the study of hydrological impacts of precipitation extremes. The results indicate that the wet condition intensified in the summer wet season and the drought condition was getting worse in the autumn dry season in the later years of the past 50 years. The river basin had experienced higher heavy rainfall-related flooding risks in summer and more severe drought in autumn in the later of the period. The extreme precipitation events or consecutive heavy rain day events led to the substantial increases in streamflow extremes, which are the main causes of frequent floods in the Huaihe River Basin. The large inter-annual variation of precipitation anomalies in the upper and central Huaihe River Basin are the major contributor for the regional frequent floods and droughts.

How to allocate water resources under climate change in the arid endorheic river basin, Northwest China

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Zhang, A.; Feng, D.; Tian, Y.; Zheng, Y.

2017-12-01

Water resource is of fundamental importance to the society and ecosystem in arid endorheic river basins, and water-use conflicts between upstream and downstream are usually significant. Heihe river basin (HRB) is the second largest endorheic river basin in china, which is featured with dry climate, intensively irrigated farmlands in oases and significant surface water-groundwater interaction. The irrigation districts in the middle HRB consume a large portion of the river flow, and the low HRB, mainly Gobi Desert, has an extremely vulnerable ecological environment. The water resources management has significantly altered the hydrological processes in HRB, and is now facing multiple challenges, including decline of groundwater table in the middle HRB, insufficient environmental flow for the lower HRB. Furthermore, future climate change adds substantial uncertainty to the water system. Thus, it is imperative to have a sustainable water resources management in HRB in order to tackle the existing challenges and future uncertainty. Climate projection form a dynamical downscaled climate change scenario shows precipitation will increase at a rate of approximately 3 millimeter per ten years and temperature will increase at a rate of approximately 0.2 centigrade degree per ten years in the following 50 years in the HRB. Based on an integrated ecohydrological model, we evaluated how the climate change and agricultural development would collaboratively impact the water resources and ecological health in the middle and lower HRB, and investigated how the water management should cope with the complex impact.

Water Quality Evaluation of the Yellow River Basin Based on Gray Clustering Method

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Fu, X. Q.; Zou, Z. H.

2018-03-01

Evaluating the water quality of 12 monitoring sections in the Yellow River Basin comprehensively by grey clustering method based on the water quality monitoring data from the Ministry of environmental protection of China in May 2016 and the environmental quality standard of surface water. The results can reflect the water quality of the Yellow River Basin objectively. Furthermore, the evaluation results are basically the same when compared with the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. The results also show that the overall water quality of the Yellow River Basin is good and coincident with the actual situation of the Yellow River basin. Overall, gray clustering method for water quality evaluation is reasonable and feasible and it is also convenient to calculate.

Preliminary results of water quality assessment using phytoplankton and physicochemical approaches in the Huai River Basin, China.

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Chen, Hao; Zuo, Qi-Ting; Zhang, Yong-Yong

2017-11-01

Water pollution has been a significant issue in the Huai River Basin (HRB) of China since the late 1970s. In July and December 2013, two field investigations were carried out at 10 sites along the main streams of the basin. The monitoring indices contained both physicochemical variables and the structure and composition of phytoplankton communities. The correlations between communities and physicochemical variables were analyzed using cluster analysis and redundancy analysis. Moreover, water quality was evaluated using the comprehensive nutrition state index (TLI) and Shannon-Wiener diversity index (H). Results indicated that more phytoplankton species were present in December than in July, but total density was less in December. Phytoplankton communities in the midstream of the Shaying River were affected by the same physicochemical factors throughout the year, but ammonia nitrogen and total phosphorus had the greatest influence on these sites in July and December, respectively. The water pollution status of the sampling sites was much greater in the Shaying River midstream than at other sites. TLI was more suitable than H for assessing water quality in the study area. These results provide valuable information for policy makers and stakeholders in water quality assessment, water ecosystem restoration, and sustainable basin management in the HRB.

Documented changes in annual runoff and attribution since the 1950s within selected rivers in China

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Lü-Liu Liu

2017-03-01

Full Text Available To enable local water resource management and maintenance of ecosystem integrity and to protect and mitigate against flood and drought, it is necessary to determine changes in long-term series of streamflow and to distinguish the roles that climate change and human disturbance play in these changes. A review of previous research on the detection and attribution of observed changes in annual runoff in China shows a decrease in annual runoff since the 1950s in northern China in areas such as the Songhuajiang River water resources zone, the Liaohe River water resources zone, the Haihe River water resources zone, the Yellow River water resources zone, and the Huaihe River water resources Zone. Furthermore, abrupt changes in annual runoff occurred mostly in the 1970s and 1980s in all the above zones, except for some of the sub-basins in the middle Yellow River where abrupt change occurred in the 1990s. Changes in annual runoff are found to be mainly caused by climate change in the western Songhuajiang River basin, the upper mainstream of the Yangtze River, and the western Pearl River basin, which shows that studies on the impact of climate change on future water resources under different climate change scenarios are required to enable planning and management by agencies in these river basins. However, changes in annual runoff were found to be mainly caused by human activities in most of the catchments in northern China (such as the southern Songhuajiang River, Liaohe River, Haihe River, the lower reach and some of the catchments within the middle Yellow River basin and in middle-eastern China, such as the Huaihe River and lower mainstream of the Yangtze River. This suggests that current hydro-climatic data can continue to be used in water-use planning and that policymakers need to focus on water resource management and protection.

Water-ecosystem-economy nexus under human intervention and climate change: a study in the Heihe River Basin (China)

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Zheng, Y.; Tian, Y.; Wu, X.; Feng, D.

2017-12-01

Recently, "One Belt and One Road" initiative, namely, building the "Silk Road Economic Belt" and "21st Century Maritime Silk Road", has become a global strategy of China and has been discussed as China's "Marshall Plan". The overland route of "One Belt" comes across vast arid lands, where the local population and ecosystem compete keenly for limited water resources. Water and environmental securities represent an important constraint of the "One Belt" development, and therefore understanding the complex water-ecosystem-economy nexus in the arid inland areas is very important. One typical case is Heihe River Basin (HRB), the second largest inland river basin of China, where the croplands in its middle part sucked up the river flow and groundwater, causing serious ecological problems in its lower part (Gobi Desert). We have developed an integrated hydrological-ecological model for the middle and lower HRB (the modeling domain has an area of 90,589 km2), which served as a platform to fuse multi-source data and provided a coherent understanding on the regional water cycle. With this physically based model, we quantitatively investigated how the nexus would be impacted by human intervention, mainly the existing and potential water regulations, and what would be the uncertainty of the nexus under the climate change. In studying the impact of human intervention, simulation-optimization analyses based on surrogate modeling were performed. In studying the uncertainty resulted from the climate change, outputs of multiple GCMs were downscaled for this river basin to drive ecohydrological simulations. Our studies have demonstrated the significant tradeoffs among the crop production in the middle HRB, the water and environmental securities of the middle HRB, and the ecological health of the lower HRB. The underlying mechanisms of the tradeoffs were also systematically addressed. The climate change would cause notable uncertainty of the nexus, which makes the water resources

Climate and Hydrological Change Characteristics and Applicability of GLDAS Data in the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin, China

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Hong Zhang

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The hydrological cycle is particularly sensitive to and is greatly affected by global climate change. In addition, runoff change has a strong influence on the hydrological cycle and migration of biogenic substances. The Yarlung Zangbo River basin in China is a typical basin for which climate and hydrological data are lacking. Land surface models can provide data for studying land surface substance and energy circulation, which are meaningful to face climate change. The midstream region of the Yarlung Zangbo River basin, which is strongly affected by climate change, was selected as the study area. First, the observed mean temperature, precipitation and runoff characteristics were analysed. Second, after combining the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS and the water balance equation, we simulated climate and hydrological processes for the same time period. Finally, the correlation and error between GLDAS and observed data were analysed to verify applicability of the GLDAS data, and the impacts of climate factors on runoff were discussed. The results revealed that under the background of global warming, precipitation, temperature, and runoff changed significantly and showed strong consistency during the research period. Mean monthly precipitation, temperature and runoff exhibited clear cyclical fluctuations of approximately 12 months, and they all tended to increase. GLDAS is not a good system to describe the land surface conditions of the Yarlung Zangbo River basin all the time. However, within a certain time period, GLDAS data have a good applicability in the basin. Thereinto, the GLDAS mean monthly precipitation was moderately correlated with observed precipitation, with a correlation coefficient of 0.75. GLDAS mean monthly temperature was highly correlated with observed data, with a correlation coefficient of 0.94. Based on the Brunke ranking method, it indicates that GLDAS-Noah-based runoff data were closer to observed runoff data

Human activities and its Responses to Glacier Melt Water Over Tarim River Basin

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He, Hai; Zhou, Shenbei; Bai, Minghao

2017-04-01

Tarim River Basin lies in the south area of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the north-west area of China. It is the longest inland river of China. Being far away from ocean and embraced by high mountains, Tarim River Basin is the typical arid region in the world. The intensity of human activities increased rapidly in Tarim River Basin since 1980's and water resources lacking is the major issue restricting the development of social economy. The glacier melt water plays an important role for the regional social and economic development, and it accounts for 40% of mountain-pass runoff. It is a fragile mutual-dependent relationship between local sustainable development and runoff. Under the background of global change glacier melt water process has also changed especially in the arid and semi-arid region. Due to climate change, glacier in Tarim River Basin has melted in an observed way since 1980s, together with increasing trend of annual rainfall and virgin flow in mountain basins. Correspondingly, human activity gets more frequent since 1970s, resulting into the obvious fragile mutual-dependent relationship between basin runoff and water use amount. Through an analysis of meteorological, hydrological and geographical observation data from 1985 to 2015, this thesis make a multi-factor variance analysis of population, cultivation area, industrial development and runoff in upstream and mid-stream of Tarim River under changing conditions. Furthermore, the regulation function of natural factors and water demand management factors on relationship between runoff and water using amount are discussed, including temperature, rainfall, and evaporation, water conservation technology and soil-water exploitation administrative institutions. It concludes that: first, increase in glacier runoff, rainfall amount, and virgin flow haven't notably relieved ecological issue in Tarim River Basin, and even has promoted water use behaviour in different flowing areas and noticeably reduced

River basin administration

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Management of international rivers and their basins is the focus of the Centre for Comparative Studies on (International) River Basin Administration, recently established at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Water pollution, sludge, and conflicting interests in the use of water in upstream and downstream parts of a river basin will be addressed by studying groundwater and consumption of water in the whole catchment area of a river.Important aspects of river management are administrative and policy aspects. The Centre will focus on policy, law, planning, and organization, including transboundary cooperation, posing standards, integrated environmental planning on regional scale and environmental impact assessments.

Spatial and temporal stability of temperature in the first-level basins of China during 1951-2013

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Cheng, Yuting; Li, Peng; Xu, Guoce; Li, Zhanbin; Cheng, Shengdong; Wang, Bin; Zhao, Binhua

2018-05-01

In recent years, global warming has attracted great attention around the world. Temperature change is not only involved in global climate change but also closely linked to economic development, the ecological environment, and agricultural production. In this study, based on temperature data recorded by 756 meteorological stations in China during 1951-2013, the spatial and temporal stability characteristics of annual temperature in China and its first-level basins were investigated using the rank correlation coefficient method, the relative difference method, rescaled range (R/S) analysis, and wavelet transforms. The results showed that during 1951-2013, the spatial variation of annual temperature belonged to moderate variability in the national level. Among the first-level basins, the largest variation coefficient was 114% in the Songhuajiang basin and the smallest variation coefficient was 10% in the Huaihe basin. During 1951-2013, the spatial distribution pattern of annual temperature presented extremely strong spatial and temporal stability characteristics in the national level. The variation range of Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was 0.97-0.99, and the spatial distribution pattern of annual temperature showed an increasing trend. In the national level, the Liaohe basin, the rivers in the southwestern region, the Haihe basin, the Yellow River basin, the Yangtze River basin, the Huaihe basin, the rivers in the southeastern region, and the Pearl River basin all had representative meteorological stations for annual temperature. In the Songhuajiang basin and the rivers in the northwestern region, there was no representative meteorological station. R/S analysis, the Mann-Kendall test, and the Morlet wavelet analysis of annual temperature showed that the best representative meteorological station could reflect the variation trend and the main periodic changes of annual temperature in the region. Therefore, strong temporal stability characteristics exist for

Glacial lakes in the Horgos river basin and their outbreak risk assessment

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A. P. Medeu

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The river Khorgos (in Kazakhstan – Korgas is a boundary river between Kazakhstan and China. Its basin is located in the central part of southern slope of Dzhungarskiy (Zhetysu Alatau range. According to agreement between Kazakhstan and China at the boundary transition of Khorgos in the floodplain of the river Khorgos the large Center of Frontier Cooperation is erected. Estimation of safety of the mentioned object including connection with possible glacial lakes outbursts has the importance of political-economical value. Nowadays development of glacial lakes in the overhead part of Khorgos river basin has reached apogee. As a roof we can mention the maximum of total glacial lakes area (1,7 million m² in 41 lakes and emptied kettles of former glacial lakes. Six lakes reached highly dangerous outburst stage: the volume of lakes reached some million m³, maximum depth up to 30–40 m. Focal ground filtration of the water from lakes takes place. Development of glacial lakes in Khorgos river basin will continue, and these lakes give and will give real danger for the Center of Frontier Cooperation in case of outburst of naturally dammed lake Kazankol with the similar mechanism of Issyk lake outburst, occurred in 1963 in ZailijskiyAlatau (Ile Alatau.

Hydrological and pollution processes in mining area of Fenhe River Basin in China.

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Yang, Yonggang; Meng, Zhilong; Jiao, Wentao

2018-03-01

The hydrological and pollution processes are an important science problem for aquatic ecosystem. In this study, the samples of river water, reservoir water, shallow groundwater, deep groundwater, and precipitation in mining area are collected and analyzed. δD and δ 18 O are used to identify hydrological process. δ 15 N-NO 3 - and δ 18 O-NO 3 - are used to identify the sources and pollution process of NO 3 - . The results show that the various water bodies in Fenhe River Basin are slightly alkaline water. The ions in the water mainly come from rock weathering. The concentration of SO 4 2- is high due to the impact of coal mining activity. Deep groundwater is significantly less affected by evaporation and human activity, which is recharged by archaic groundwater. There are recharge and discharge between reservoir water, river water, soil water, and shallow groundwater. NO 3 - is the main N species in the study area, and forty-six percent of NO 3 - -N concentrations exceed the drinking water standard of China (NO 3 - -N ≤ 10 mg/L content). Nitrification is the main forming process of NO 3 - . Denitrification is also found in river water of some river branches. The sources of NO 3 - are mainly controlled by land use type along the riverbank. NO 3 - of river water in the upper reaches are come from nitrogen in precipitation and soil organic N. River water in the lower reaches is polluted by a mixture of soil organic N and fertilizers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hotspots within the Transboundary Selenga River Basin

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Kasimov, Nikolay; Lychagin, Mikhail; Chalov, Sergey

2013-04-01

Gathering the efficient information on water pollution of transboundary river systems remains the crucial task in international water management, environmental pollution control and prevention health problems. Countries, located in the low parts of the river basins, depend on the water strategy and water use in the adjacent countries, located upstream. Surface water pollution is considered to be the most serious problem, facing the above-mentioned countries. Large efforts in terms of field measurement campaigns and (numerical) transport modeling are then typically needed for relevant pollution prediction and prevention. Russian rivers take inflow from 8 neighboring countries. Among them there are 2 developing economies - People Republic of China and Mongolia, which are located in water-scarce areas and thus solve their water-related problems through the consumption of international water. Negative change of water runoff and water quality in the foreign part of transboundary river is appeared inside Russian territory with more or less delay. The transboundary river system of Selenga is particularly challenging, being the biggest tributary of Lake Baikal which is the largest freshwater reservoir in the world. Selenga River contributes about 50 % of the total inflow into Baikal. It originates in the mountainous part of Mongolia and then drains into Russia. There are numerous industries and agricultural activities within the Selenga drainage basin that affect the water quality of the river system. Absence of the single monitoring system and predictive tools for pollutants transport in river system requires large efforts in understanding sources of water pollution and implemented data on the relevant numerical systems for the pollution prediction and prevention. Special investigations in the Selenga river basin (Mongolia and Russia) were done to assess hot spots and understand state-of-the art in sediment load, water chemistry and hydrobiology of transboundary systems

Effects of land-use patterns on in-stream nitrogen in a highly-polluted river basin in Northeast China

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Bu, Hongmei; Zhang, Yuan; Meng, Wei; Song, Xianfang

2016-01-01

This study investigated the effects of land-use patterns on nitrogen pollution in the Haicheng River basin in Northeast China during 2010 by conducting statistical and spatial analyses and by analyzing the isotopic composition of nitrate. Correlation and stepwise regressions indicated that land-use types and landscape metrics were correlated well with most river nitrogen variables and significantly predicted them during different sampling seasons. Built-up land use and shape metrics dominated in predicting nitrogen variables over seasons. According to the isotopic compositions of river nitrate in different zones, the nitrogen sources of the river principally originated from synthetic fertilizer, domestic sewage/manure, soil organic matter, and atmospheric deposition. Isotope mixing models indicated that source contributions of river nitrogen significantly varied from forested headwaters to densely populated towns of the river basin. Domestic sewage/manure was a major contributor to river nitrogen with the proportions of 76.4 ± 6.0% and 62.8 ± 2.1% in residence and farmland-residence zones, respectively. This research suggested that regulating built-up land uses and reducing discharges of domestic sewage and industrial wastewater would be effective methods for river nitrogen control. - Highlights: • Land-use types were correlated well with most nitrogen variables over seasons. • Built-up land dominated in predicting nitrogen variables during different seasons. • Shape metrics predicted most nitrogen variables in different seasons. • Nitrogen sources and their contributions were estimated using nitrate isotopes. • Domestic sewage mainly contributed to river nitrogen pollution in residence zone.

Effects of land-use patterns on in-stream nitrogen in a highly-polluted river basin in Northeast China

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Bu, Hongmei, E-mail: buhm2004@163.com [Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101 (China); Zhang, Yuan; Meng, Wei [State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012 (China); Song, Xianfang [Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101 (China)

2016-05-15

This study investigated the effects of land-use patterns on nitrogen pollution in the Haicheng River basin in Northeast China during 2010 by conducting statistical and spatial analyses and by analyzing the isotopic composition of nitrate. Correlation and stepwise regressions indicated that land-use types and landscape metrics were correlated well with most river nitrogen variables and significantly predicted them during different sampling seasons. Built-up land use and shape metrics dominated in predicting nitrogen variables over seasons. According to the isotopic compositions of river nitrate in different zones, the nitrogen sources of the river principally originated from synthetic fertilizer, domestic sewage/manure, soil organic matter, and atmospheric deposition. Isotope mixing models indicated that source contributions of river nitrogen significantly varied from forested headwaters to densely populated towns of the river basin. Domestic sewage/manure was a major contributor to river nitrogen with the proportions of 76.4 ± 6.0% and 62.8 ± 2.1% in residence and farmland-residence zones, respectively. This research suggested that regulating built-up land uses and reducing discharges of domestic sewage and industrial wastewater would be effective methods for river nitrogen control. - Highlights: • Land-use types were correlated well with most nitrogen variables over seasons. • Built-up land dominated in predicting nitrogen variables during different seasons. • Shape metrics predicted most nitrogen variables in different seasons. • Nitrogen sources and their contributions were estimated using nitrate isotopes. • Domestic sewage mainly contributed to river nitrogen pollution in residence zone.

Assessing the influence of climate change and inter-basin water diversion on Haihe River basin, eastern China: a coupled model approach

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Xia, Jun; Wang, Qiang; Zhang, Xiang; Wang, Rui; She, Dunxian

2018-04-01

The modeling of changes in surface water and groundwater in the areas of inter-basin water diversion projects is quite difficult because surface water and groundwater models are run separately most of the time and the lack of sufficient data limits the application of complex surface-water/groundwater coupling models based on physical laws, especially for developing countries. In this study, a distributed surface-water and groundwater coupling model, named the distributed time variant gain model-groundwater model (DTVGM-GWM), was used to assess the influence of climate change and inter-basin water diversion on a watershed hydrological cycle. The DTVGM-GWM model can reflect the interaction processes of surface water and groundwater at basin scale. The model was applied to the Haihe River Basin (HRB) in eastern China. The possible influences of climate change and the South-to-North Water Diversion Project (SNWDP) on surface water and groundwater in the HRB were analyzed under various scenarios. The results showed that the newly constructed model DTVGM-GWM can reasonably simulate the surface and river runoff, and describe the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of groundwater level, groundwater storage and phreatic recharge. The prediction results under different scenarios showed a decline in annual groundwater exploitation and also runoff in the HRB, while an increase of groundwater storage and groundwater level after the SNWDP's operation. Additionally, as the project also addresses future scenarios, a slight increase is predicted in the actual evapotranspiration, soil water content and phreatic recharge. This study provides valuable insights for developing sustainable groundwater management options for the HRB.

Detecting runoff variation in Weihe River basin, China

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Jingjing, F.; Qiang, H.; Shen, C.; Aijun, G.

2015-05-01

Dramatic changes in hydrological factors in the Weihe River basin are analysed. These changes have exacerbated ecological problems and caused severe water shortages for agriculture, industries and the human population in the region, but their drivers are uncertain. The Mann-Kendall test, accumulated departure analysis, sequential clustering and the sliding t-test methods were used to identify the causes of changes in precipitation and runoff in the Weihe basin. Change-points were identified in the precipitation and runoff records for all sub-catchments. For runoff, the change in trend was most pronounced during the 1990s, whereas changes in precipitation were more prominent earlier. The results indicate that human activities have had a greater impact than climate change on the hydrology of the Weihe basin. These findings have significant implications for the establishment of effective strategies to counter adverse effects of hydrological changes in the catchment.

Detecting runoff variation in Weihe River basin, China

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F. Jingjing

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Dramatic changes in hydrological factors in the Weihe River basin are analysed. These changes have exacerbated ecological problems and caused severe water shortages for agriculture, industries and the human population in the region, but their drivers are uncertain. The Mann-Kendall test, accumulated departure analysis, sequential clustering and the sliding t-test methods were used to identify the causes of changes in precipitation and runoff in the Weihe basin. Change-points were identified in the precipitation and runoff records for all sub-catchments. For runoff, the change in trend was most pronounced during the 1990s, whereas changes in precipitation were more prominent earlier. The results indicate that human activities have had a greater impact than climate change on the hydrology of the Weihe basin. These findings have significant implications for the establishment of effective strategies to counter adverse effects of hydrological changes in the catchment.

Low Flow Regimes of the Tarim River Basin, China: Probabilistic Behavior, Causes and Implications

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Peng Sun

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Droughts are a frequent occurrence in Xinjiang, China, and therefore fundamental to determining their hydrologic characteristics is low flow analysis. To that end, 11 probability distribution functions and 26 copulas functions were employed to analyze the changing characteristics of low flow regime (defined as seven-day low flow of the Tarim River Basin. Results indicated that: (1 The Wakeby distribution satisfactorily described the probabilistic behavior of the low flow regime. According to Akaike Information Criterion (AIC, Bayesian Information Criterions (BIC, maximum likelihood, and other residual-based metrics, Tawn copula, Farlie–Gumbel–Morgenstern copula and Frank copula were the best choice and used in this current study. (2 After 1987, hydrological droughts of longer return periods were prone to higher occurrence frequency. (3 The low flow volume has been increasing in recent years due to the temperature-induced increase of snowmelt and increasing precipitation. However, hydrological droughts can be expected to occur due to the massive increase in water demand from the development of irrigated agriculture, increasing arable land and livestock farming. As a result, the water shortage in the lower Tarim River Basin will be increasingly severe under the influence of climate change and human activities. To alleviate the shortage would call for the development of water-saving agricultural irrigation, water-saving technology, conservation of eco-environment and sustainable development of local socio-economy.

LAND USE CHANGES IN THE TRANS-BOUNDARY AMUR RIVER BASIN IN THE 20TH CENTURY

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Victor Ermoshin

2013-01-01

Full Text Available All distinctions in the economic and nature protection policy of the neighboring states are well reflected and shown within trans-boundary river basins. The parts of trans-boundary geosystem of one country can experience an essential negative influence from rash decisions in the field of nature use and nature protection policy of the neighboring state. The Amur River Basin covers the territories of Russia, the Peoples Republic of China, Mongolia and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and occupies more than 2 million km2. The most intensive development of the basin territory has started since the middle of the 19th century. We compiled two maps of land use in the Amur River basin in the 1930–1940s and in the early 21st century. Results showed that, negative dynamics is marked for forest lands, meadows, wetlands and mountain tundra. The basic features in the change of land use within national parts of the basin in Russia, China and Mongolia are analyzed. The comparative analysis of land use peculiarities of the countries for the last 70 years has been done.

Planning the development of the Mekong river basin

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chomchai, P [Mekong Secretariat, Bangkok (Thailand)

1992-10-01

In planning to develop the vast potential of the Mekong river in Southeast Asia, a number of institutional aspects need to be addressed, and the sometimes diverging interests of the riparian countries need to be carefully balanced. The Mekong river is an extremely valuable natural resource: its potential for irrigation, hydropower, navigation, fisheries and related development is more than adequate to raise significantly the standards of living of the people of the lower Mekong basin and in the riparian countries outside the river's catchment area. The Mekong's catchment area of 795 000 km[sup 2] encompasses parts of China and Myanmar, the whole of Laos and Cambodia, one third of Thailand and one fifth of Viet Nam. The population of the Mekong basin is around 100 million, about half of whom live in the lower basin. It could be said that these impoverished inhabitants of the basin depend significantly on the Mekong for an improvement in their livelihood, and this places a heavy responsibility on those involved in developing its water resources. The Mekong Committee, since its establishment in 1957 and in its present interim status since 1977, is dedicated to the co-ordinated development of the basin's resources, on the basis of reasonable and equitable sharing between the riparian states as stated in the Committee's declaration of principles. With the establishment of the Mekon Committee, serious efforts have been made aimed at rational management of water resources use. (author).

Linear and nonlinear characteristics of the runoff response to regional climate factors in the Qira River basin, Xinjiang, Northwest China.

Science.gov (United States)

Xue, Jie; Gui, Dongwei

2015-01-01

The inland river watersheds of arid Northwest China represent an example of how, in recent times, climatic warming has increased the complexity of Earth's hydrological processes. In the present study, the linear and nonlinear characteristics of the runoff response to temperature and precipitation were investigated in the Qira River basin, located on the northern slope of the Kunlun Mountains. The results showed that average temperature on annual and seasonal scales has displayed a significantly increasing trend, but this has not been reflected in accumulated precipitation and runoff. Using path analysis, a positive link between precipitation and runoff was found both annually and in the summer season. Conversely, it was found that the impact of temperature on runoff has been negative since the 1960s, attributable to higher evaporation and infiltration in the Qira River basin. Over the past 50 years, abrupt changes in annual temperature, precipitation and runoff occurred in 1997, 1987 and 1995, respectively. Combined with analysis using the correlation dimension method, it was found that the temperature, precipitation and runoff, both annually and seasonally, possessed chaotic dynamic characteristics, implying that complex hydro-climatic processes must be introduced into other variables within models to describe the dynamics. In addition, as determined via rescaled range analysis, a consistent annual and seasonal decreasing trend in runoff under increasing temperature and precipitation conditions in the future should be taken into account. This work may provide a theoretical perspective that can be applied to the proper use and management of oasis water resources in the lower reaches of river basins like that of the Qira River.

Vegetation Carbon Storage, Spatial Patterns and Response to Altitude in Lancang River Basin, Southwest China

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Long Chen

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Vegetation plays a very important role of carbon (C sinks in the global C cycle. With its complex terrain and diverse vegetation types, the Lancang River Basin (LRB of southwest China has huge C storage capacity. Therefore, understanding the spatial variations and controlling mechanisms of vegetation C storage is important to understand the regional C cycle. In this study, data from a forest inventory and field plots were used to estimate and map vegetation C storage distribution in the LRB, to qualify the quantitative relationships between vegetation C density and altitude at sublot and township scale, and a linear model or polynomial model was used to identify the relationship between C density and altitude at two spatial scales and two statistical scales. The results showed that a total of 300.32 Tg C was stored in the LRB, an important C sink in China. The majority of C storage was contributed by forests, notably oaks. The vegetation C storage exhibited nonlinear variation with latitudinal gradients. Altitude had tremendous influences on spatial patterns of vegetation C storage of three geomorphological types in the LRB. C storage decreased with increasing altitude at both town and sublot scales in the flat river valley (FRV region and the mid-low mountains gorge (MMG region, and first increased then decreased in the alpine gorge (AG region. This revealed that, in southwest China, altitude changes the latitudinal patterns of vegetation C storage; especially in the AG area, C density in the mid-altitude (3100 m area was higher than that of adjacent areas.

Estimates of long-term water total phosphorus (TP) concentrations in three large shallow lakes in the Yangtze River basin, China.

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Wu, Pan; Qin, Boqiang; Yu, Ge

2016-03-01

The shallow lakes in the eastern China developed on alluvial plains with high-nutrient sediments, and most overflow into the Yangtze River with short hydraulic residence times, whereas they become eutrophic over long time periods. Assuming strong responses to hydrogeological changes in the basin, we attempted to determine the dynamic eutrophication history of these lakes. Although evaluation models for internal total phosphorus (TP) loading are widely used for deep lakes in Europe and North America, the accuracy of these models for shallow lakes that have smaller water volumes controlled by the geometrical morphology and greater basin area of alluvial plains is unknown. To describe the magnitude of changes in velocity of trophic state for the studied shallow lakes, we first evaluated the P retention model in relation to the major forces driving lake morphology, basin climate, and external discharge and then used the model to estimate changes in TP in three large shallow lakes (Taihu, Chao, and Poyang) over 60 years (1950-2009 AD). The observed levels of TP were verified against the relative error of the three lakes (Yangtze River basin. This work will contribute to the development of an internal P loading model for further evaluating trophic states.

Effect of land use on the seasonal variation of streamwater quality in the Wei River basin, China

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, S.; Xu, Z.; Wu, W.; Zuo, D.

2015-05-01

The temporal effect of land use on streamwater quality needs to be addressed for a better understanding of the complex relationship between land use and streamwater quality. In this study, GIS and Pearson correlation analysis were used to determine whether there were correlations of land-use types with streamwater quality at the sub-basin scale in the Wei River basin, China, during dry and rainy seasons in 2012. Temporal variation of these relations was observed, indicating that relationships between water quality variables and proportions of different land uses were weaker in the rainy season than that in the dry season. Comparing with other land uses, agriculture and urban lands had a stronger relationship with water quality variables in both the rainy and dry seasons. These results suggest that the aspect of temporal effects should be taken into account for better land-use management.

Watershed prioritization in the upper Han River basin for soil and water conservation in the South-to-North Water Transfer Project (middle route) of China.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Haibing

2018-01-01

Watershed prioritization with the objective of identifying critical areas to undertake soil and water conservation measures was conducted in the upper Han River basin, the water source area of approximately 95,000 km 2 for the middle route of China's South-to-North Water Transfer Project. Based on the estimated soil erosion intensity in uplands and clustering analysis of measured nutrient concentrations in rivers, the basin was grouped into very-high-, high-, moderate-, and low-priority regions for water and soil conservation, respectively. The results indicated that soil erosion was primarily controlled by topography, and nutrients in rivers were associated with land use and land cover in uplands. Also, there was large spatial disparity between soil erosion intensity in the uplands and nutrient concentrations in the rivers across the basin. Analysis was then performed to prioritize the basin by the integration of the soil erosion intensity and water quality on a GIS platform in order to identify critical areas for water and soil conservation in the basin. The identified high-priority regions which occupy 5.74% of the drainage areas need immediate attention for soil and water conservation treatments, of which 5.28% is critical for soil erosion prevention and 0.46% for water conservation. Understandings of the basin environment and pollutant loading with spatial explicit are critical to the soil and water resource conservation for the interbasin water transfer project.

Analyzing the water budget and hydrological characteristics and responses to land use in a monsoonal climate river basin in South China

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Yiping; Chen, Ji

2013-01-01

Hydrological models have been increasingly used by hydrologists and water resource managers to understand natural processes and human activities that affect watersheds. In this study, we use the physically based model, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), to investigate the hydrological processes in the East River Basin in South China, a coastal area dominated by monsoonal climate. The SWAT model was calibrated using 8-year (1973–1980) record of the daily streamflow at the basin outlet (Boluo station), and then validated using data collected during the subsequent 8 years (1981–1988). Statistical evaluation shows that SWAT can consistently simulate the streamflow of the East River with monthly Nash–Sutcliffe efficiencies of 0.93 for calibration and 0.90 for validation at the Boluo station. We analyzed the model simulations with calibrated parameters, presented the spatiotemporal distribution of the key hydrological components, and quantified their responses to different land uses. Watershed managers can use the results of this study to understand hydrological features and evaluate water resources of the East River in terms of sustainable development and effective management.

Multisource Data-Based Integrated Agricultural Drought Monitoring in the Huai River Basin, China

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Peng; Zhang, Qiang; Wen, Qingzhi; Singh, Vijay P.; Shi, Peijun

2017-10-01

Drought monitoring is critical for early warning of drought hazard. This study attempted to develop an integrated remote sensing drought monitoring index (IRSDI), based on meteorological data for 2003-2013 from 40 meteorological stations and soil moisture data from 16 observatory stations, as well as Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer data using a linear trend detection method, and standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index. The objective was to investigate drought conditions across the Huai River basin in both space and time. Results indicate that (1) the proposed IRSDI monitors and describes drought conditions across the Huai River basin reasonably well in both space and time; (2) frequency of drought and severe drought are observed during April-May and July-September. The northeastern and eastern parts of Huai River basin are dominated by frequent droughts and intensified drought events. These regions are dominated by dry croplands, grasslands, and highly dense population and are hence more sensitive to drought hazards; (3) intensified droughts are detected during almost all months except January, August, October, and December. Besides, significant intensification of droughts is discerned mainly in eastern and western Huai River basin. The duration and regions dominated by intensified drought events would be a challenge for water resources management in view of agricultural and other activities in these regions in a changing climate.

Linear and nonlinear characteristics of the runoff response to regional climate factors in the Qira River basin, Xinjiang, Northwest China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jie Xue

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The inland river watersheds of arid Northwest China represent an example of how, in recent times, climatic warming has increased the complexity of Earth’s hydrological processes. In the present study, the linear and nonlinear characteristics of the runoff response to temperature and precipitation were investigated in the Qira River basin, located on the northern slope of the Kunlun Mountains. The results showed that average temperature on annual and seasonal scales has displayed a significantly increasing trend, but this has not been reflected in accumulated precipitation and runoff. Using path analysis, a positive link between precipitation and runoff was found both annually and in the summer season. Conversely, it was found that the impact of temperature on runoff has been negative since the 1960s, attributable to higher evaporation and infiltration in the Qira River basin. Over the past 50 years, abrupt changes in annual temperature, precipitation and runoff occurred in 1997, 1987 and 1995, respectively. Combined with analysis using the correlation dimension method, it was found that the temperature, precipitation and runoff, both annually and seasonally, possessed chaotic dynamic characteristics, implying that complex hydro-climatic processes must be introduced into other variables within models to describe the dynamics. In addition, as determined via rescaled range analysis, a consistent annual and seasonal decreasing trend in runoff under increasing temperature and precipitation conditions in the future should be taken into account. This work may provide a theoretical perspective that can be applied to the proper use and management of oasis water resources in the lower reaches of river basins like that of the Qira River.

Spatio-temporal patterns of soil erosion and suspended sediment dynamics in the Mekong River Basin.

Science.gov (United States)

Suif, Zuliziana; Fleifle, Amr; Yoshimura, Chihiro; Saavedra, Oliver

2016-10-15

Understanding of the distribution patterns of sediment erosion, concentration and transport in river basins is critically important as sediment plays a major role in river basin hydrophysical and ecological processes. In this study, we proposed an integrated framework for the assessment of sediment dynamics, including soil erosion (SE), suspended sediment load (SSL) and suspended sediment concentration (SSC), and applied this framework to the Mekong River Basin. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model was adopted with a geographic information system to assess SE and was coupled with a sediment accumulation and a routing scheme to simulate SSL. This framework also analyzed Landsat imagery captured between 1987 and 2000 together with ground observations to interpolate spatio-temporal patterns of SSC. The simulated SSL results from 1987 to 2000 showed the relative root mean square error of 41% and coefficient of determination (R(2)) of 0.89. The polynomial relationship of the near infrared exoatmospheric reflectance and the band 4 wavelength (760-900nm) to the observed SSC at 9 sites demonstrated the good agreement (overall relative RMSE=5.2%, R(2)=0.87). The result found that the severe SE occurs in the upper (China and Lao PDR) and lower (western part of Vietnam) regions. The SSC in the rainy season (June-November) showed increasing and decreasing trends longitudinally in the upper (China and Lao PDR) and lower regions (Cambodia), respectively, while the longitudinal profile of SSL showed a fluctuating trend along the river in the early rainy season. Overall, the results described the unique spatio-temporal patterns of SE, SSL and SSC in the Mekong River Basin. Thus, the proposed integrated framework is useful for elucidating complex process of sediment generation and transport in the land and river systems of large river basins. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Transboundary water issues: The Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna River Basin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roy, Debasri; Goswami, A.B.; Bose, Balaram

2004-01-01

Sharing of water of transboundary rivers among riparian nations has become a cause of major concern in different parts of the globe for quite sometime. The issue in the recent decades has been transformed into a source of international tensions and disputes resulting in strained relationships between riparian nations. Conflicts over sharing of water of the international rivers, like the Tigris, Euphrates and Jordan in the Middle East, the Nile in Northern Africa, the Mekong in South-East Asia, the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna in the Indian subcontinent are widely known. The present paper discusses the water sharing -issue in the Ganga- Brahmaputra-Meghna basin located in the Indian sub continent covering five sovereign countries (namely India, Nepal, China, Bhutan and Bangladesh). Rapidly growing population, expanding agricultural and industrial activities besides the impacts of climate change have resulted in stressed condition in the arena of fresh water availability in the basin. Again occurrence of arsenic in sub-surface water in the lower reaches of the basin in India and Bangladesh has also added a new dimension to the problem. All the rivers of the GBM system exhibit wide variations between peak and lean flows as major part of the basin belongs to the monsoon region, where 80%-90 % of annual rainfall is concentrated in 4-5 months of South -West monsoon in the subcontinent. Over and above, the rivers in GBM system carry huge loads of sediments along with the floodwater and receive huge quantum of different kinds of wastes contaminating the water of the rivers. Again high rate of sedimentation of the major rivers and their tributaries have been affecting not only the carrying capacity of the rivers but also drastically reduced their retention capacity. Almost every year during monsoon about 27% and nearly 60% of the GBM basin lying in India and Bangladesh respectively experience flood. The year round navigation in many rivers has also been affected. All these have

Hydroclimatic variability in East Asia: A case study in the Yangtze river basin

Science.gov (United States)

Chun, K. P.; Fok, H. S.; Sapriza Azuri, G.; Klaus, J.; Mamet, S.

2017-12-01

New regional patterns of droughts and flooding are emerging at south and east Asia river basins, but the causal climatic mechanisms underlying these new hydrological extreme events are yet unknown. The Southern Oscillation, monsoons, and sea surface temperatures affect hydrological conditions in Asia at different spatiotemporal scales. During the negative phase of the Southern Oscillation, anticyclone systems occur more frequently and modulate precipitation patterns near the southeast coast of China. Monsoons related to the Intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) locations have been used to explain regional droughts and flooding. Moreover, sea surface temperatures affect wind anomalies and thermocline adjustments across the Pacific and Indian oceans. Here we propose using a major catchment in China, the Yangtze river basin, to understand regional modes of climate variability influencing local hydrological dynamics in Asia. By decomposing the variance of precipitation and hydrological time series, we are able to quantify the relative contributions of the Southern Oscillation, monsoons, and sea surface temperatures to the Yangtze river discharges. Our results suggest that the Southern Oscillation has a relatively weak effect on discharges, whereas the Indian and western North Pacific monsoons are important for the upstream and downstream Yangtze river, respectively. Furthermore, rising Pacific sea surface temperatures may be related to more intensive precipitation at the downstream basin. Based on the hydroclimatic relationships identified here, we discuss future scenarios of changing environmental conditions in the region.

Hydrological Process Simulation of Inland River Watershed: A Case Study of the Heihe River Basin with Multiple Hydrological Models

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Lili Wang

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Simulating the hydrological processes of an inland river basin can help provide the scientific guidance to the policies of water allocation among different subbasins and water resource management groups within the subbasins. However, it is difficult to simulate the hydrological processes of an inland river basin with hydrological models due to the non-consistent hydrological characteristics of the entire basin. This study presents a solution to this problem with a case study about the hydrological process simulation in an inland river basin in China, Heihe River basin. It is divided into the upper, middle, and lower reaches based on the distinctive hydrological characteristics in the Heihe River basin, and three hydrological models are selected, applied, and tested to simulate the hydrological cycling processes for each reach. The upper reach is the contributing area with the complex runoff generation processes, therefore, the hydrological informatic modeling system (HIMS is utilized due to its combined runoff generation mechanisms. The middle reach has strong impacts of intensive human activities on the interactions of surface and subsurface flows, so a conceptual water balance model is applied to simulate the water balance process. For the lower reach, as the dissipative area with groundwater dominating the hydrological process, a groundwater modeling system with the embedment of MODFLOW model is applied to simulate the groundwater dynamics. Statistical parameters and water balance analysis prove that the three models have excellent performances in simulating the hydrological process of the three reaches. Therefore, it is an effective way to simulate the hydrological process of inland river basin with multiple hydrological models according to the characteristics of each subbasin.

Impact of Water Scarcity on the Fenhe River Basin and Mitigation Strategies

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Weiwei Shao

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This study produced a drought map for the Fenhe River basin covering the period from 150 BC to 2012 using regional historical drought records. Based on meteorological and hydrological features, the characteristics and causes of water scarcity in the Fenhe River basin were examined, along with their impact on the national economy and ecological environment. The effects of water scarcity in the basin on the national economy were determined from agricultural, industrial, and domestic perspectives. The impact on aquatic ecosystems was ascertained through an evolution trend analysis of surface water systems, including rivers, wetlands, and slope ecosystems, and subterranean water systems, including groundwater and karst springs. As a result of these analyses, strategies are presented for coping with water scarcity in this basin, including engineering countermeasures, such as the construction of a water network in Shanxi, and the non-engineering approach of groundwater resource preservation. These comprehensive coping strategies are proposed with the aim of assisting the prevention and control of water scarcity in the arid and semi-arid areas of China.

Searching for the optimal drought index and timescale combination to detect drought: a case study from the lower Jinsha River basin, China

Science.gov (United States)

Fluixá-Sanmartín, Javier; Pan, Deng; Fischer, Luzia; Orlowsky, Boris; García-Hernández, Javier; Jordan, Frédéric; Haemmig, Christoph; Zhang, Fangwei; Xu, Jijun

2018-02-01

Drought indices based on precipitation are commonly used to identify and characterize droughts. Due to the general complexity of droughts, the comparison of index-identified events with droughts at different levels of the complete system, including soil humidity or river discharges, relies typically on model simulations of the latter, entailing potentially significant uncertainties. The present study explores the potential of using precipitation-based indices to reproduce observed droughts in the lower part of the Jinsha River basin (JRB), proposing an innovative approach for a catchment-wide drought detection and characterization. Two indicators, namely the Overall Drought Extension (ODE) and the Overall Drought Indicator (ODI), have been defined. These indicators aim at identifying and characterizing drought events on the basin scale, using results from four meteorological drought indices (standardized precipitation index, SPI; rainfall anomaly index, RAI; percent of normal precipitation, PN; deciles, DEC) calculated at different locations of the basin and for different timescales. Collected historical information on drought events is used to contrast results obtained with the indicators. This method has been successfully applied to the lower Jinsha River basin in China, a region prone to frequent and severe droughts. Historical drought events that occurred from 1960 to 2014 have been compiled and cataloged from different sources, in a challenging process. The analysis of the indicators shows a good agreement with the recorded historical drought events on the basin scale. It has been found that the timescale that best reproduces observed events across all the indices is the 6-month timescale.

Forecasting the Amount of Waste-Sewage Water Discharged into the Yangtze River Basin Based on the Optimal Fractional Order Grey Model.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Shuliang; Meng, Wei; Xie, Yufeng

2017-12-23

With the rapid development of the Yangtze River economic belt, the amount of waste-sewage water discharged into the Yangtze River basin increases sharply year by year, which has impeded the sustainable development of the Yangtze River basin. The water security along the Yangtze River basin is very important for China, It is something aboutwater security of roughly one-third of China's population and the sustainable development of the 19 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions among the Yangtze River basin. Therefore, a scientific prediction of the amount of waste-sewage water discharged into Yangtze River basin has a positive significance on sustainable development of industry belt along with Yangtze River basin. This paper builds the fractional DWSGM(1,1)(DWSGM(1,1) model is short for Discharge amount of Waste Sewage Grey Model for one order equation and one variable) model based on the fractional accumulating generation operator and fractional reducing operator, and calculates the optimal order of "r" by using particle swarm optimization(PSO)algorithm for solving the minimum average relative simulation error. Meanwhile, the simulation performance of DWSGM(1,1)model with the optimal fractional order is tested by comparing the simulation results of grey prediction models with different orders. Finally, the optimal fractional order DWSGM(1,1)grey model is applied to predict the amount of waste-sewage water discharged into the Yangtze River basin, and corresponding countermeasures and suggestions are put forward through analyzing and comparing the prediction results. This paper has positive significance on enriching the fractional order modeling method of the grey system.

Analysis of the evolution of precipitation in the Haihe river basin of China under changing environment

Science.gov (United States)

Ding, Xiangyi; Liu, Jiahong; Gong, Jiaguo

2018-02-01

Precipitation is one of the important factors of water cycle and main sources of regional water resources. It is of great significance to analyze the evolution of precipitation under changing environment for identifying the evolution law of water resources, thus can provide a scientific reference for the sustainable utilization of water resources and the formulation of related policies and measures. Generally, analysis of the evolution of precipitation consists of three levels: analysis the observed precipitation change based on measured data, explore the possible factors responsible for the precipitation change, and estimate the change trend of precipitation under changing environment. As the political and cultural centre of China, the climatic conditions in the Haihe river basin have greatly changed in recent decades. This study analyses the evolution of precipitation in the basin under changing environment based on observed meteorological data, GCMs and statistical methods. Firstly, based on the observed precipitation data during 1961-2000 at 26 meteorological stations in the basin, the actual precipitation change in the basin is analyzed. Secondly, the observed precipitation change in the basin is attributed using the fingerprint-based attribution method, and the causes of the observed precipitation change is identified. Finally, the change trend of precipitation in the basin under climate change in the future is predicted based on GCMs and a statistical downscaling model. The results indicate that: 1) during 1961-2000, the precipitation in the basin showed a decreasing trend, and the possible mutation time was 1965; 2) natural variability may be the factor responsible for the observed precipitation change in the basin; 3) under climate change in the future, precipitation in the basin will slightly increase by 4.8% comparing with the average, and the extremes will not vary significantly.

Towards a digital watershed, with a case study in the Heihe River Basin of northwest China

Science.gov (United States)

Li, X.; Cheng, G.-D.; Ma, M.-G.; Lu, L.; Ge, Y.-C.

2003-04-01

Integrated watershed study and river basin management needs integrated database and integrated hydrological and water resource models. We define digital watershed as a web-based information system that integrates data from different sources and in different scales through both information technology and hydrological modeling. In the last two years, a “digital basin” of the Heihe River Basin, which is a well-studied in-land catchment in China’s arid region was established. More than 6 Gb of in situ observation data, GIS maps, and remotely sensed data have been uploaded to the Heihe web site. Various database and dynamic web techniques such as PHP, ASP, XML, VRML are being used for data service. In addition, the DIAL (Data and Information Access Link), IMS (Internet Map Server) and other Web-GISs are used to make GIS and remote sensing datasets of the Heihe River Basin available and accessible on the Internet. We also have developed models for estimating the evapotranspiration, bio-physical parameters, and snow runoff. These methods can be considered as the elements to build up the integrated watershed model that can be used for integrated management of the Heihe River Basin. The official domain name of the digital Heihe River Basin is heihe.westgis.ac.cn

Responses of snowmelt runoff to climatic change in an inland river basin, Northwestern China, over the past 50 years

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J. Wang

2010-10-01

Full Text Available The spatial and temporal variations of snowcover distribution, and snowmelt runoff are considered as sensitive indicators for climatic change. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and forecast the responses of snowmelt runoff to climate change in an inland river basin. The upper basin of Heihe River in Northwestern China was chose as the study area, and the observation data from the meteorological and hydrological stations were utilized to analyze the status and regularity of the climatic change over the past 50 years. Snow cover area was obtained by an optimized technology using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer data with Normalized Difference Snow Index adjustment and topographic correction. A concept of potential snowmelt was suggested to illustrate the response of spatial snowmelt to climate change. The results show that the annual SCA proportion and the potential snowmelt keep an increasing trend since 2000. There is a negative relationship between annual air temperature and SCA proportion from 2000 to 2008. Snowmelt Runoff Model was chose to simulate snowmelt runoff and scenario forecast the change trend of snowmelt runoff in this region. The results show that climatic warming was apparent in the upper basin of Heihe River over the past 50 a. Annual average air temperature of three different weather stations located in the basin has increased 2.1 °C, 2.6 °C and 2.9 °C respectively from 1956 to present. The snowmelt runoff has increased obviously from 1970 to present. With different warming climate scenarios, the results by using SRM simulating showed that the first occurred time of snowmelt runoff shift ahead and discharge become larger as responses of snowmelt runoff to air temperature increasing, and the influence of temperature rising on average discharge of the whole snow season is not obvious.

Parameterization and Uncertainty Analysis of SWAT model in Hydrological Simulation of Chaohe River Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Jie, M.; Zhang, J.; Guo, B. B.

2017-12-01

As a typical distributed hydrological model, the SWAT model also has a challenge in calibrating parameters and analysis their uncertainty. This paper chooses the Chaohe River Basin China as the study area, through the establishment of the SWAT model, loading the DEM data of the Chaohe river basin, the watershed is automatically divided into several sub-basins. Analyzing the land use, soil and slope which are on the basis of the sub-basins and calculating the hydrological response unit (HRU) of the study area, after running SWAT model, the runoff simulation values in the watershed are obtained. On this basis, using weather data, known daily runoff of three hydrological stations, combined with the SWAT-CUP automatic program and the manual adjustment method are used to analyze the multi-site calibration of the model parameters. Furthermore, the GLUE algorithm is used to analyze the parameters uncertainty of the SWAT model. Through the sensitivity analysis, calibration and uncertainty study of SWAT, the results indicate that the parameterization of the hydrological characteristics of the Chaohe river is successful and feasible which can be used to simulate the Chaohe river basin.

Evolution of the alluvial fans of the Luo River in the Weihe Basin, central China, controlled by faulting and climate change - A reevaluation of the paleogeographical setting of Dali Man site

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rits, Daniël S.; van Balen, Ronald T.; Prins, Maarten A.; Zheng, Hongbo

2017-01-01

The Luo River is located in the southern part of the Chinese Loess Plateau and the northern part of the Weihe Basin, in Central China. In the basin it flows proximal to the site of the Luyang Wetland core, which is an important archive of climate change over the past 1 Myr in this region. In this

Sedimentary record and luminescence chronology of palaeoflood events along the Gold Gorge of the upper Hanjiang River, middle Yangtze River basin, China

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Yongqiang; Huang, Chun Chang; Zhou, Yali; Pang, Jiangli; Zha, Xiaochun; Fan, Longjiang; Mao, Peini

2018-05-01

Palaeoflood slackwater deposits (SWDs) along the river banks have important implications for the reconstruction of the past hydro-climatic events. Two palaeoflood SWD beds were identified in the Holocene loess-soil sequences on the cliff river banks along the Gold Gorge of the upper Hanjiang River by field investigation and laboratory analysis. They have recorded two palaeoflood events which were dated by optically stimulated luminescence to 3.2-2.8 ka and 2.1-1.8 ka, respectively. The reliability of the ages obtained for the two events are further confirmed by the presence of archaeological remains and good regional pedostratigraphic correlation. The peak discharges of two palaeoflood events at the studied sites were estimated to be 16,560-17,930 m3/s. A correlation with the palaeoflood events identified in the other reaches shows that great floods occurred frequently during the episodes of 3200-2800 and 2000-1700 a BP along the upper Hanjiang River valley during the last 4000 years. These phases of palaeoflood events in central China are well correlated with the climatic variability identified by δ18O record in the stalagmites from the middle Yangtze River Basin and show apparent global linkages. Palaeoflood studies in a watershed scale also imply that strengthened human activities during the Shang dynasty (BCE 1600-1100) and Han dynasty (BCE206-CE265) may have caused accelerated soil erosion along the upper Hanjiang River valley.

The Human Threat to River Ecosystems at the Watershed Scale: An Ecological Security Assessment of the Songhua River Basin, Northeast China

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Yuan Shen

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Human disturbances impact river basins by reducing the quality of, and services provided by, aquatic ecosystems. Conducting quantitative assessments of ecological security at the watershed scale is important for enhancing the water quality of river basins and promoting environmental management. In this study, China’s Songhua River Basin was divided into 204 assessment units by combining watershed and administrative boundaries. Ten human threat factors were identified based on their significant influence on the river ecosystem. A modified ecological threat index was used to synthetically evaluate the ecological security, where frequency was weighted by flow length from the grids to the main rivers, while severity was weighted by the potential hazard of the factors on variables of river ecosystem integrity. The results showed that individual factors related to urbanization, agricultural development and facility construction presented different spatial distribution characteristics. At the center of the plain area, the provincial capital cities posed the highest level of threat, as did the municipal districts of prefecture-level cities. The spatial relationships between hot spot locations of the ecological threat index and water quality, as well as the distribution areas of critically endangered species, were analyzed. The sensitivity analysis illustrated that alteration of agricultural development largely changed the ecological security level of the basin. By offering a reference for assessing ecological security, this study can enhance water environmental planning and management.

Water equivalent of snow survey of the Red River Basin and Heart/Cannonball River Basin, March 1978

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feimster, E.L.

1979-10-01

The water equivalent of accumulated snow was estimated in the Red River and Heart/Cannonball River basins and surrounding areas in North Dakota during the period 8 to 17 March 1978. A total of 570 km were flown, covering a 274 km section of the Red River Basin watershed. These lines had been surveyed in March 1974. Twelve flight lines were flown over the North Dakota side of the Red River from a point 23 km south of the Canadian border southward to the city of Fargo, North Dakota. The eight flight lines flown over the Minnesota side of the Red River extended from 23 km south of the Canadian border southward to Breckenridge, Minnesota. Using six flight lines, a total of 120 km were flown in the Heart/Cannonball River Basin, an area southwest of the city of Bismark, North Dakota. This was the first such flight in the Heart/Cannonball River Basin area. Computed weighted average water equivalents on each flight line in the Red River Basin ranged from 4.8 cm to 12.7 cm of water, averaging 7.6 cm for all lines. In the Heart/Cannonball River Basin, the weighted water equivalent ranged from 8.9 cm to 19.1 cm of water, averaging 12.7 cm for all lines. The method used employs the measurement of the natural gamma rays both before and after snow covers the ground

Responses of Vegetation Growth to Climatic Factors in Shule River Basin in Northwest China: A Panel Analysis

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Jinghui Qi

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The vegetation response to climatic factors is a hot topic in global change research. However, research on vegetation in Shule River Basin, which is a typical arid region in northwest China, is still limited, especially at micro scale. On the basis of Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI data and daily meteorological data, employing panel data models and other mathematical models, the aim of this paper is to reveal the interactive relationship between vegetation variation and climatic factors in Shule River Basin. Results show that there is a widespread greening trend in the whole basin during 2000–2015, and 80.28% of greening areas (areas with vegetation improvement are distributed over upstream region, but the maximum vegetation variation appears in downstream area. The effects of climate change on NDVI lag about half to one month. The parameters estimated using panel data models indicate that precipitation and accumulated temperature have positive contribution to NDVI. With every 1-mm increase in rainfall, NDVI increases by around 0.223‰ in upstream area and 0.6‰ in downstream area. With every 1-°C increase in accumulated temperature, NDVI increases by around 0.241‰ in upstream area and 0.174‰ in downstream area. Responses of NDVI to climatic factors are more sensitive when these factors are limiting than when they are not limiting. NDVI variation has performance in two seasonal and inter-annual directions, and the range of seasonal change is far more than that of inter-annual change. The inverted U-shaped curve of the variable intercepts reflects the seasonal change. Our results might provide some scientific basis for the comprehensive basin management.

Exploring Future Water Shortage for Large River Basins under Different Water Allocation Strategies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Yan, Dan; Yao, Mingtian; Ludwig, Fulco; Kabat, Pavel; Huang, He Qing; Hutjes, Ronald W.A.; Werners, Saskia E.

2018-01-01

Climate change and socio-economic development increase variations in water availability and water use in the Pearl River Basin (PRB), China. This can potentially result in conflicts over water resources between water users, and cause water shortage in the dry season. To assess and manage water

Numerical assessment of water-saving irrigation on the water cycle at the oasis of the Manas River Basin

OpenAIRE

he

2018-01-01

As the birthplace of water-saving technology under mulch drip irrigation in China, the Manas River Basin (MRB) has developed into the largest oasis farming area in Xinjiang and the fourth largest irrigated agricultural area in China. This study presents systematic evaluation the effect of water-saving technologies on precipitation, runoff, infiltration and evapotranspiration in this basin. A model of the regional water cycle was developed for quantitatively assessing groundwater balance and g...

Are recent severe floods in Xiang River basin of China linked with the increase extreme precipitation?

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, L.; Du, J.

2015-12-01

The Xiang River, a main tributary of the Yangtze River, is subjected to high floods frequently in recent twenty years. Climate change, including abrupt shifts and fluctuations in precipitation is an important factor influencing hydrological extreme conditions. In addition, human activities are widely recognized as another reasons leading to high flood risk. With the effects of climate change and human interventions on hydrological cycle, there are several questions that need to be addressed. Are floods in the Xiang River basin getting worse? Whether the extreme streamflow shows an increasing tendency? If so, is it because the extreme rainfall events have predominant effect on floods? To answer these questions, the article detected existing trends in extreme precipitation and discharge using Mann-Kendall test. Continuous wavelet transform method was employed to identify the consistency of changes in extreme precipitation and discharge. The Pearson correlation analysis was applied to investigate how much degree of variations in extreme discharge can be explained by climate change. The results indicate that slightly upward trends can be detected in both extreme rainfalls and discharge in the upper region of Xiang River basin. For the most area of middle and lower river basin, the extreme rainfalls show significant positive trends, but the extreme discharge displays slightly upward trends with no significance at 90% confidence level. Wavelet transform analysis results illustrate that highly similar patterns of signal changes can be seen between extreme precipitation and discharge in upper section of the basin, while the changes in extreme precipitation for the middle and lower reaches do not always coincide with the extreme streamflow. The correlation coefficients of the wavelet transforms for the precipitation and discharge signals in most area of the basin pass the significance test. The conclusion may be drawn that floods in recent years are not getting worse in

The Hei River Basin in northwestern China - tectonics, sedimentary processes and pathways

Science.gov (United States)

Rudersdorf, Andreas; Nottebaum, Veit; Schimpf, Stefan; Yu, Kaifeng; Hartmann, Kai; Stauch, Georg; Wünnemann, Bernd; Reicherter, Klaus; Diekmann, Bernhard; Lehmkuhl, Frank

2014-05-01

The Hei River Basin (catchment area of c. 130,000 km²) is situated at the transition between the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau and the southern slopes of Gobi-Tien-Shan. As part of the northwestern Chinese deserts, the Ejina Basin (Gaxun Nur Basin) constitutes the endorheic erosion base of the drainage system. The basin - hosting the second largest continental alluvial fans in the world, is tectonically strongly shaped by the Gobi belt of left-lateral transpression. The tectonic setting in combination with competing climatic driving forces (Westerlies and summer/winter monsoon currents) has supported the formation of a valuable long-time sediment archive comprises at least the last 250,000 yrs. of deposition. It is composed by the interplay of eolian, fluvial and lacustrine sedimentation cycles and today is dominated by widespread (gravel) gobi surfaces, insular dune fields and shallow evaporitic playa areas. Thus, it provides excellent conditions to investigate tectonic evolution and Quaternary environmental changes. Recently, geomorphological, geophysical, neotectonic and mineralogical studies have enhanced the understanding of the environmental history and the modern depositional environment. Moreover, the role of the Hei River Basin as an important source area of silt particles which were later deposited on the Chinese Loess Plateau is evaluated. Therefore, a 230 m long drill core, sediment sections and ca. 700 surface samples throughout the whole catchment and basin were analyzed. Instrumental and historical seismicity are very low, but the proximity to active fault zones and dating irregularities in earlier publications indicate evidence for deformation in the study area. Despite flat topography, indications of active tectonics such as fault-related large-scale lineations can be observed. Seismically deformed unconsolidated lacustrine deposits (seismites), presumably of Holocene age, are evident and must be related to the nearby faults. The upper

Mapping the Soil Texture in the Heihe River Basin Based on Fuzzy Logic and Data Fusion

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Ling Lu

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Mapping soil texture in a river basin is critically important for eco-hydrological studies and water resource management at the watershed scale. However, due to the scarcity of in situ observation of soil texture, it is very difficult to map the soil texture in high resolution using traditional methods. Here, we used an integrated method based on fuzzy logic theory and data fusion to map the soil texture in the Heihe River basin in an arid region of Northwest China, by combining in situ soil texture measurement data, environmental factors, a previous soil texture map, and other thematic maps. Considering the different landscape characteristics over the whole Heihe River basin, different mapping schemes have been used to extract the soil texture in the upstream, middle, and downstream areas of the Heihe River basin, respectively. The validation results indicate that the soil texture map achieved an accuracy of 69% for test data from the midstream area of the Heihe River basin, which represents a much higher accuracy than that of another existing soil map in the Heihe River basin. In addition, compared with the time-consuming and expensive traditional soil mapping method, this new method could ensure greater efficiency and a better representation of the explicitly spatial distribution of soil texture and can, therefore, satisfy the requirements of regional modeling.

Genomic evidence for the population genetic differentiation of Misgurnus anguillicaudatus in the Yangtze River basin of China.

Science.gov (United States)

Yi, Shaokui; Wang, Weimin; Zhou, Xiaoyun

2018-02-21

Misgurnus anguillicaudatus, an important aquatic species, is mainly distributed in the Yangtze River basin. To reveal the population genetic structure of M. anguillicaudatus distributed in the Yangtze River basin, genotyping by sequencing (GBS) technique was employed to detect the genome wide genetic variations of M. anguillicaudatus. A total of 30.03 Gb raw data were yielded from 70 samples collected from 15 geographic sites located in the Yangtze River basin. Subsequently, 2092 high quality SNPs were genotyped across these samples and used for a series of genetic analysis. The results of genetic analysis showed that high levels of genetic diversity were observed and the populations from upper reaches (UR) were significantly differentiated from the middle and lower reaches (MLR) of Yangtze River basin. Meanwhile, no significant isolation by distance was detected among the populations. Ecological factors (e.g. complicated topography and climatic environment) and anthropogenic factors (e.g. aquaculture and agriculture cultivation) might account for the genetic disconnectivity between UR and MLR populations. This study provided valuable genetic data for the future breeding program and also for the conversation and scientific utilization of those abundant genetic resources stored in the Yangtze River basin. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A new framework to evaluate ecosystem health: a case study in the Wei River basin, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Wei; Xu, Zongxue; Zhan, Chesheng; Yin, Xuwang; Yu, Songyan

2015-07-01

Due to the rapid growth of the population and the development of economies in the Guanzhong district, central China, the river ecosystem is gradually deteriorating, which makes it important to assess the aquatic ecosystem health and take measures to restore the damaged ecosystem. An index of catchment ecosystem health has been developed to assist large-scale management of watersheds by providing an integrated measure of ecosystem health, including aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem. Most researches focus on aquatic ecosystem or terrestrial ecosystem, but little research integrates both of them to assess the catchment ecosystem health. In this paper, we combine these two aspects into catchment ecosystem health. Ecosystem indicators derived from field samples and modeling are identified to integrate into ecosystem health. These included indicators of ecological landscape pattern (based on normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), vegetation cover, dominance index, Shannon's diversity index, Shannon's evenness index, and fragmentation index), hydrology regime (based on 33 hydrological parameters), physical form condition (based on substrate, habitat complexity, velocity/depth regimes, bank stability, channel alteration), water quality (based on electrical conductivity (Cond), dissolved oxygen (DO), NH3_N, total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), chemical oxygen demand-permanganate (CODMn)), and biological quality (based on fish abundance). The index of ecosystem health is applied in the Guanzhong district, and the ecosystem health was fair. The ecosystem health in the upstream to Linjiacun (U-L) and Linjiacun to Weijiabao (L-W) reaches was in good situation, while that in Weijiabao to Xianyang (W-X), Xianyang-Weijiabao (X-W), and Weijiabao to Tongguan (W-T) reaches was in fair situation. There is a trend that the ecosystem health in the upstream was better than that in the downstream. The ecosystem health assessment is expected to play a key role in future

Evolution of the vegetation system in the Heihe River basin in the last 2000 years

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Li

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The response of vegetation systems to the long-term changes in climate, hydrology, and social–economic conditions in river basins is critical for sustainable river basin management. This study aims to investigate the evolution of natural and crop vegetation systems in the Heihe River basin (HRB over the past 2000 years. Archived Landsat images, historical land use maps and hydrological records were introduced to derive the long-term spatial distribution of natural and crop vegetation and the corresponding biomass levels. The major findings are that (1 both natural and crop vegetation experienced three development stages: a pre-development stage (before the Republic of China, a rapid development stage (Republic of China – 2000, and a post-development stage (after 2000. Climate and hydrological conditions did not show significant impacts over crop vegetation, while streamflow presented synchronous changes with natural vegetation in the first stage. For the second stage, warmer temperature and increasing streamflow were found to be important factors for the increase in both natural and crop vegetation in the middle reaches of the HRB. For the third stage, positive climate and hydrological conditions, together with policy interventions, supported the overall vegetation increase in both the middle and lower HRB; (2 there was a significantly faster increase in crop biomass than that of native vegetation since 1949, which could be explained by the technological development; and (3 the ratio of natural vegetation to crop vegetation decreased from 16 during the Yuan Dynasty to about 2.2 since 2005. This ratio reflects the reaction of land and water development to a changing climate and altering social–economic conditions at the river basin level; therefore, it could be used as an indicator of water and land management at river basins.

Hydrological responses to climatic changes in the Yellow River basin, China: Climatic elasticity and streamflow prediction

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Qiang; Liu, Jianyu; Singh, Vijay P.; Shi, Peijun; Sun, Peng

2017-11-01

Prediction of streamflow of the Yellow River basin was done using downscaled precipitation and temperature based on outputs of 12 GCMs under RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 scenarios. Streamflow changes of 37 tributaries of the Yellow River basin during 2070-2099 were predicted related to different GCMs and climatic scenarios using Budyko framework. The results indicated that: (1) When compared to precipitation and temperature during 1960-1979, increasing precipitation and temperature are dominant during 2070-2099. Particularly, under RCP8.5, increase of 10% and 30% can be detected for precipitation and temperature respectively; (2) Precipitation changes have larger fractional contribution to streamflow changes than temperature changes, being the major driver for spatial and temporal patterns of water resources across the Yellow River basin; (3) 2070-2099 period will witness increased streamflow depth and decreased streamflow can be found mainly in the semi-humid regions and headwater regions of the Yellow River basin, which can be attributed to more significant increase of temperature than precipitation in these regions; (4) Distinctly different picture of streamflow changes can be observed with consideration of different outputs of GCMs which can be attributed to different outputs of GCMs under different scenarios. Even so, under RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 scenarios, 36.8% and 71.1% of the tributaries of the Yellow River basin are dominated by increasing streamflow. The results of this study are of theoretical and practical merits in terms of management of water resources and also irrigated agriculture under influences of changing climate.

Integrated river basin management of Južna Morava River

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Borisavljević Ana

2012-01-01

Full Text Available In the last decade in particular, Serbia encountered the problems of drinking water supply, which influenced the perception of professional public about the water crisis but also started more intensive work on water resource perseverance as well as the implementation of European Water Directive. One of the main demands of the Directive focuses on integrated river basin management (IRBM, which is a complex and a large task. The need to collect data on water quality and quantity, specific and key issues of water management in Južna Morava river basin, pressures on river ecosystem, flood risks and erosion problems, cross-border issues, socioeconomic processes, agricultural development as well as protected areas, and also to give the measures for solving problems and pressures recognized in the basin, is undisputable. This paper focuses on detailed analysis of specific pressures on river ecosystem and composition of recommendations for integrated management of Južna Morava river basin as cross-border river basin, taking into the account European experiences in IRBM. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 43007: Istraživanje klimatskih promena na životnu sredinu - praćenje uticaja, adaptacija i ublažavanje, podprojekat br. 9: Učestalost bujičnih poplava, degradacija zemljišta i voda kao posledica globalnih promena

VICIOUS CIRCULATION OF WATER DEFICIENCY AND WATER POLLUTION – “CANCER” OF THE RIVERS IN THE NORTH OF CHINA.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yang Liankang

2005-05-01

Full Text Available The North of China belongs to the basin of the Tarim River ,the Heihe River , the Yellow River , the Huaihe River ,the Haihe River ,the Liaohe River , the Heilongjiang River and other shorter rivers and other indraft areas. The total area of all river basin is about 3,200,000 sq. km., exceeds 3/5 of area of land of 13 provinces , municipalities and autonomous regions of the North of China (5, 220,000 sq. km. .Follow the growth of the economy and the population, lacking of water in the rivers of the northern China is serious,. Since the sixties and seventies of previous century, the blanking has taken place successively in numerous rivers, brought serious influence on the development of the economic, made the society to shake. Afterwards, through certain effort, although the blanking phenomenon is alleviated for the past several years, but the water quality of manyrivers has sharply worsened and was dropped to V, bad V grade in the numerous sections, fromthe situation that the water quality in a great part sections in the main stream was still rather good for past more than 20 years ago. It has become the first killer, influencing the life of river.Therefore, we must summarize the experiences on that the rivers of the northern China, especially the most influential Yellow River, have gone from blanking to resuming flow, we also must control the pollution and proportionate the development of the society and theeconomic, with the water yield and the water quality. These affair have already become task of top priority!

Are calanco landforms similar to river basins?

Science.gov (United States)

Caraballo-Arias, N A; Ferro, V

2017-12-15

In the past badlands have been often considered as ideal field laboratories for studying landscape evolution because of their geometrical similarity to larger fluvial systems. For a given hydrological process, no scientific proof exists that badlands can be considered a model of river basin prototypes. In this paper the measurements carried out on 45 Sicilian calanchi, a type of badlands that appears as a small-scale hydrographic unit, are used to establish their morphological similarity with river systems whose data are available in the literature. At first the geomorphological similarity is studied by identifying the dimensionless groups, which can assume the same value or a scaled one in a fixed ratio, representing drainage basin shape, stream network and relief properties. Then, for each property, the dimensionless groups are calculated for the investigated calanchi and the river basins and their corresponding scale ratio is evaluated. The applicability of Hack's, Horton's and Melton's laws for establishing similarity criteria is also tested. The developed analysis allows to conclude that a quantitative morphological similarity between calanco landforms and river basins can be established using commonly applied dimensionless groups. In particular, the analysis showed that i) calanchi and river basins have a geometrically similar shape respect to the parameters Rf and Re with a scale factor close to 1, ii) calanchi and river basins are similar respect to the bifurcation and length ratios (λ=1), iii) for the investigated calanchi the Melton number assumes values less than that (0.694) corresponding to the river case and a scale ratio ranging from 0.52 and 0.78 can be used, iv) calanchi and river basins have similar mean relief ratio values (λ=1.13) and v) calanchi present active geomorphic processes and therefore fall in a more juvenile stage with respect to river basins. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Quantifying the effects of climate variability and human activities on runoff for Kaidu River Basin in arid region of northwest China

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Zhongsheng; Chen, Yaning; Li, Baofu

2013-02-01

Much attention has recently been focused on the effects that climate variability and human activities have had on runoff. In this study, data from the Kaidu River Basin in the arid region of northwest China were analyzed to investigate changes in annual runoff during the period of 1960-2009. The nonparametric Mann-Kendall test and the Mann-Kendall-Sneyers test were used to identify trend and step change point in the annual runoff. It was found that the basin had a significant increasing trend in annual runoff. Step change point in annual runoff was identified in the basin, which occurred in the year around 1993 dividing the long-term runoff series into a natural period (1960-1993) and a human-induced period (1994-2009). Then, the hydrologic sensitivity analysis method was employed to evaluate the effects of climate variability and human activities on mean annual runoff for the human-induced period based on precipitation and potential evapotranspiration. In 1994-2009, climate variability was the main factor that increased runoff with contribution of 90.5 %, while the increasing percentage due to human activities only accounted for 9.5 %, showing that runoff in the Kaidu River Basin is more sensitive to climate variability than human activities. This study quantitatively distinguishes the effects between climate variability and human activities on runoff, which can do duty for a reference for regional water resources assessment and management.

Fractions and Distribution of Phosphorus in Sediments of the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, W.; An, R.; Huang, Y.; Pu, X.; Li, R.; Li, J.

2017-12-01

The Yarlung Zangbo River is one of the highest rivers in the world. The ecological environment of the river basin has its specificity. It locates in the remote area of China, and the ecological environment is very fragile. The fundamental data of phosphorus content in sediments of the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin are very scarce. In order to clarify the distribution law of phosphorus in the sediments of this area and provide the fundamental data for the study of phosphorus transport in the Yarlung Zangbo River, the authors collected the sediment samples from the mainstream and its tributaries in the research area. Their particle size distributions, specific surface areas, contents of total phosphorus, organic phosphorus and different forms of inorganic phosphorus were analyzed. Then, the fractions and spatial distribution of these forms phosphorus were studied. The results showed that the fractions and distribution characteristics of phosphorus in each form are significant different in the sediments of the Yarlung Zangbo River. The phosphorus contents in the soil erosion deposits and river bed sediment samples are also different. The phosphorus content in sediment is significantly correlated with the sediment characteristics. Keywords: the Yarlung Zangbo River; sediments; fractions of phosphorus; distribution characteristics

Nonstationarity in the occurrence rate of floods in the Tarim River basin, China, and related impacts of climate indices

Science.gov (United States)

Gu, Xihui; Zhang, Qiang; Singh, Vijay P.; Chen, Xi; Liu, Lin

2016-07-01

Amplification of floods in the Xinjiang, China, has been observed, but reports on their changing properties and underlying mechanisms are not available. In this study, occurrence rates of floods in the Tarim River basin, the largest inland arid river basin in China, were analyzed using the Kernel density estimation technique and bootstrap resampling method. Also analyzed were the occurrence rates of precipitation extremes using the POT (Peak over Threshold)-based sampling method. Both stationary and non-stationary models were developed using GAMLSS (Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape) to model flood frequency with time, climate index, precipitation and temperature as major predictors. Results indicated: (1) two periods with increasing occurrence of floods, i.e., the late 1960s and the late 1990s with considerable fluctuations around 2-3 flood events during time intervals between the late 1960s and the late 1990s; (2) changes in the occurrence rates of floods were subject to nonstationarity. A persistent increase of flood frequency and magnitude was observed during the 1990s and reached a peak value; (3) AMO (Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation) and AO (Atlantic Oscillation) in winter were the key influencing climate indices impacting the occurrence rates of floods. However, NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) and SOI (South Oscillation Index) are two principle factors that influence the occurrence rates of regional floods. The AIC (Akaike Information Criterion) values indicated that compared to the influence of climate indices, occurrence rates of floods seemed to be more sensitive to temperature and precipitation changes. Results of this study are important for flood management and development of mitigation measures.

Forecasting domestic water demand in the Haihe river basin under changing environment

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiao-Jun; Zhang, Jian-Yun; Shahid, Shamsuddin; Xie, Yu-Xuan; Zhang, Xu

2018-02-01

A statistical model has been developed for forecasting domestic water demand in Haihe river basin of China due to population growth, technological advances and climate change. Historical records of domestic water use, climate, population and urbanization are used for the development of model. An ensemble of seven general circulation models (GCMs) namely, BCC-CSM1-1, BNU-ESM, CNRM-CM5, GISS-E2-R, MIROC-ESM, PI-ESM-LR, MRI-CGCM3 were used for the projection of climate and the changes in water demand in the Haihe River basin under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5. The results showed that domestic water demand in different sub-basins of the Haihe river basin will gradually increase due to continuous increase of population and rise in temperature. It is projected to increase maximum 136.22 × 108 m3 by GCM BNU-ESM and the minimum 107.25 × 108 m3 by CNRM-CM5 in 2030. In spite of uncertainty in projection, it can be remarked that climate change and population growth would cause increase in water demand and consequently, reduce the gap between water supply and demand, which eventually aggravate the condition of existing water stress in the basin. Water demand management should be emphasized for adaptation to ever increasing water demand and mitigation of the impacts of environmental changes.

Simultaneous assessments of occurrence, ecological, human health, and organoleptic hazards for 77 VOCs in typical drinking water sources from 5 major river basins, China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Xichao; Luo, Qian; Wang, Donghong; Gao, Jijun; Wei, Zi; Wang, Zijian; Zhou, Huaidong; Mazumder, Asit

2015-01-01

Owing to the growing public awareness on the safety and aesthetics in water sources, more attention has been given to the adverse effects of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on aquatic organisms and human beings. In this study, 77 target VOCs (including 54 common VOCs, 13 carbonyl compounds, and 10 taste and odor compounds) were detected in typical drinking water sources from 5 major river basins (the Yangtze, the Huaihe, the Yellow, the Haihe and the Liaohe River basins) and their occurrences were characterized. The ecological, human health, and olfactory assessments were performed to assess the major hazards in source water. The investigation showed that there existed potential ecological risks (1.30 × 10 ≤ RQ_t_o_t_a_ls ≤ 8.99 × 10) but little human health risks (6.84 × 10"−"7 ≤ RQ_t_o_t_a_ls ≤ 4.24 × 10"−"4) by VOCs, while that odor problems occurred extensively. The priority contaminants in drinking water sources of China were also listed based on the present assessment criteria. - Highlights: • VOCs with various polarities were screened in typical water sources of China. • Ecological, human health and olfactory assessments were simultaneously performed. • The risk assessments were used to identify the major hazards by VOCs. • The detected VOCs posed potential ecological risks but little human health risks. • Odor problems occurred extensively in source water of China. - Detected VOCs with various polarities caused odor problems and posed potential ecological risks but little human health risks in drinking water sources in China.

Recent tritium levels in environmental waters collected at the drainage basin of Changjiang (Yangtze River)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sato, Osamu; Nakagawa, Takao; Hashimoto, Tetsuo [Niigata Univ. (Japan)

1989-11-01

This paper reports tritium levels in environmental waters in the China in comparison with those in Japan. Environmental water samples were collected in October-November 1987 from the drainage basin of Changjiang from Sichuan through Hubei districts. Tritium levels were 0.22 Bq/l-6.73 Bq/l (an average, 3.09{plus minus}1.18 Bq/l) in 50 ground water samples; 3.40 Bq/l-3.81 Bq/l (an average, 3.71{plus minus}0.81 Bq/l) in four river samples collected from the main course of the Changjiang River; 1.74 Bq/l-5.40 Bq/l (an average, 3.14{plus minus}1.52 Bq/l) in four river samples collected from the tributary river; and 0.63 Bq/l and 1.78 Bq/l in precipitation samples. Environmental waters contained a large quantity of Ca{sup 2+} and Mg{sup 2+} ions, irrespective of river and ground water samples. In comparing tritium levels in environmental waters in the China and Japan, tritium levels were higher in the ground water influenced by a landslide in the China than Japan. Tritium levels in precipitations collected from the drainage basin of the Changjiang were similar to those in Niigata (Japan), 0.63{plus minus}0.26 Bq/l and 1.78{plus minus}0.26 Bq/l vs 0.53{plus minus}0.36 Bq/l - 2.17{plus minus}0.40 Bq/l. The concentrations of Ca{sup 2+}, Mg{sup 2+}, and HCO{sub 3}{sup -} were higher in the Changjiang River (4 water samples) than the river waters, including the Shinano River in Japan. The concentrations of Na{sup +} and Cl{sup -} were higher in the Changjiang River than the average concentrations in the Japanese rivers, but lower than the Shinano River (Japan). A small quantity of precipitations and width of the Changjiang River, as well as nuclear explosion test performed up to 1980, seem to influence higher tritium levels in the Changjiang than those in Japan. (N.K.).

The Spatial Distributions and Variations of Water Environmental Risk in Yinma River Basin, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Di, Hui; Liu, Xingpeng; Zhang, Jiquan; Tong, Zhijun; Ji, Meichen

2018-03-15

Water environmental risk is the probability of the occurrence of events caused by human activities or the interaction of human activities and natural processes that will damage a water environment. This study proposed a water environmental risk index (WERI) model to assess the water environmental risk in the Yinma River Basin based on hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and regional management ability indicators in a water environment. The data for each indicator were gathered from 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015 to assess the spatial and temporal variations in water environmental risk using particle swarm optimization and the analytic hierarchy process (PSO-AHP) method. The results showed that the water environmental risk in the Yinma River Basin decreased from 2000 to 2015. The risk level of the water environment was high in Changchun, while the risk levels in Yitong and Yongji were low. The research methods provide information to support future decision making by the risk managers in the Yinma River Basin, which is in a high-risk water environment. Moreover, water environment managers could reduce the risks by adjusting the indicators that affect water environmental risks.

A proposal for an administrative set up of river basin management in the Sittaung River Basin

OpenAIRE

Tun, Zaw Lwin; Ni, Bo; Tun, Sein; Nesheim, Ingrid

2016-01-01

The purpose of this report is to present a proposal for how an administrative approach based on River Basin Management can be implemented in Myanmar. The Sittaung River Basin has been used as an example area to investigate how the basin can be administered according to the IWRM principles of cooperation between the different sectors and the administrative units, including stakeholder involvement. Ministry of Natural Resource and Environmental Conservation, Myanmar Norwegian Ministry of For...

Contingency table analysis of pebble lithology and roundness: A case study of Huangshui River, China and comparison to rivers in the Rocky Mountains, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Miao, X.; Lindsey, D.A.; Lai, Z.; Liu, Xiuying

2010-01-01

Contingency table analysis of pebble lithology and roundness is an effective way to identify the source terrane of a drainage basin and to distinguish changes in basin size, piracy, tectonism, and other events. First, the analysis to terrace gravel deposited by the Huangshui River, northeastern Tibet Plateau, China, shows statistically contrasting pebble populations for the oldest terrace (T7, Dadongling, 1.2. Ma) and the youngest terraces (T0-T3, ?. 0.15. Ma). Two fluvial processes are considered to explain the contrast in correlation between lithology and roundness in T7 gravel versus T0-T3 gravel: 1) reworking of T7 gravel into T0-T3 gravel and 2) growth in the size of the river basin between T7 and T0-T3 times. We favor growth in basin size as the dominant process, from comparison of pebble counts and contingency tables. Second, comparison of results from Huangshui River of China to three piedmont streams of the Rocky Mountains, USA highlights major differences in source terrane and history. Like Rocky Mountain piedmont gravel from Colorado examples, the Huangshui gravels show a preference (observed versus expected frequency) for rounded granite. But unlike Rocky Mountain gravel, Huangshui gravel shows a preference for angular quartzite and for rounded sandstone. In conclusion, contrasting behavior of lithologies during transport, not always apparent in raw pebble counts, is readily analyzed using contingency tables to identify the provenance of individual lithologies, including recycled clasts. Results of the analysis may help unravel river history, including changes in basin size and lithology. ?? 2009.

Analysis of temporal and spatial trends of hydro-climatic variables in the Wei River Basin.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Jing; Huang, Qiang; Chang, Jianxia; Liu, Dengfeng; Huang, Shengzhi; Shi, Xiaoyu

2015-05-01

The Wei River is the largest tributary of the Yellow River in China. The relationship between runoff and precipitation in the Wei River Basin has been changed due to the changing climate and increasingly intensified human activities. In this paper, we determine abrupt changes in hydro-climatic variables and identify the main driving factors for the changes in the Wei River Basin. The nature of the changes is analysed based on data collected at twenty-one weather stations and five hydrological stations in the period of 1960-2010. The sequential Mann-Kendall test analysis is used to capture temporal trends and abrupt changes in the five sub-catchments of the Wei River Basin. A non-parametric trend test at the basin scale for annual data shows a decreasing trend of precipitation and runoff over the past fifty-one years. The temperature exhibits an increase trend in the entire period. The potential evaporation was calculated based on the Penman-Monteith equation, presenting an increasing trend of evaporation since 1990. The stations with a significant decreasing trend in annual runoff mainly are located in the west of the Wei River primarily interfered by human activities. Regression analysis indicates that human activity was possibly the main cause of the decline of runoff after 1970. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Scenario-Based Impact Assessment of Land Use/Cover and Climate Changes on Watershed Hydrology in Heihe River Basin of Northwest China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Feng Wu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This study evaluated hydrological impacts of potential climate and land use changes in Heihe River Basin of Northwest China. The future climate data for the simulation with Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT were prepared using a dynamical downscaling method. The future land uses were simulated with the Dynamic Land Use System (DLS model by establishing Multinomial Logistic Regression (MNL model for six land use types. In 2006–2030, land uses in the basin will experience a significant change with a prominent increase in urban areas, a moderate increase in grassland, and a great decrease in unused land. Besides, the simulation results showed that in comparison to those during 1981–2005 the temperature and precipitation during 2006–2030 will change by +0.8°C and +10.8%, respectively. The land use change and climate change will jointly make the water yield change by +8.5%, while they will separately make the water yield change by −1.8% and +9.8%, respectively. The predicted large increase in future precipitation and the corresponding decrease in unused land will have substantial impacts on the watershed hydrology, especially on the surface runoff and streamflow. Therefore, to mitigate negative hydrological impacts and utilize positive impacts, both land use and climate changes should be considered in water resource planning for the Heihe River Basin.

Hydrological Impacts of Land Use Change and Climate Variability in the Headwater Region of the Heihe River Basin, Northwest China

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ling; Nan, Zhuotong; Xu, Yi; Li, Shuo

2016-01-01

Land use change and climate variability are two key factors impacting watershed hydrology, which is strongly related to the availability of water resources and the sustainability of local ecosystems. This study assessed separate and combined hydrological impacts of land use change and climate variability in the headwater region of a typical arid inland river basin, known as the Heihe River Basin, northwest China, in the recent past (1995–2014) and near future (2015–2024), by combining two land use models (i.e., Markov chain model and Dyna-CLUE) with a hydrological model (i.e., SWAT). The potential impacts in the near future were explored using projected land use patterns and hypothetical climate scenarios established on the basis of analyzing long-term climatic observations. Land use changes in the recent past are dominated by the expansion of grassland and a decrease in farmland; meanwhile the climate develops with a wetting and warming trend. Land use changes in this period induce slight reductions in surface runoff, groundwater discharge and streamflow whereas climate changes produce pronounced increases in them. The joint hydrological impacts are similar to those solely induced by climate changes. Spatially, both the effects of land use change and climate variability vary with the sub-basin. The influences of land use changes are more identifiable in some sub-basins, compared with the basin-wide impacts. In the near future, climate changes tend to affect the hydrological regimes much more prominently than land use changes, leading to significant increases in all hydrological components. Nevertheless, the role of land use change should not be overlooked, especially if the climate becomes drier in the future, as in this case it may magnify the hydrological responses. PMID:27348224

Hydrological Impacts of Land Use Change and Climate Variability in the Headwater Region of the Heihe River Basin, Northwest China.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ling; Nan, Zhuotong; Xu, Yi; Li, Shuo

2016-01-01

Land use change and climate variability are two key factors impacting watershed hydrology, which is strongly related to the availability of water resources and the sustainability of local ecosystems. This study assessed separate and combined hydrological impacts of land use change and climate variability in the headwater region of a typical arid inland river basin, known as the Heihe River Basin, northwest China, in the recent past (1995-2014) and near future (2015-2024), by combining two land use models (i.e., Markov chain model and Dyna-CLUE) with a hydrological model (i.e., SWAT). The potential impacts in the near future were explored using projected land use patterns and hypothetical climate scenarios established on the basis of analyzing long-term climatic observations. Land use changes in the recent past are dominated by the expansion of grassland and a decrease in farmland; meanwhile the climate develops with a wetting and warming trend. Land use changes in this period induce slight reductions in surface runoff, groundwater discharge and streamflow whereas climate changes produce pronounced increases in them. The joint hydrological impacts are similar to those solely induced by climate changes. Spatially, both the effects of land use change and climate variability vary with the sub-basin. The influences of land use changes are more identifiable in some sub-basins, compared with the basin-wide impacts. In the near future, climate changes tend to affect the hydrological regimes much more prominently than land use changes, leading to significant increases in all hydrological components. Nevertheless, the role of land use change should not be overlooked, especially if the climate becomes drier in the future, as in this case it may magnify the hydrological responses.

Spatial and temporal characteristics of droughts in Luanhe River basin, China

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yixuan; Zhang, Ting; Chen, Xu; Li, Jianzhu; Feng, Ping

2018-02-01

The spatial and temporal characteristics of drought are investigated for Luanhe River basin, using monthly precipitation data from 26 stations covering the common period of 1958-2011. The spatial pattern of drought was assessed by applying principal component analysis (PCA) to the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) computed on 3- and 12-month time scales. In addition, annual SPI and seasonal SPIs (including spring SPI, summer SPI, autumn SPI, and winter SPI) were also defined and considered in this study to characterize seasonal and annual drought conditions, respectively. For all seven SPI cases, three distinctive sub-regions with different temporal evolutions of droughts are well identified, respectively, representing the southeast, middle, and northwest of the Luanhe River basin. The Mann-Kendall (MK) trend test with a trend-free pre-whitening (TFPW) procedure and Sen's method were used to determine the temporal trends in the annual and seasonal SPI time series. The continuous wavelet transform (CWT) was employed for further detecting the periodical features of drought condition in each sub-region. Results of MK and Sen's tests show a general tendency of intensification in summer drought over the entire basin, while a significant mitigating trend in spring drought. On the whole, an aggravating trend of inter-annual drought is discovered across the basin. Based on the CWT, the drought variability in the basin is generally dominated by 16- to 64-month cycles, and the 2- to 6-year cycles appear to be obvious when concerned with annual and seasonal droughts. Furthermore, a cross wavelet analysis was performed to examine the possible links between the drought conditions and large-scale climate patterns. The teleconnections of ENSO, NAO, PDO, and AMO show significant influences on the regional droughts principally concentrated in the 16- to 64-month period, maybe responsible for the physical causes of the cyclical behavior of drought occurrences. PDO and AMO also

Study of southern CHAONAN sag lower continental slope basin deposition character in Northern South China Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Y.

2009-12-01

Northern South China Sea Margin locates in Eurasian plate,Indian-Australia plate,Pacific Plates.The South China Sea had underwent a complicated tectonic evolution in Cenozoic.During rifting,the continental shelf and slope forms a series of Cenozoic sedimentary basins,including Qiongdongnan basin,Pearl River Mouth basin,Taixinan basin.These basins fill in thick Cenozoic fluviolacustrine facies,transitional facies,marine facies,abyssal facies sediment,recording the evolution history of South China Sea Margin rifting and ocean basin extending.The studies of tectonics and deposition of depression in the Southern Chaonan Sag of lower continental slope in the Norther South China Sea were dealt with,based on the sequence stratigraphy and depositional facies interpretation of seismic profiles acquired by cruises of“China and Germany Joint Study on Marine Geosciences in the South China Sea”and“The formation,evolution and key issues of important resources in China marginal sea",and combining with ODP 1148 cole and LW33-1-1 well.The free-air gravity anomaly of the break up of the continental and ocean appears comparatively low negative anomaly traps which extended in EW,it is the reflection of passive margin gravitational effect.Bouguer gravity anomaly is comparatively low which is gradient zone extended NE-SW.Magnetic anomaly lies in Magnetic Quiet Zone at the Northern Continental Margin of the South China Sea.The Cenozoic sediments of lower continental slope in Southern Chaonan Sag can be divided into five stratum interface:SB5.5,SB10.5,SB16.5,SB23.8 and Hg,their ages are of Pliocene-Quaternary,late Miocene,middle Miocene,early Miocene,paleogene.The tectonic evolution of low continental slope depressions can be divided into rifting,rifting-depression transitional and depression stages,while their depositional environments change from river to shallow marine and abyssa1,which results in different topography in different stages.The topographic evolvement in the study

Misrepresenting the Jordan River Basin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clemens Messerschmid

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This article advances a critique of the UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia’s (ESCWA’s representation of the Jordan River Basin, as contained in its recently published Inventory of Shared Water Resources in Western Asia. We argue that ESCWA’s representation of the Jordan Basin is marked by serious technical errors and a systematic bias in favour of one riparian, Israel, and against the Jordan River’s four Arab riparians. We demonstrate this in relation to ESCWA’s account of the political geography of the Jordan River Basin, which foregrounds Israel and its perspectives and narratives; in relation to hydrology, where Israel’s contribution to the basin is overstated, whilst that of Arab riparians is understated; and in relation to development and abstraction, where Israel’s transformation and use of the basin are underplayed, while Arab impacts are exaggerated. Taken together, this bundle of misrepresentations conveys the impression that it is Israel which is the main contributor to the Jordan River Basin, Arab riparians its chief exploiters. This impression is, we argue, not just false but also surprising, given that the Inventory is in the name of an organisation of Arab states. The evidence discussed here provides a striking illustration of how hegemonic hydro-political narratives are reproduced, including by actors other than basin hegemons themselves.

Using Stochastic Dynamic Programming to Support Water Resources Management in the Ziya River Basin, China

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Davidsen, Claus; Cardenal, Silvio Javier Pereira; Liu, Suxia

2015-01-01

of stochastic dynamic programming, to optimize water resources management in the Ziya River basin. Natural runoff from the upper basin was estimated with a rainfall-runoff model autocalibrated using in situ measured discharge. The runoff serial correlation was described by a Markov chain and used as input...

Floristic Characteristics and Biodiversity Patterns in the Baishuijiang River Basin, China

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Bing; Zhao, Wenzhi; Wen, Zijuan; Teng, Jirong; Li, Xiaohong

2009-07-01

A case study was conducted on the forest ecosystem in the Baishuijiang River basin of China to reveal the influences of environmental factors and human disturbance on the floristic characteristics and biodiversity patterns. Field surveys of the floristic composition, environmental factors, and disturbance factors were conducted along an elevation gradient, and the relationships between biodiversity pattern and environmental factors were analyzed using CCA (canonical correspondence analysis). The results showed that the floristic composition of higher plants consisted of 197 families, 796 genera, 2165 species, 19 subspecies, 239 varietas, and 12 forma, and it was characterized by the multi-geographic composition and by the transition from tropical to temperate zones. Along an elevation gradient, the variations in α and β diversity were best described by a bimodal curve, and the peak values occurred at middle elevations. The CCA indicated that the elevation had the greatest influence on the biodiversity pattern, followed by the topographic index, slope direction, slope, slope position, slope shape, and vegetation coverage. In addition, human disturbance has greatly impacted the floristic composition and biodiversity patterns, and the biodiversity indices were higher with intermediate disturbance at middle elevations compared to higher and lower disturbances at low and high elevations, respectively. This reflected a disturbance-diversity pattern and thus revealed the obvious importance to maintain the intermediate disturbance for biodiversity conservation.

Klamath River Basin water-quality data

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Cassandra D.; Rounds, Stewart A.; Orzol, Leonard L.; Sobieszczyk, Steven

2018-05-29

The Klamath River Basin stretches from the mountains and inland basins of south-central Oregon and northern California to the Pacific Ocean, spanning multiple climatic regions and encompassing a variety of ecosystems. Water quantity and water quality are important topics in the basin, because water is a critical resource for farming and municipal use, power generation, and for the support of wildlife, aquatic ecosystems, and endangered species. Upper Klamath Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Oregon (112 square miles) and is known for its seasonal algal blooms. The Klamath River has dams for hydropower and the upper basin requires irrigation water to support agriculture and grazing. Multiple species of endangered fish inhabit the rivers and lakes, and the marshes are key stops on the Pacific flyway for migrating birds. For these and other reasons, the water resources in this basin have been studied and monitored to support their management distribution.

Development and validation of a bacteria-based index of biotic integrity for assessing the ecological status of urban rivers: A case study of Qinhuai River basin in Nanjing, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jie; Li, Yi; Qian, Bao; Niu, Lihua; Zhang, Wenlong; Cai, Wei; Wu, Hainan; Wang, Peifang; Wang, Chao

2017-07-01

With the increasing human disturbance to urban rivers, the extinction and biodiversity losses of some macroorganism species decreased the accuracy of bioassessment. In this study, a novel index of biotic integrity based on bacteria (Ba-IBI) was first developed for Qinhuai River in Nanjing city, China. Thirty-two biofilm samples were collected along the river bank and the bacterial communities were identified by high-throughput sequencing. By the range, responsive, and redundancy tests, four core metrics were selected from the dataset of 78 candidate metrics, including Pielou's evenness index, proportion of Paenibacillus, proportion of OTUs tolerant to organic pollution and proportion of Nitrosomonas. The results showed that the Ba-IBI was able to effectively discriminate different impaired site groups, and had a good correlation with the index of water quality (r = 0.79, p river. Our study revealed that the Ba-IBI is an effective and reliable approach for assessing the ecological status of Qinhuai River basin, which can complement the existing ecological assessment approaches for urban rivers. Meanwhile, repeted surveys and field validations are still needed to further improve the applicability of the index in future studies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Range extension of Moenkhausia oligolepis (Günther,1864 to the Pindaré river drainage, of Mearim river basin, and Itapecuru river basin of northeastern Brazil (Characiformes: Characidae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erick Cristofore Guimarães

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The present study reports range extansion of Moenkhausia oligolepis to the Pindaré river drainage, of the Mearim river basin, and Itapecuru river basin, Maranhão state, northeastern Brazil. This species was previously known only from Venezuela, Guianas, and the Amazon River basins. In addition, we present some meristic and morphometric data of the specimens herein examined and discuss on its diagnostic characters.

Forecasting domestic water demand in the Haihe river basin under changing environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

X.-J. Wang

2018-02-01

Full Text Available A statistical model has been developed for forecasting domestic water demand in Haihe river basin of China due to population growth, technological advances and climate change. Historical records of domestic water use, climate, population and urbanization are used for the development of model. An ensemble of seven general circulation models (GCMs namely, BCC-CSM1-1, BNU-ESM, CNRM-CM5, GISS-E2-R, MIROC-ESM, PI-ESM-LR, MRI-CGCM3 were used for the projection of climate and the changes in water demand in the Haihe River basin under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs 4.5. The results showed that domestic water demand in different sub-basins of the Haihe river basin will gradually increase due to continuous increase of population and rise in temperature. It is projected to increase maximum 136.22  ×  108 m3 by GCM BNU-ESM and the minimum 107.25  ×  108 m3 by CNRM-CM5 in 2030. In spite of uncertainty in projection, it can be remarked that climate change and population growth would cause increase in water demand and consequently, reduce the gap between water supply and demand, which eventually aggravate the condition of existing water stress in the basin. Water demand management should be emphasized for adaptation to ever increasing water demand and mitigation of the impacts of environmental changes.

Phenological response of vegetation to upstream river flow in the Heihe Rive basin by time series analysis of MODIS data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jia, L.; Shang, H.L.; Hu, G.; Menenti, M.

2011-01-01

Liquid and solid precipitation is abundant in the high elevation, upper reach of the Heihe River basin in northwestern China. The development of modern irrigation schemes in the middle reach of the basin is taking up an increasing share of fresh water resources, endangering the oasis and traditional

The role of deuterium excess in determining the water salinisation mechanism: A case study of the arid Tarim River Basin, NW China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, Tianming; Pang, Zhonghe

2012-01-01

Understanding the water salinisation mechanism is the basis for regional salt management. Mineral dissolution, evaporation and transpiration are the main factors controlling natural water salinity in arid inland basins; however, the two are difficult to differentiate. Because deuterium excess decreases during evaporation and is unrelated to the isotopic composition of the initial water, it is a potential tool for determining the contribution of the evapoconcentration of a given water body using the relationship between deuterium excess and salinity rather than between δ 18 O (or δ 2 H) and salinity. In this paper, the relationship between the residual water fraction and deuterium excess was derived from the Rayleigh distillation equation. The contribution of evapoconcentration and mineral dissolution and/or transpiration for a given water body can be determined by comparing the residual water fraction and salinity between the initial water and the evapoconcentrated water. The extremely arid Tarim River Basin in NW China is taken as an example to demonstrate deuterium excess and salinity evolution from the source stream to river water, lake/reservoir water and groundwater. The results show that mineral dissolution contributes most of the salinity (67–77%) for Boston Lake and the Kongque and Tarim rivers relative to the source stream. Mineral dissolution and/or transpiration contribute greater salinity (73–99.6%) to the groundwater recharged by the river water in the middle and lower reaches of the Tarim River. The study provides a method for determining the salinisation mechanism and is important for salt movement and management.

Recognition of key regions for restoration of phytoplankton communities in the Huai River basin, China

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Changsen; Liu, Changming; Xia, Jun; Zhang, Yongyong; Yu, Qiang; Eamus, Derek

2012-02-01

SummaryHealthy phytoplankton communities are the basis of healthy water ecosystems, and form the foundation of many freshwater food webs. Globally many freshwater ecosystems are degraded because of intensive human activities, so water ecosystem restoration is a burning issue worldwide. Selection of key regions for phytoplankton-related restoration is crucial for an effective aquatic eco-restoration. This paper presents a practical method for identification of key regions for phytoplankton-related restoration, using random forests (RFs) method to cluster sites based on dominance, biodiversity, water chemistry and ecological niche. We sampled phytoplankton for species richness and relative abundance and water quality in the Huai River basin (HRB), China to determine the phytoplankton communities' composition and structure and characterize of their ecological niches. A wider mean niche breadth of a species usually leads to a greater overlap with the niche of other species. Using these data and water quality indices, we identified the key regions for phytoplankton-related river restoration activities. Results indicate that our method for recognition of key regions is effective and practical and its application to the HRB identified the Northern Plain area as the key region for restoration. This area is severely polluted and contributes significantly to the HRB phytoplankton communities. Phytoplankton in this region is highly adaptable to environmental change and therefore will be relatively unharmed by environmental instability induced by restoration measures. During restoration, indices of water temperature, total phosphorus and chemical oxygen demand can be altered with little negative influence on phytoplankton communities, but measures that increase ammonia-nitrogen concentration would be highly detrimental. These results will provide valuable information for policy makers and stakeholders in water ecosystem restoration and sustainable basin management in the HRB.

Magnetic Properties of the Rivers Feeding the South China Sea: a Critical Step for Understanding the Paleo-Marine Records.

Science.gov (United States)

Kissel, C.; Liu, Z.; Wandres, C.

2014-12-01

In order to use the magnetic properties of marine sediments as a tracer for past changes in the precipitation rate on land and in oceanic water masses transport and exchanges in the South China Sea, we identify and characterize the different sources of the detrital fraction among which the magnetic particles. This work is presently conducted in the framework of the Franco-Chinese LIA-MONOCL Thanks to the Westpac project, we had access to sediments collected in the deltas of the main rivers feeding the South China Sea from about 25°N to the equator. This is represented on the Asian continent by the Pearl river, the Red River, the Mekong river, by Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo regions with minor rivers but also contributing to the South China Sea, and finally by Luzon and Taiwan. The geological formations contributing to the river sediment discharges are different from one catchment basin to another as well as the present climatic conditions. The magnetic analyses consist in the analysis of low-field magnetic susceptibility, ARM acquisition and decay, IRM acquisition and decay, back-field acquisition, thermal demagnetization of 3-axes IRM, hysteresis parameters, and FORC diagrams. The obtained parameters all together allow us to define the nature of the magnetic grains and their grain size distribution when magnetite is dominant. Some degree of variability is observed at the river mouths, illustrating different geological sources at the local/regional scale. As an average, it appears that the Southern basin of the South China Sea is surrounded by regions richer in high coercivity magnetic minerals than the northern basin. This mineral is identified as hematite while magnetites (and sulfides) are more abundant in the north. These results are complementary to the clay mineral assemblages previously determined on the same samples. The first steps of a similar study conducted on marine core-tops well distributed in the South China Sea will also be illustrated.

Developing a Science-based River Basin Management Plan for the Kharaa River Basin, Mongolia

Science.gov (United States)

Karthe, Daniel

2013-04-01

The Kharaa River Basin (KRB), which is located north of Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar and south of Lake Baikal, was chosen as a model region for the development and implementation of an integrated water resources management consisting of a monitoring concept, technical measures and a capacity development program (Karthe et al. 2012a). The basin of the Kharaa River covers an area of 14534 km² that is partly mountaineous and largely covered by taiga and steppe. At its outlet, the 362 km Kharaa River has a mean long-term annual discharge of 12.1 m³/s (MoMo Consortium 2009). A highly continental climate results in limited water resources, and rising water consumption coupled with the effects of climate and land use change may in the future exacerbate this water scarcity (Malsy et al. 2012; Karthe et al. 2013). Whereas the environment in the upper part of the catchment is in a relatively pristine state, the mid- and downstream sections of the river are characterized by nearby industry, mining activities and intensive agriculture (Menzel et al. 2011), resulting in declining water quality and ultimately a degradation of aquatic ecosystems (Hofmann et al. 2010; Hartwig et al. 2012). Moreover, it is a problem for the supply of major cities like Darkhan which largely rely on alluvial aquifers containing shallow-depth groundwater (Mun et al. 2008). Currently, there are alarming signs of water quality deterioration. With regard to water provision, a major problem is the poor state of distribution infrastructures which were often built in the 1960s and 70s (Scharaw & Westerhoff 2011). Rather little is currently known about the water quality supplied to end users; the latter is even more dubious in the city's informal ger districts (Karthe et al. 2012b). One important goal of the research and development project "Integrated Water Resources Management in Central Asia: Model Region Mongolia" lies in the implementation of a holistic concept for water resources monitoring and

Groundwater sustainability and groundwater/surface-water interaction in arid Dunhuang Basin, northwest China

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Jingjing; Ma, Rui; Hu, Yalu; Sun, Ziyong; Wang, Yanxin; McCarter, Colin P. R.

2018-03-01

The Dunhuang Basin, a typical inland basin in northwestern China, suffers a net loss of groundwater and the occasional disappearance of the Crescent Lake. Within this region, the groundwater/surface-water interactions are important for the sustainability of the groundwater resources. A three-dimensional transient groundwater flow model was established and calibrated using MODFLOW 2000, which was used to predict changes to these interactions once a water diversion project is completed. The simulated results indicate that introducing water from outside of the basin into the Shule and Danghe rivers could reverse the negative groundwater balance in the Basin. River-water/groundwater interactions control the groundwater hydrology, where river leakage to the groundwater in the Basin will increase from 3,114 × 104 m3/year in 2017 to 11,875 × 104 m3/year in 2021, and to 17,039 × 104 m3/year in 2036. In comparison, groundwater discharge to the rivers will decrease from 3277 × 104 m3/year in 2017 to 1857 × 104 m3/year in 2021, and to 510 × 104 m3/year by 2036; thus, the hydrology will switch from groundwater discharge to groundwater recharge after implementing the water diversion project. The simulation indicates that the increased net river infiltration due to the water diversion project will raise the water table and then effectively increasing the water level of the Crescent Lake, as the lake level is contiguous with the water table. However, the regional phreatic evaporation will be enhanced, which may intensify soil salinization in the Dunhuang Basin. These results can guide the water allocation scheme for the water diversion project to alleviate groundwater depletion and mitigate geo-environmental problem.

75 FR 38833 - Walker River Basin Acquisition Program

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-06

... DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Bureau of Reclamation Walker River Basin Acquisition Program AGENCY... (Reclamation) is canceling work on the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Walker River Basin... Walker River, primarily for irrigated agriculture, have resulted in a steadily declining surface...

Synchronism of runoff response to climate change in Kaidu River Basin in Xinjiang, Northwest China

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Jie Xue; JiaQiang Lei; DongWei Gui; JianPing Zhao; DongLei Mao; Jie Zhou

2016-01-01

The runoff in alpine river basins where the runoff is formed in nearby mountainous areas is mainly affected by temperature and precipitation. Based on observed annual mean temperature, annual precipitation, and runoff time-series datasets during 1958–2012 within the Kaidu River Basin, the synchronism of runoff response to climate change was analyzed and iden-tified by applying several classic methods, including standardization methods, Kendall's W test, the sequential version of the Mann-Kendall test, wavelet power spectrum analysis, and the rescaled range (R/S) approach. The concordance of the nonlinear trend variations of the annual mean temperature, annual precipitation, and runoff was tested significantly at the 0.05 level by Kendall's W method. The sequential version of the Mann-Kendall test revealed that abrupt changes in annual runoff were synchronous with those of annual mean temperature. The periodic characteristics of annual runoff were mainly consistent with annual precipitation, having synchronous 3-year significant periods and the same 6-year, 10-year, and 38-year quasi-periodicities. While the periodic characteristics of annual runoff in the Kaidu River Basin tracked well with those of annual precipitation, the abrupt changes in annual runoff were synchronous with the annual mean temperature, which directly drives glacier- and snow-melt processes. R/S analysis indicated that the annual mean temperature, annual precipitation, and runoff will continue to increase and remain synchronously persistent in the future. This work can im-prove the understanding of runoff response to regional climate change to provide a viable reference in the management of water resources in the Kaidu River Basin, a regional sustainable socio-economic development.

On the water hazards in the trans-boundary Kosi River basin

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, N. Sh.; Hu, G. Sh.; Deng, W.; Khanal, N.; Zhu, Y. H.; Han, D.

2013-03-01

The Kosi River is an important tributary of the Ganges River, which passes through China, Nepal and India. With a basin area of 71 500 km2, the Kosi River has the largest elevation drop in the world (from 8848 m of Mt Everest to 60 m of the Ganges Plain) and covers a broad spectrum of climate, soil, vegetation and socioeconomic zones. The basin suffers from multiple water related hazards including glacial lake outburst, debris flow, landslides, flooding, drought, soil erosion and sedimentation. This paper describes the characteristics of water hazards in the basin, based on the literature review and site investigation covering hydrology, meteorology, geology, geomorphology and socio-economics. Glacial lake outbursts are a huge threat to the local population in the region and they usually further trigger landslides and debris flows. Floods are usually a result of interaction between man-made hydraulic structures and the natural environment. Debris flows are widespread and occur in clusters. Droughts tend to last over long periods and affect vast areas. Rapid population increase, the decline of ecosystems and climate change could further exacerbate various hazards in the region. The paper has proposed a set of mitigating strategies and measures. It is an arduous challenge to implement them in practice. More investigations are needed to fill in the knowledge gaps.

Hydrological Cycle in the Heihe River Basin and Its Implication for Water Resource Management in Endorheic Basins

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xin; Cheng, Guodong; Ge, Yingchun; Li, Hongyi; Han, Feng; Hu, Xiaoli; Tian, Wei; Tian, Yong; Pan, Xiaoduo; Nian, Yanyun; Zhang, Yanlin; Ran, Youhua; Zheng, Yi; Gao, Bing; Yang, Dawen; Zheng, Chunmiao; Wang, Xusheng; Liu, Shaomin; Cai, Ximing

2018-01-01

Endorheic basins around the world are suffering from water and ecosystem crisis. To pursue sustainable development, quantifying the hydrological cycle is fundamentally important. However, knowledge gaps exist in how climate change and human activities influence the hydrological cycle in endorheic basins. We used an integrated ecohydrological model, in combination with systematic observations, to analyze the hydrological cycle in the Heihe River Basin, a typical endorheic basin in arid region of China. The water budget was closed for different landscapes, river channel sections, and irrigation districts of the basin from 2001 to 2012. The results showed that climate warming, which has led to greater precipitation, snowmelt, glacier melt, and runoff, is a favorable factor in alleviating water scarcity. Human activities, including ecological water diversion, cropland expansion, and groundwater overexploitation, have both positive and negative effects. The natural oasis ecosystem has been restored considerably, but the overuse of water in midstream and the use of environmental flow for agriculture in downstream have exacerbated the water stress, resulting in unfavorable changes in surface-ground water interactions and raising concerns regarding how to fairly allocate water resources. Our results suggest that the water resource management in the region should be adjusted to adapt to a changing hydrological cycle, cropland area must be reduced, and the abstraction of groundwater must be controlled. To foster long-term benefits, water conflicts should be handled from a broad socioeconomic perspective. The findings can provide useful information on endorheic basins to policy makers and stakeholders around the world.

Prediction of hydrological responds to climate changes in the Upper Yangtze River Basin, China

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Yang, X.; Ren, L.; Wang, Y.; Zhang, M.; Liu, Y.; Jiang, S.; Yuan, F.

2017-12-01

Climate changes have direct effects on hydrological cycle, with the increasing temperature and seasonal shift of precipitation. Therefore, understanding of how climate change may affect the population and water resources and economic development is critical to the water and food security for China. This study aims to evaluate the potential impacts of future climate changes on water resources of the upper basin of Yangtze River (the area controlled by the Yichang hydrological station) using the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) model driven by composite observations (1961-2005) and projections of eight CMIP5 models under scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 from 2006 to 2099. The raw eight CMIP5 models have been downscaled by the equidistant cumulative distribution functions (EDCDF) statistical downscaling approach from 1961 to 2099. The assessment of the performance of model simulated precipitation and temperature were calculated by comparing to the observations during the historical period (1961-2005). For the same variables, eight CMIP5 models for RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 downscaled by EDCDF method were generated during the future period (2006-2099). Overall, the VIC model performed well in monthly streamflow simulation, with the Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency (NSCE) 0.92 and 0.97 for calibration and validation, respectively. The annual precipitation is projected to increase by 6.3mm and 8.6mm per decade and the annual temperature will increase by 0.22 °C and 0.53°C per decade (2006-2099) for RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. In the future period, The total runoff of the study basins would either remain stable or moderately increase by 2.7% and 22.4% per decade, the evapotranspiration increase by 2mm and 13mm per decade, and the soil moisture will reduce by -0.1% and -7.4% per decade under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. The changes of model-simulated soil moisture, runoff, and evapotranspiration suggest that there probably be an increasing risk of drought in

Water Footprint Calculation on the Basis of Input–Output Analysis and a Biproportional Algorithm: A Case Study for the Yellow River Basin, China

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Jian Yin

2016-08-01

Full Text Available In the Yellow River basin, China, ecosystems suffer from the overexploitation and utilization of water resources, resulting in various environmental impacts. Consideration must be given to both human and ecosystem water requirements in water resources management. A water footprint (WF is a tool for estimating industrial, agricultural, commercial and household water requirements and for examining the impact of consumption on water resources. The study attempts to establish an approach to analyse the dynamic processes and driving forces that result in certain WFs. Using input–output tables for provinces and municipalities, we calculate water use coefficients, the total WF and the net external WF of consumption in China’s Yellow River Basin. A biproportional algorithm is employed to revise the input–output tables for analysing the temporal dynamics of the WF. The factor analysis and linear regression were used to analyse the main influencing factors of WF. Results indicate that the coefficient for water use by primary industries is highest and that coefficients for provincial water use differ significantly. Second, household consumption and residuals from capital accumulation constituted approximately half of the total WF of the Yellow River basin in 2002 and also differed significantly among provinces. Third, the ratio of the net external WF to the total WF increased, and the ratio of final consumption to the total WF declined during the period examined. Fourth, output by secondary industries correlated most strongly with the WF, followed by area under irrigation, per capita meat consumption, water consumption per 10,000-yuan increase in added value and population.

South Fork Holston River basin 1988 biomonitoring

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saylor, C.F.; Ahlstedt, S.A.

1990-06-01

There is concern over the effects of shifts in land use use practices on the aquatic fauna of streams in the South Fork Holston River basin in northwestern North Carolina and southwestern Virginia. Trout reproduction has noticeably declined in the Watauga River subbasin. The Watauga River and Elk River subbasins have been subjected to commercial and resort development. The Middle fork Holston River and the upper South Fork Holston River subbasins have been affected by agricultural and mining activities, respectively (Cox, 1986). To aid reclamation and management of the South Fork Holston basin, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) biologists conducted biomonitoring--including index of biotic integrity and macroinvertebrate sampling--on the Middle Fork Holston, South Fork Holston, Watauga, and Elk Rivers to assess cumulative impairment related to changes in habitat and pollutant loading in these subbasins. Biomonitoring can detect environmental degradation, help document problem areas, and assist in development of strategies for managing water quality. This report discusses the methods and materials and results of the biomonitoring of South Fork Holston River Basin. 13 refs., 5 figs., 12 tabs.

Integrated waste load allocation for river water pollution control under uncertainty: a case study of Tuojiang River, China.

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Xu, Jiuping; Hou, Shuhua; Yao, Liming; Li, Chaozhi

2017-07-01

This paper presents a bi-level optimization waste load allocation programming model under a fuzzy random environment to assist integrated river pollution control. Taking account of the leader-follower decision-making in the water function zones framework, the proposed approach examines the decision making feedback relationships and conflict coordination between the river basin authority and the regional Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) based on the Stackelberg-Nash equilibrium strategy. In the pollution control system, the river basin authority, as the leader, allocates equitable emissions rights to different subareas, and the then subarea EPA, as the followers, reallocates the limited resources to various functional zones to minimize pollution costs. This research also considers the uncertainty in the water pollution management, and the uncertain input information is expressed as fuzzy random variables. The proposed methodological approach is then applied to Tuojiang River in China and the bi-level linear programming model solutions are achieved using the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker condition. Based on the waste load allocation scheme results and various scenario analyses and discussion, some operational policies are proposed to assist decision makers (DMs) cope with waste load allocation problem for integrated river pollution control for the overall benefits.

Will urban expansion lead to an increase in future water pollution loads?--a preliminary investigation of the Haihe River Basin in northeastern China.

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Dong, Yang; Liu, Yi; Chen, Jining

2014-01-01

Urban expansion is a major driving force changing regional hydrology and nonpoint source pollution. The Haihe River Basin, the political, economic, and cultural center of northeastern China, has undergone rapid urbanization in recent decades. To investigate the consequences of future urban sprawl on nonpoint source water pollutant emissions in the river basin, the urban sprawl in 2030 was estimated, and the annual runoff and nonpoint source pollution in the Haihe River basin were simulated. The Integrated Model of Non-Point Sources Pollution Processes (IMPULSE) was used to simulate the effects of urban sprawl on nonpoint source pollution emissions. The outcomes indicated that the urban expansion through 2030 increased the nonpoint source total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorous (TP), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) emissions by 8.08, 0.14, and 149.57 kg/km(2), respectively. Compared to 2008, the total nonpoint emissions rose by 15.33, 0.57, and 12.39 %, respectively. Twelve percent of the 25 cities in the basin would increase by more than 50 % in nonpoint source TN and COD emissions in 2030. In particular, the nonpoint source TN emissions in Xinxiang, Jiaozuo, and Puyang would rise by 73.31, 67.25, and 58.61 %, and the nonpoint source COD emissions in these cities would rise by 74.02, 51.99, and 53.27 %, respectively. The point source pollution emissions in 2008 and 2030 were also estimated to explore the effects of urban sprawl on total water pollution loads. Urban sprawl through 2030 would bring significant structural changes of total TN, TP, and COD emissions for each city in the area. The results of this study could provide insights into the effects of urbanization in the study area and the methods could help to recognize the role that future urban sprawl plays in the total water pollution loads in the water quality management process.

Fishes of the Taquari-Antas river basin (Patos Lagoon basin, southern Brazil

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FG. Becker

Full Text Available The aquatic habitats of the Taquari-Antas river basin (in the Patos Lagoon basin, southern Brazil are under marked environmental transformation because of river damming for hydropower production. In order to provide an information baseline on the fish fauna of the Taquari-Antas basin, we provide a comprehensive survey of fish species based on primary and secondary data. We found 5,299 valid records of fish species in the basin, representing 119 species and 519 sampling sites. There are 13 non-native species, six of which are native to other Neotropical river basins. About 24% of the total native species are still lacking a taxonomic description at the species level. Three native long-distance migratory species were recorded (Leporinus obtusidens, Prochilodus lineatus, Salminus brasiliensis, as well as two potential mid-distance migrators (Parapimelodus nigribarbis and Pimelodus pintado. Although there is only one officially endangered species in the basin (S. brasiliensis, restricted range species (21.7% of total species should be considered in conservation efforts.

Relationship between ancient bridges and population dynamics in the lower Yangtze River Basin, China.

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Zhao, Yang; Jia, Xin; Lee, Harry F; Zhao, Hongqiang; Cai, Shuliang; Huang, Xianjin

2017-01-01

It has been suggested that population growth dynamics may be revealed by the geographic distribution and the physical structure of ancient bridges. Yet, this relationship has not been empirically verified. In this study, we applied the archaeological records for ancient bridges to reveal the population growth dynamics in the lower Yangtze River Basin in late imperial China. We investigated 89 ancient bridges in Yixing that were built during the Ming and Qing dynasties (AD1368-1911). Global Position System information and structure (length, width, and span) of those bridges was measured during our field investigations. Their distribution density was calculated by ArcGIS. The historical socio-economic dynamics of Yixing was inferred from the distribution and structure of ancient bridges. Based on the above information, the population growth dynamics in Yixing was projected. Our results show that 77 bridges were built in Yixing during the Qing dynasty, which is 6.41 times more than the number built during the Ming dynasty. In the Ming dynasty, bridges were built on pivotal routes; in the Qing dynasty, bridges were scattered across various places. Over the period, the density distribution of bridges shifted northwestward, while the average length and width of bridges decreased. The increasing number of bridges corresponded to population growth, largely attributable to massive clan migration from northern China during the Little Ice Age. The shift in the density distribution of bridges corresponded to the formation of settlements of large clans and the blossoming of Yixing Teapot handicrafts. The scattering and the reduction in average length and width of bridges was due to the dispersal of population and the associated formation of small settlements in the latter period. Our approach is innovative and robust, and could be employed to recover long-term historical population growth dynamics in other parts of China.

Relationship between ancient bridges and population dynamics in the lower Yangtze River Basin, China.

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Yang Zhao

Full Text Available It has been suggested that population growth dynamics may be revealed by the geographic distribution and the physical structure of ancient bridges. Yet, this relationship has not been empirically verified. In this study, we applied the archaeological records for ancient bridges to reveal the population growth dynamics in the lower Yangtze River Basin in late imperial China. We investigated 89 ancient bridges in Yixing that were built during the Ming and Qing dynasties (AD1368-1911. Global Position System information and structure (length, width, and span of those bridges was measured during our field investigations. Their distribution density was calculated by ArcGIS. The historical socio-economic dynamics of Yixing was inferred from the distribution and structure of ancient bridges. Based on the above information, the population growth dynamics in Yixing was projected. Our results show that 77 bridges were built in Yixing during the Qing dynasty, which is 6.41 times more than the number built during the Ming dynasty. In the Ming dynasty, bridges were built on pivotal routes; in the Qing dynasty, bridges were scattered across various places. Over the period, the density distribution of bridges shifted northwestward, while the average length and width of bridges decreased. The increasing number of bridges corresponded to population growth, largely attributable to massive clan migration from northern China during the Little Ice Age. The shift in the density distribution of bridges corresponded to the formation of settlements of large clans and the blossoming of Yixing Teapot handicrafts. The scattering and the reduction in average length and width of bridges was due to the dispersal of population and the associated formation of small settlements in the latter period. Our approach is innovative and robust, and could be employed to recover long-term historical population growth dynamics in other parts of China.

Simultaneous assessments of occurrence, ecological, human health, and organoleptic hazards for 77 VOCs in typical drinking water sources from 5 major river basins, China.

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Chen, Xichao; Luo, Qian; Wang, Donghong; Gao, Jijun; Wei, Zi; Wang, Zijian; Zhou, Huaidong; Mazumder, Asit

2015-11-01

Owing to the growing public awareness on the safety and aesthetics in water sources, more attention has been given to the adverse effects of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on aquatic organisms and human beings. In this study, 77 target VOCs (including 54 common VOCs, 13 carbonyl compounds, and 10 taste and odor compounds) were detected in typical drinking water sources from 5 major river basins (the Yangtze, the Huaihe, the Yellow, the Haihe and the Liaohe River basins) and their occurrences were characterized. The ecological, human health, and olfactory assessments were performed to assess the major hazards in source water. The investigation showed that there existed potential ecological risks (1.30 × 10 ≤ RQtotals ≤ 8.99 × 10) but little human health risks (6.84 × 10(-7) ≤ RQtotals ≤ 4.24 × 10(-4)) by VOCs, while that odor problems occurred extensively. The priority contaminants in drinking water sources of China were also listed based on the present assessment criteria. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Impact of phosphate mining and separation of mined materials on the hydrology and water environment of the Huangbai River basin, China.

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Wang, Kang; Lin, Zhongbing; Zhang, Renduo

2016-02-01

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of large-scale phosphate mining (PM) on hydrology and water quality in the Huangbai River basin, China. Rainfall and runoff data were used to analyze hydrological changes of the basin before (from 1978 to 2002) and during (from 2003 to 2014) the PM period. From 2009 to 2014, flow rate and concentrations of ammonia nitrogen (NH4(+)), nitrate (NO3(-)), fluoride (F(-)), suspended solids (SS), total nitrogen (TN), soluble phosphorus (SP), and total phosphorus (TP) were measured at the outfalls of PM as well as at outlets of sub-basins with and without PM practices. Results showed that the PM activities generally reduced runoff (i.e., the runoff coefficient and runoff peak). The sequential Mann Kendall test revealed a decrease trend of runoff during wet seasons after 2008 in the PM regions. For a mining scale of one unit of PM productivity (i.e., 10(8)kg phosphate ore per year or 2.74×10(5) kg d(-1)), TN, SS, and TP of 0.633, 1.46 to 5.22, and 0.218 to 0.554 kg d(-1) were generated, respectively. The NH4(+) and TN loads in the sub-basins with PM were significantly higher than these in the sub-basins without PM; however, the NH4(+) and TN loads that discharged into rivers from the background non-point sources discharged were less in the sub-basins with PM than those without PM. The result was attributed to the reduction of runoff volume by PM. The annual mean concentrations of TN in reservoir water increased with the scales of PM, whereas the mean concentrations of SP were low. Nevertheless, the SP concentrations in the reservoirs greatly increased after 2012, mainly related to the dissolution of apatite in the sediment. The information from this study should improve the understanding of changes in hydrology and water quality in regions with large-scale PM. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Magnetic minerals in three Asian rivers draining into the South China Sea: Pearl, Red, and Mekong Rivers

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Kissel, Catherine; Liu, Zhifei; Li, Jinhua; Wandres, Camille

2016-05-01

The use of the marine sedimentary magnetic properties, as tracers for changes in precipitation rate and in oceanic water masses transport and exchanges, implies to identify and to characterize the different sources of the detrital fraction. This is of particular importance in closed and/or marginal seas such as the South China Sea. We report on the magnetic properties of sedimentary samples collected in three main Asian rivers draining into the South China Sea: the Pearl, Red, and Mekong Rivers. The geological formations as well as the present climatic conditions are different from one catchment to another. The entire set of performed magnetic analyses (low-field magnetic susceptibility, ARM acquisition and decay, IRM acquisition and decay, back-field acquisition, thermal demagnetization of three-axes IRM, hysteresis parameters, FORC diagrams, and low-temperature magnetic measurements) allow us to identify the magnetic mineralogy and the grain-size distribution when magnetite is dominant. Some degree of variability is observed in each basin, illustrating different parent rocks and degree of weathering. On average it appears that the Pearl River is rich in magnetite along the main stream while the Mekong River is rich in hematite. The Red River is a mixture of the two. Compared to clay mineral assemblages and major element contents previously determined on the same samples, these new findings indicate that the magnetic fraction brings complementary information of great interest for environmental reconstructions based on marine sediments from the South China Sea.

Water Budget Closure Based on GRACE Measurements and Reconstructed Evapotranspiration Using GLDAS and Water Use Data over the Yellow River and Changjiang River Basins

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Lv, M.; Ma, Z.; Yuan, X.

2017-12-01

It is important to evaluate the water budget closure on the basis of the currently available data including precipitation, evapotranspiration (ET), runoff, and GRACE-derived terrestrial water storage change (TWSC) before using them to resolve water-related issues. However, it remains challenging to achieve the balance without the consideration of human water use (e.g., inter-basin water diversion and irrigation) for the estimation of other water budget terms such as the ET. In this study, the terrestrial water budget closure is tested over the Yellow River Basin (YRB) and Changjiang River Basin (CJB, Yangtze River Basin) of China. First, the actual ET is reconstructed by using the GLDAS-1 land surface models, the high quality observation-based precipitation, naturalized streamflow, and the irrigation water (hereafter, ETrecon). The ETrecon, evaluated using the mean annual water-balance equation, is of good quality with the absolute relative errors less than 1.9% over the two studied basins. The total basin discharge (Rtotal) is calculated as the residual of the water budget among the observation-based precipitation, ETrecon, and the GRACE-TWSC. The value of the Rtotal minus the observed total basin discharge is used to evaluate the budget closure, with the consideration of inter-basin water diversion. After the ET reconstruction, the mean absolute imbalance value reduced from 3.31 cm/year to 1.69 cm/year and from 15.40 cm/year to 1.96 cm/year over the YRB and CJB, respectively. The estimation-to-observation ratios of total basin discharge improved from 180.8% to 86.8% over the YRB, and from 67.0% to 101.1% over the CJB. The proposed ET reconstruction method is applicable to other human-managed river basins to provide an alternative estimation.

Assessing Vulnerability under Uncertainty in the Colorado River Basin: The Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study

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Jerla, C.; Adams, P.; Butler, A.; Nowak, K.; Prairie, J. R.

2013-12-01

Spanning parts of the seven states, of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming, the Colorado River is one of the most critical sources of water in the western United States. Colorado River allocations exceed the long-term supply and since the 1950s, there have been a number of years when the annual water use in the Colorado River Basin exceeded the yield. The Basin is entering its second decade of drought conditions which brings challenges that will only be compounded if projections of climate change are realized. It was against this backdrop that the Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study was conducted. The Study's objectives are to define current and future imbalances in the Basin over the next 50 years and to develop and analyze adaptation and mitigation strategies to resolve those imbalances. Long-term planning in the Basin involves the integration of uncertainty with respect to a changing climate and other uncertainties such as future demand and how policies may be modified to adapt to changing reliability. The Study adopted a scenario planning approach to address this uncertainty in which thousands of scenarios were developed to encompass a wide range of plausible future water supply and demand conditions. Using Reclamation's long-term planning model, the Colorado River Simulation System, the reliability of the system to meet Basin resource needs under these future conditions was projected both with and without additional future adaptation strategies in place. System reliability metrics were developed in order to define system vulnerabilities, the conditions that lead to those vulnerabilities, and sign posts to indicate if the system is approaching a vulnerable state. Options and strategies that reduce these vulnerabilities and improve system reliability were explored through the development of portfolios. Four portfolios, each with different management strategies, were analyzed to assess their effectiveness at

Simulating and predicting snow and glacier meltwater to the runoff of the Upper Mekong River basin in Southwest China

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Z.; Long, D.; Hong, Y.

2017-12-01

Snow and glacier meltwater in cryospheric regions replenishes groundwater and reservoir storage and is critical to water supply, hydropower development, agricultural irrigation, and ecological integrity. Accurate simulating and predicting snow and glacier meltwater is therefore fundamental to develop a better understanding of hydrological processes and water resource management for alpine basins and its lower reaches. The Upper Mekong River (or the Lancang River in China) as one of the most important transboundary rivers originating from the Tibetan Plateau (TP), features active dam construction and complicated water resources allocation of the stakeholders. Confronted by both climate change and significant human activities, it is imperative to examine contributions of snow and glacier meltwater to the total runoff and how it will change in the near future. This will greatly benefit hydropower development in the upper reach of the Mekong and better water resources allocation and management across the relevant countries. This study aims to improve snowfall and snow water equivalent (SWE) simulation using improved methods, and combines both modeling skill and remote sensing (i.e., passive microwave-based SWE, and satellite gravimetry-based total water storage) to quantify the contributions of snow and glacier meltwater there. In addition, the runoff of the Lancang River under a range of climate change scenarios is simulated using the improved modeling scheme to evaluate how climate change will impact hydropower development in the upper reaches.

The "normal" elongation of river basins

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Castelltort, Sebastien

2013-04-01

The spacing between major transverse rivers at the front of Earth's linear mountain belts consistently scales with about half of the mountain half-width [1], despite strong differences in climate and rock uplift rates. Like other empirical measures describing drainage network geometry this result seems to indicate that the form of river basins, among other properties of landscapes, is invariant. Paradoxically, in many current landscape evolution models, the patterns of drainage network organization, as seen for example in drainage density and channel spacing, seem to depend on both climate [2-4] and tectonics [5]. Hovius' observation [1] is one of several unexplained "laws" in geomorphology that still sheds mystery on how water, and rivers in particular, shape the Earth's landscapes. This narrow range of drainage network shapes found in the Earth's orogens is classicaly regarded as an optimal catchment geometry that embodies a "most probable state" in the uplift-erosion system of a linear mountain belt. River basins currently having an aspect away from this geometry are usually considered unstable and expected to re-equilibrate over geological time-scales. Here I show that the Length/Width~2 aspect ratio of drainage basins in linear mountain belts is the natural expectation of sampling a uniform or normal distribution of basin shapes, and bears no information on the geomorphic processes responsible for landscape development. This finding also applies to Hack's [6] law of river basins areas and lengths, a close parent of Hovius' law. [1]Hovius, N. Basin Res. 8, 29-44 (1996) [2]Simpson, G. & Schlunegger, F. J. Geophys. Res. 108, 2300 (2003) [3]Tucker, G. & Bras, R. Water Resour. Res. 34, 2751-2764 (1998) [4]Tucker, G. & Slingerland, R. Water Resour. Res. 33, 2031-2047 (1997) [5]Tucker, G. E. & Whipple, K. X. J. Geophys. Res. 107, 1-1 (2002) [6]Hack, J. US Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap. 294-B (1957)

Drainage divides, Massachusetts; Blackstone and Thames River basins

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Krejmas, Bruce E.; Wandle, S. William

1982-01-01

Drainage boundaries for selected subbasins of the Blackstone and Thames River basins in eastern Hampden, eastern Hampshire, western Norfolk, southern Middlesex, and southern Worcester Counties, Massachusetts, are delineated on 12 topographic quadrangle maps at a scale of 1:24,000. Drainage basins are shown for all U.S. Geological Survey data-collection sites and for mouths of major rivers. Drainage basins are shown for the outlets of lakes or ponds and for streams where the drainage area is greater than 3 square miles. Successive sites along watercourses are indicated where the intervening area is at least 6 miles on tributary streams or 15 square miles along the Blackstone River, French River, or Quinebaug River. (USGS)

Identification of the Impacts of Climate Changes and Human Activities on Runoff in the Jinsha River Basin, China

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Xiaowan Liu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Quantifying the impacts of climate changes and human activities on runoff has received extensive attention, especially for the regions with significant elevation difference. The contributions of climate changes and human activities to runoff were analyzed using rainfall-runoff relationship, double mass curve, slope variation, and water balance method during 1961–2010 at the Jinsha River basin, China. Results indicate that runoff at upstream and runoff at midstream are both dominated by climate changes, and the contributions of climate changes to runoff are 63%~72% and 53%~68%, respectively. At downstream, climate changes account for only 13%~18%, and runoff is mainly controlled by human activities, contributing 82%~87%. The availability and stability of results were compared and analyzed in the four methods. Results in slope variation, double mass curve, and water balance method except rainfall-runoff relationship method are of good agreement. And the rainfall-runoff relationship, double mass curve, and slope variation method are all of great stability. The four methods and availability evaluation of them could provide a reference to quantification in the contributions of climate changes and human activities to runoff at similar basins in the future.

Linkages between ENSO/PDO signals and precipitation, streamflow in China during the last 100 years

Science.gov (United States)

Ouyang, R.; Liu, W.; Fu, G.; Liu, C.; Hu, L.; Wang, H.

2014-09-01

This paper investigates the single and combined impacts of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) on precipitation and streamflow in China over the last century. Results indicate that the precipitation and streamflow overall decrease during El Niño/PDO warm phase periods and increase during La Niña/PDO cool phase periods in the majority of China, although there are regional and seasonal differences. Precipitation and streamflow in the Yellow River basin, Yangtze River basin and Pearl River basin are more significantly influenced by El Niño and La Niña events than is precipitation and streamflow in the Songhua River basin, especially in October and November. Moreover, significant influence of ENSO on streamflow in the Yangtze River mainly occurs in summer and autumn while in the Pearl River influence primarily occurs in the winter and spring. The precipitation and streamflow are relatively greater in the warm PDO phase in the Songhua River basin and several parts of the Yellow River basin and relatively less in the Pearl River basin and most parts of Northwest China compared to those in the cool PDO phase, though there is little significance detected by Wilcoxon signed-rank test. When considering the combined influence of ENSO and PDO, the responses of precipitation/streamflow are shown to be opposite in northern China and southern China, with ENSO-related precipitation/streamflow enhanced in northern China and decreased in southern China during the warm PDO phases, and enhanced in southern China and decreased in northern China during the cool PDO phases. It is hoped that this study will be beneficial for understanding the precipitation/streamflow responses to the changing climate and will correspondingly provide valuable reference for water resources prediction and management across China.

A Preliminary Study of Water Quality Index in Terengganu River Basin, Malaysia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suratman, S.; Mohd, S.M.I.; Hee, Y.Y.; Bedurus, E.A.; Latif, M.T.

2015-01-01

The Malaysian Department of Environment-Water Quality Index (DOE-WQI) was determined for the Terengganu River basin which is located at the coastal water of the southern South China Sea between July and October 2008. Monthly samplings were carried out at ten sampling stations within the basin. Six parameters listed in DOE-WQI were measured based on standard methods: pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS) and ammonical nitrogen (AN). The results indicated the impact of various anthropogenic activities which contribute to high values of BOD, COD, TSS and AN at middle and downstream stations, as compared with the upstream of the basin. The reverses were true for the pH and DO values. The DOE-WQI ranged from 71.5-94.6 % (mean 86.9 %), which corresponded to a classification status range from slightly polluted to clean. With respect to the Malaysia National Water Quality Standards (NWQS), the level of most of the parameters measured remained at Class I which is suitable for the sustainable conservation of the natural environment, for water supply without treatment and as well as for very sensitive aquatic species. It is suggested that monitoring should be carried out continuously for proper management of this river basin. (author)

Landscape Ecological Risk Responses to Land Use Change in the Luanhe River Basin, China

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Ying Li

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Land use change has large effects on natural ecosystems, which is considered to be the main factor in eco-environment change. We analyzed the future characters of land use change by the CLUE-S model and explored landscape ecological risk responses to land use change by the landscape ecological risk index method. Using the Luanhe River Basin as a case study, we simulated future land use change from 2010 to 2030 under 3 scenarios (i.e., trend, high economic growth, and ecological security, and identified the hotspots of land use change. Afterward, we quantitatively investigated the degree of land use development and landscape ecological risk patterns that have occured since 2000 and that are expected to occur until 2030. Results revealed that, under the three scenarios, construction land and forest are expanding mainly at the expense of agriculture land and grassland. The hotspots of land use change are located in the vicinity of Shuangluan and Shuangqiao District of Chengde City in the midstream of the Luanhe River Basin, where urbanization has been strong since 2000 and is projected to continue that way until 2030. During this time period, hotspots of land use development have been gradually transferring from the downstream to the midstream since 2000 and, again, is expected to continue that way until 2030, which will impact the spatial distribution of landscape ecological risk. We found that the landscape ecological risk of the entire basin has shown a negative trend. However, a few areas still have serious ecological risk, which are mainly located in the east of upstream (Duolun County and Weichang County, the middle region (Shuangluan and Shuangqiao District, Chengde County, and Xinglong County, and the downstream (Qinglong County. These can provide key information for land use management, and for helping to prepare future eco-environmental policies in the Luanhe River Basin.

Identification of long-term trends and seasonality in high-frequency water quality data from the Yangtze River basin, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Duan, Weili; He, Bin; Chen, Yaning; Zou, Shan; Wang, Yi; Nover, Daniel; Chen, Wen; Yang, Guishan

2018-01-01

Comprehensive understanding of the long-term trends and seasonality of water quality is important for controlling water pollution. This study focuses on spatio-temporal distributions, long-term trends, and seasonality of water quality in the Yangtze River basin using a combination of the seasonal Mann-Kendall test and time-series decomposition. The used weekly water quality data were from 17 environmental stations for the period January 2004 to December 2015. Results show gradual improvement in water quality during this period in the Yangtze River basin and greater improvement in the Uppermost Yangtze River basin. The larger cities, with high GDP and population density, experienced relatively higher pollution levels due to discharge of industrial and household wastewater. There are higher pollution levels in Xiang and Gan River basins, as indicated by higher NH4-N and CODMn concentrations measured at the stations within these basins. Significant trends in water quality were identified for the 2004-2015 period. Operations of the three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) enhanced pH fluctuations and possibly attenuated CODMn, and NH4-N transportation. Finally, seasonal cycles of varying strength were detected for time-series of pollutants in river discharge. Seasonal patterns in pH indicate that maxima appear in winter, and minima in summer, with the opposite true for CODMn. Accurate understanding of long-term trends and seasonality are necessary goals of water quality monitoring system efforts and the analysis methods described here provide essential information for effectively controlling water pollution.

Identification of long-term trends and seasonality in high-frequency water quality data from the Yangtze River basin, China

Science.gov (United States)

He, Bin; Chen, Yaning; Zou, Shan; Wang, Yi; Nover, Daniel; Chen, Wen; Yang, Guishan

2018-01-01

Comprehensive understanding of the long-term trends and seasonality of water quality is important for controlling water pollution. This study focuses on spatio-temporal distributions, long-term trends, and seasonality of water quality in the Yangtze River basin using a combination of the seasonal Mann-Kendall test and time-series decomposition. The used weekly water quality data were from 17 environmental stations for the period January 2004 to December 2015. Results show gradual improvement in water quality during this period in the Yangtze River basin and greater improvement in the Uppermost Yangtze River basin. The larger cities, with high GDP and population density, experienced relatively higher pollution levels due to discharge of industrial and household wastewater. There are higher pollution levels in Xiang and Gan River basins, as indicated by higher NH4-N and CODMn concentrations measured at the stations within these basins. Significant trends in water quality were identified for the 2004–2015 period. Operations of the three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) enhanced pH fluctuations and possibly attenuated CODMn, and NH4-N transportation. Finally, seasonal cycles of varying strength were detected for time-series of pollutants in river discharge. Seasonal patterns in pH indicate that maxima appear in winter, and minima in summer, with the opposite true for CODMn. Accurate understanding of long-term trends and seasonality are necessary goals of water quality monitoring system efforts and the analysis methods described here provide essential information for effectively controlling water pollution. PMID:29466354

[Seasonal changes of optical absorption properties of river and lake in East Liaohe River basin, Northeast China].

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Yan Yan; Su, Dong Hui; Shao, Tian Tian

2017-06-18

The absorption characteristics of optically active constituents (OACs) in water column are important optical properties and basic parameters of establishing the inverse analysis model. Comparative analyses about seasonal variability of the optical absorption characteristics (phytoplankton, non-algal particles and chromophoric dissolved organic matter absorption characteristics) and water quality status of East Liaohe River basin were conducted based on the water samples in Erlong-hu Reservoir collected in June, September and October of 2011 and samples in East Liaohe River in October of 2012. The results demonstrated that the eutrophication status of Erlonghu Reservoir was lower in June, eutrophic in September and moderately eutrophic in October. Some of the sampling points of the East Liaohe River belonged to the middle trophic level and the other part belonged to the eutrophic level. The absorption coefficient of each component of water increased with increasing nutrient level. Besides, the absorption spectra of total suspended particulate of Erlonghu Reservoir in June and October were similar to that of non-algal particles, and chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) contributed most to the total absorption of water. The absorption spectra of total suspended particulate matter in September were similar to that of phytoplankton and phytoplankton was the dominant contributor to the total absorption. For samples of Erlonghu Reservoir in June and September, a ph (440) and total phosphorus (TP) were correlated closely with each other. Significant correlation between a ph (440) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) of Erlonghu Reservoir in June was observed, while a d (440) was only correlated with Chla. There were positive correlations between a ph (675) and Chla, Carlson index (TLI) in Erlonghu Reservoir (September) and East Liaohe River. Obvious differences of water optical properties were found between river and lake located in the East Liaohe River basin as

Drought Characteristic Analysis Based on an Improved PDSI in the Wei River Basin of China

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Lei Zou

2017-03-01

Full Text Available In this study, to improve the efficiency of the original Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI_original, we coupled the Soil and Water Assessment tool (SWAT and PDSI_original to construct a drought index called PDSI_SWAT. The constructed PDSI_SWAT is applied in the Wei River Basin (WRB of China during 1960–2012. The comparison of the PDSI_SWAT with four other commonly used drought indices reveals the effectiveness of the PDSI_SWAT in describing the drought propagation processes in WRB. The whole WRB exhibits a dry trend, with more significant trends in the northern, southeastern and western WRB than the remaining regions. Furthermore, the drought frequencies show that drought seems to occur more likely in the northern part than the southern part of WRB. The principle component analysis method based on the PDSI_SWAT reveals that the whole basin can be further divided into three distinct sub-regions with different drought variability, i.e., the northern, southeastern and western part. Additionally, these three sub-regions are also consistent with the spatial pattern of drought shown by the drought frequency. The wavelet transform analysis method indicates that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO events have strong impacts on inducing droughts in the WRB. The results of this study could be beneficial for a scientific water resources management and drought assessment in the current study area and also provide a valuable reference for other areas with similar climatic characteristics.

The water footprint of agricultural products in European river basins

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vanham, D; Bidoglio, G

2014-01-01

This work quantifies the agricultural water footprint (WF) of production (WF prod, agr ) and consumption (WF cons, agr ) and the resulting net virtual water import (netVW i, agr ) of 365 European river basins for a reference period (REF, 1996–2005) and two diet scenarios (a healthy diet based upon food-based dietary guidelines (HEALTHY) and a vegetarian (VEG) diet). In addition to total (tot) amounts, a differentiation is also made between the green (gn), blue (bl) and grey (gy) components. River basins where the REF WF cons, agr, tot exceeds the WF prod, agr, tot (resulting in positive netVW i, agr, tot values), are found along the London–Milan axis. These include the Thames, Scheldt, Meuse, Seine, Rhine and Po basins. River basins where the WF prod, agr, tot exceeds the WF cons, agr, tot are found in Western France, the Iberian Peninsula and the Baltic region. These include the Loire, Ebro and Nemunas basins. Under the HEALTHY diet scenario, the WF cons, agr, tot of most river basins decreases (max −32%), although it was found to increase in some basins in northern and eastern Europe. This results in 22 river basins, including the Danube, shifting from being net VW importers to being net VW exporters. A reduction (max −46%) in WF cons, agr, tot is observed for all but one river basin under the VEG diet scenario. In total, 50 river basins shift from being net VW importers to being net exporters, including the Danube, Seine, Rhone and Elbe basins. Similar observations are made when only the gn + bl and gn components are assessed. When analysing only the bl component, a different river basin pattern is observed. (letters)

Simulation of hydrological processes in the Zhalong wetland within a river basin, Northeast China

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X. Q. Feng

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Zhalong National Nature Preserve is a large wetland reserve on the Songnen Plain in Northeast China. Wetlands in the preserve play a key role in maintaining regional ecosystem function and integrity. Global climate change and intensified anthropogenic activities in the region have raised great concerns over the change of natural flow regime, wetland degradation and loss. In this study, two key hydrologic components in the preserve, water surface area and water volume, as well as their variations during the period 1985–2006, were investigated with a spatially-distributed hydrologic modeling system (SWAT. A wetland module was incorporated into the SWAT model to represent hydrological linkages between the wetland and adjacent upland areas. The modified modeling system was calibrated with streamflow measurements from 1987 to 1989 and was validated for the period 2005–2006. The calibration achieved a Nash efficiency coefficient (Ens of 0.86, and the validation yielded an Ens of 0.66. In the past 20 yr, water surface area in the Zhalong wetland fluctuated from approximately 200 km2 to 1145 km2 with a rapid decreasing trend through the early 2000s. Consequently, water volume decreased largely in the preserve, especially in the dry seasons. The situation changed following the implementation of a river diversion in 2001. Overall, the modeling yielded plausible estimates of hydrologic changes in this large wetland reserve, building a foundation for assessing ecological water requirements and developing strategies and plans for future water resources management within the river basin.

Assessing Climate Change Impacts on Water Resources in the Songhua River Basin

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Fengping Li

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The Songhua River Basin (SRB in Northeast China is one of the areas most sensitive to global climate change because of its high-latitude location. In this study, we conducted a modeling assessment on the potential change of water resources in this region for the coming three decades using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT. First, we calibrated and validated the model with historical streamflow records in this basin. Then, we applied the calibrated model for the period from 2020 to 2049 with the projected and downscaled climatic data under two emission scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5. The study results show: (1 The SWAT model performed very well for both the calibration and validation periods in the SRB; (2 The projected temperatures showed a steady, significant increase across the SRB under both scenarios, especially in two sub-basins, the Nenjiang River Basin (NRB and the Lower SRB (LSRB. With regard to precipitation, both scenarios showed a decreasing trend in the NRB and LSRB but an increasing trend in the Upper Songhua River Basin (USRB; and (3, generally, the hydrologic modeling suggested a decreasing trend of streamflow for 2020–2049. Compared to baseline conditions (1980–2009, the streamflow in the NRB and LSRB would decrease by 20.3%–37.8%, while streamflow in the USRB would experience an increase of 9.68%–17.7%. These findings provide relevant insights into future surface water resources, and such information can be helpful for resource managers and policymakers to develop effective eco-environment management plans and strategies in the face of climate change.

77 FR 45653 - Yakima River Basin Conservation Advisory Group; Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-08-01

... Basin Conservation Advisory Group, Yakima River Basin Water Enhancement Project, established by the... Water Conservation Program. DATES: The meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 21, 2012, from 1 p.m. to... the implementation of the Water Conservation Program, including the applicable water conservation...

Evolution of the Lian River coastal basin in response to Quaternary marine transgressions in Southeast China

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Yongjie; Zheng, Zhuo; Chen, Cong; Wang, Mengyuan; Chen, Bishan

2018-04-01

The coastal basin deposit in the Lian River plain is among the thickest Quaternary sequences along the southeastern coast of China. The clastic sediment accumulated in a variety of environmental settings including fluvial, channel, estuary/coastal and marine conditions. Detailed investigation of lithofacies, grain-size distributions, magnetic susceptibility, microfossils and chronology of marine core CN01, compared with regional cores, and combined with offshore seismic reflection profiles, has allowed us to correlate the spatial stratigraphy in the inner and outer plain and the seismic units. Grain size distribution analysis of core CN-01 through compositional data analysis and multivariate statistics were applied to clastic sedimentary facies and sedimentary cycles. Results show that these methods are able to derive a robust proxy information for the depositional environment of the Lian River plain. We have also been able to reconstruct deltaic evolution in response to marine transgressions. On the basis of dating results and chronostratigraphy, the estimated age of the onset of deposition in the Lian River coastal plain was more than 260 kyr BP. Three transgressive sedimentary cycles revealed in many regional cores support this age model. Detailed lithological and microfossil studies confirm that three marine (M3, M2 and M1) and three terrestrial (T3, T2 and T1) units can be distinguished. Spatial correlation between the inner plain, outer plain (typical cores characterized by marine transgression cycles) and offshore seismic reflectors reveals coherent sedimentary sequences. Two major boundaries (unconformity and erosion surfaces) can be recognized in the seismic profiles, and these correspond to weathered reddish and/or variegated clay in the study core, suggesting that Quaternary sediment changes on the Lian River plain were largely controlled by sea-level variations and coastline shift during glacial/interglacial cycles.

Water and Benefit Sharing in Transboundary River Basins

Science.gov (United States)

Arjoon, D.; Tilmant, A.; Herrmann, M.

2015-12-01

Growing water scarcity underlies the importance of cooperation for the effective management of river basins, particularly in the context of international rivers in which unidirectional externalities can lead to asymmetric relationships between riparian countries. Studies have shown that significant economic benefits can be expected through basin-wide cooperation, however, the equitable partitioning of these benefits over the basin is less well studied and tends to overlook the importance of stakeholder input in the definition of equitability. In this study, an institutional arrangement to maximize welfare and then share the scarcity cost in a river basin is proposed. A river basin authority plays the role of a bulk water market operator, efficiently allocating bulk water to the users and collecting bulk water charges which are then equitably redistributed among water users. This highly regulated market restrains the behaviour of water users to control externalities and to ensure basin-wide coordination, enhanced efficiency, and the equitable redistribution of the scarcity cost. The institutional arrangement is implemented using the Eastern Nile River basin as a case study. The importance of this arrangement is that it can be adopted for application in negotiations to cooperate in trans-boundary river basins. The benefit sharing solution proposed is more likely to be perceived as equitable because water users help define the sharing rule. As a result, the definition of the sharing rule is not in question, as it would be if existing rules, such as bankruptcy rules or cooperative game theory solutions, are applied, with their inherent definitions of fairness. Results of the case study show that the sharing rule is predictable. Water users can expect to receive between 93.5% and 95% of their uncontested benefits (benefits that they expect to receive if water was not rationed), depending on the hydrologic scenario.

Valuing tradeoffs between agricultural production and ecosystem services in the Heihe River Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Z.; Deng, X.; Wu, F.

2017-12-01

Ecosystem services are faced with multiple stress from complex driving factors, such as climate change and human interventions. The Heihe River Basin (HRB), as the second largest inland river basin in China, is a typical semi-arid and arid region with fragile and sensitive ecological environment. For the past decades, agricultural production activities in the basin has affected ecosystem services in different degrees, leading to complex relations among "water-land-climate-ecology-human", in which hydrological process and water resource management is the key. In this context, managing trade-offs among water uses in the river basin to sustain multiple ecosystem services is crucial for healthy ecosystem and sustainable socioeconomic development. In this study, we analyze the trade-offs between different water uses in agricultural production and key ecosystem services in the HRB by applying production frontier analysis, with the aim to explore the potential for managing them. This method traces out joint production frontiers showing the combinations of ecosystem services and agricultural production that can be generated in a given area, and it deals with the economic problem of the allocation of scarce water resources under presumed objective, which aims to highlight synergies and reduce trade-offs between alternative water uses. Thus, management schemes that targets to both sustain agricultural production and increase the provision of key ecosystem services have to consider not only the technological or biological nature of interrelationships, but also the economic interdependencies among them.

Groundwater quality in the Colorado River basins, California

Science.gov (United States)

Dawson, Barbara J. Milby; Belitz, Kenneth

2012-01-01

Groundwater provides more than 40 percent of California’s drinking water. To protect this vital resource, the State of California created the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The Priority Basin Project of the GAMA Program provides a comprehensive assessment of the State’s groundwater quality and increases public access to groundwater-quality information. Four groundwater basins along the Colorado River make up one of the study areas being evaluated. The Colorado River study area is approximately 884 square miles (2,290 square kilometers) and includes the Needles, Palo Verde Mesa, Palo Verde Valley, and Yuma groundwater basins (California Department of Water Resources, 2003). The Colorado River study area has an arid climate and is part of the Sonoran Desert. Average annual rainfall is about 3 inches (8 centimeters). Land use in the study area is approximately 47 percent (%) natural (mostly shrubland), 47% agricultural, and 6% urban. The primary crops are pasture and hay. The largest urban area is the city of Blythe (2010 population of 21,000). Groundwater in these basins is used for public and domestic water supply and for irrigation. The main water-bearing units are gravel, sand, silt, and clay deposited by the Colorado River or derived from surrounding mountains. The primary aquifers in the Colorado River study area are defined as those parts of the aquifers corresponding to the perforated intervals of wells listed in the California Department of Public Health database. Public-supply wells in the Colorado River basins are completed to depths between 230 and 460 feet (70 to 140 meters), consist of solid casing from the land surface to a depth of 130 of 390 feet (39 to 119 meters), and are screened or perforated below the solid casing. The main source of recharge to the groundwater systems in the Needles, Palo Verde Mesa, and Palo Verde Valley basins is the Colorado River; in the Yuma basin, the main source of recharge is from

Northern part, Ten Mile and Taunton River basins

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, John R.; Willey, Richard E.

1967-01-01

The northern part of the Ten Mile and Taunton River basins is an area of about 195 square miles within Norfolk, Plymouth, and Bristol Counties in southeastern Massachusetts. The northern boundary of the area (plate 1) is the drainage divide separating these basins from that of the Charles, Neponset, and Weymouth River basins. The western boundary is, for the most part, the divide separating the basins from the Blackstone River basin. The eastern boundary is at the edge of the Brockton-Pembroke area (Petersen, 1962; Petersen and Shaw, 1961). The southern boundary in Seekonk is the northern limit of the East Providence quadrangle, for which a ground-water map was prepared by Allen and Gorman (1959); eastward, the southern boundaries of the city of Attleboro and the towns of Norton, Easton, and West Bridgewater form the southern boundary of the area.

Distributed modeling of landsurface water and energy budgets in the inland Heihe river basin of China

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Y. Jia

2009-10-01

Full Text Available A distributed model for simulating the land surface hydrological processes in the Heihe river basin was developed and validated on the basis of considering the physical mechanism of hydrological cycle and the artificial system of water utilization in the basin. Modeling approach of every component process was introduced from 2 aspects, i.e., water cycle and energy cycle. The hydrological processes include evapotranspiration, infiltration, runoff, groundwater flow, interaction between groundwater and river water, overland flow, river flow and artificial cycle processes of water utilization. A simulation of 21 years from 1982 to 2002 was carried out after obtaining various input data and model parameters. The model was validated for both the simulation of monthly discharge process and that of daily discharge process. Water budgets and spatial and temporal variations of hydrological cycle components as well as energy cycle components in the upper and middle reach Heihe basin (36 728 km² were studied by using the distributed hydrological model. In addition, the model was further used to predict the water budgets under the future land surface change scenarios in the basin. The modeling results show: (1 in the upper reach watershed, the annual average evapotranspiration and runoff account for 63% and 37% of the annual precipitation, respectively, the snow melting runoff accounts for 19% of the total runoff and 41% of the direct runoff, and the groundwater storage has no obvious change; (2 in the middle reach basin, the annual average evapotranspiration is 52 mm more than the local annual precipitation, and the groundwater storage is of an obvious declining trend because of irrigation water consumption; (3 for the scenario of conservation forest construction in the upper reach basin, although the evapotranspiration from interception may increase, the soil evaporation may reduce at the same time, therefore the total evapotranspiration may not

An ecological compensation standard based on emergy theory for the Xiao Honghe River Basin.

Science.gov (United States)

Guan, Xinjian; Chen, Moyu; Hu, Caihong

2015-01-01

The calculation of an ecological compensation standard is an important, but also difficult aspect of current ecological compensation research. In this paper, the factors affecting the ecological-economic system in the Xiao Honghe River Basin, China, including the flow of energy, materials, and money, were calculated using the emergy analysis method. A consideration of the relationships between the ecological-economic value of water resources and ecological compensation allowed the ecological-economic value to be calculated. On this basis, the amount of water needed for dilution was used to develop a calculation model for the ecological compensation standard of the basin. Using the Xiao Honghe River Basin as an example, the value of water resources and the ecological compensation standard were calculated using this model according to the emission levels of the main pollutant in the basin, chemical oxygen demand. The compensation standards calculated for the research areas in Xipin, Shangcai, Pingyu, and Xincai were 34.91 yuan/m3, 32.97 yuan/m3, 35.99 yuan/m3, and 34.70 yuan/m3, respectively, and such research output would help to generate and support new approaches to the long-term ecological protection of the basin and improvement of the ecological compensation system.

Dynamic water accounting in heavily committed river basins

Science.gov (United States)

Tilmant, Amaury; Marques, Guilherme

2014-05-01

Many river basins throughout the world are increasingly under pressure as water demands keep rising due to population growth, industrialization, urbanization and rising living standards. In the past, the typical answer to meet those demands focused on the supply-side and involved the construction of hydraulic infrastructures to capture more water from surface water bodies and from aquifers. As river basins were being more and more developed, downstream water users and ecosystems have become increasingly dependant on the management actions taken by upstream users. The increased interconnectedness between water users, aquatic ecosystems and the built environment is further compounded by climate change and its impact on the water cycle. Those pressures mean that it has become increasingly important to measure and account for changes in water fluxes and their corresponding economic value as they progress throughout the river system. Such basin water accounting should provide policy makers with important information regarding the relative contribution of each water user, infrastructure and management decision to the overall economic value of the river basin. This paper presents a dynamic water accounting approach whereby the entire river basin is considered as a value chain with multiple services including production and storage. Water users and reservoirs operators are considered as economic agents who can exchange water with their hydraulic neighbors at a price corresponding to the marginal value of water. Effective water accounting is made possible by keeping track of all water fluxes and their corresponding transactions using the results of a hydro-economic model. The proposed approach is illustrated with the Eastern Nile River basin in Africa.

Integrated Hydrographical Basin Management. Study Case - Crasna River Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Visescu, Mircea; Beilicci, Erika; Beilicci, Robert

2017-10-01

Hydrographical basins are important from hydrological, economic and ecological points of view. They receive and channel the runoff from rainfall and snowmelt which, when adequate managed, can provide fresh water necessary for water supply, irrigation, food industry, animal husbandry, hydrotechnical arrangements and recreation. Hydrographical basin planning and management follows the efficient use of available water resources in order to satisfy environmental, economic and social necessities and constraints. This can be facilitated by a decision support system that links hydrological, meteorological, engineering, water quality, agriculture, environmental, and other information in an integrated framework. In the last few decades different modelling tools for resolving problems regarding water quantity and quality were developed, respectively water resources management. Watershed models have been developed to the understanding of water cycle and pollution dynamics, and used to evaluate the impacts of hydrotechnical arrangements and land use management options on water quantity, quality, mitigation measures and possible global changes. Models have been used for planning monitoring network and to develop plans for intervention in case of hydrological disasters: floods, flash floods, drought and pollution. MIKE HYDRO Basin is a multi-purpose, map-centric decision support tool for integrated hydrographical basin analysis, planning and management. MIKE HYDRO Basin is designed for analyzing water sharing issues at international, national and local hydrographical basin level. MIKE HYDRO Basin uses a simplified mathematical representation of the hydrographical basin including the configuration of river and reservoir systems, catchment hydrology and existing and potential water user schemes with their various demands including a rigorous irrigation scheme module. This paper analyzes the importance and principles of integrated hydrographical basin management and develop a case

Pechora River basin integrated system management PRISM; biodiversity assessment for the Pechora River basin; Cluster B: biodiversity, land use & forestry modeling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sluis, van der T.

2005-01-01

This report describes the biodiversity for the Pechora River basin Integrated System Management (PRISM). The Pechora River Basin, situated just west of the Ural Mountains, Russia, consists of vast boreal forests and tundra landscapes, partly pristine and undisturbed. The concept of biodiversity is

Study on Variations in Climatic Variables and Their Influence on Runoff in the Manas River Basin, China

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Lei Ren

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Climate change in Northwest China could lead to the change of the hydrological cycle and water resources. This paper assessed the influence of climate change on runoff in the Manas River basin as follows. First, the temporal trends and abrupt change points of runoff, precipitation, and mean, lowest and highest temperature in yearly scale during the period of 1961–2015 were analyzed using the Mann-Kendall (MK test. Then the correlation between runoff and climatic variables was characterized in a monthly, seasonal and yearly scale using the partial correlation method. Furthermore, three global climate models (GCMs from Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5 were bias-corrected using Equidistant Cumulative Distribution Functions (EDCDF method to reveal the future climate change during the period from 2021 to 2060 compared with the baseline period of 1961–2000. The influence of climate change on runoff was studied by simulating the runoff with the GCMs using a modified TOPMODEL considering the future snowmelt during the period from 2021 to 2060. The results showed that the runoff, precipitation, and mean, lowest and highest temperature all presented an increasing trend in yearly scale during the period of 1961–2015, and their abrupt change points were at a similar time; the runoff series was more strongly related to temperature than to precipitation in the spring, autumn and yearly scales, and the opposite was true in winter. All GCMs projected precipitation and temperature, and the runoff simulated with these GCMs were predicted to increase in the period from 2021 to 2060 compared with the baseline period of 1961–2000. These findings provide valuable information for assessing the influence of climate change on water resources in the Manas River basin, and references for water management in such regions.

Fishes of the White River basin, Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Crawford, Charles G.; Lydy, Michael J.; Frey, Jeffrey W.

1996-01-01

Since 1875, researchers have reported 158 species of fish belonging to 25 families in the White River Basin. Of these species, 6 have not been reported since 1900 and 10 have not been reported since 1943. Since the 1820's, fish communities in the White River Basin have been affected by the alteration of stream habitat, overfishing, the introduction of non-native species, agriculture, and urbanization. Erosion resulting from conversion of forest land to cropland in the 1800's led to siltation of streambeds and resulted in the loss of some silt-sensitive species. In the early 1900's, the water quality of the White River was seriously degraded for 100 miles by untreated sewage from the City of Indianapolis. During the last 25 years, water quality in the basin has improved because of efforts to control water pollution. Fish communities in the basin have responded favorably to the improved water quality.

Distribution and migration mechanism of fluoride in groundwater in the Manas River Basin, Northwest China

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yalei; Jin, Menggui; Ma, Bin; Wang, Jianjun

2018-04-01

Elevated fluoride (F) concentration in groundwater is posing a public health risk in the Manas River Basin (MRB), Northwest China. Based on the characterization of regional groundwater flow, 90 groundwater samples from aquifers were analyzed, along with top-soil leachate and pore-water samples from aquitards. Stable oxygen (δ18O) and hydrogen isotopes, radiocarbon and hydrochemical analyses of the groundwater and pore-water samples were conducted to trace groundwater hydrological and hydrochemical processes and thereby understand the distribution and migration mechanism of F. The groundwater is recharged by meteoric precipitation through vapor condensation processes in the Tianshan Mountains. The F concentration in groundwater samples from this basin ranged from 0.11 to 48.15 mg/L (mean 2.56 mg/L). In 37 of the 90 groundwater samples, the F concentrations were above the safe level for drinking water. The F concentrations progressively increased with the residence time and well depths in the northwest of the alluvial-fluvial plain, where groundwater is overexploited for agricultural and domestic use. Positive correlations between F and sodium (Na)/calcium (Ca) indicate that the enrichment and migration of F are influenced by cation exchange processes under high-Na and alkaline pH conditions. The relationships between δ18O and F and chloride (Cl) concentrations were nonlinear due to leaching and mixing processes. This shows that vertical leaching by irrigation return flow and mixing with pore water are the dominant processes driving the migration of F in the groundwater flow system of MRB, in addition to geochemical processes.

The tritium balance of the Ems river basin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krause, W.J.

1989-01-01

For the Ems river basin, as a fine example of a Central European lowland basin, an inventory of the tritium distribution is presented for the hydrologic years 1951 to 1983. On the basis of a balance model, the tritium contents in surface waters and groundwater of the Ems river basin are calculated, using known and extrapolated tritium input data and comparing them with the corresponding values measured since 1974. A survey of tritium flows occurring in this basin is presented, taking meteorologic and hydrologic facts into account. (orig.)

Characterization of gas hydrate distribution using conventional 3D seismic data in the Pearl River Mouth Basin, South China Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiujuan; Qiang, Jin; Collett, Timothy S.; Shi, Hesheng; Yang, Shengxiong; Yan, Chengzhi; Li, Yuanping; Wang, Zhenzhen; Chen, Duanxin

2016-01-01

A new 3D seismic reflection data volume acquired in 2012 has allowed for the detailed mapping and characterization of gas hydrate distribution in the Pearl River Mouth Basin in the South China Sea. Previous studies of core and logging data showed that gas hydrate occurrence at high concentrations is controlled by the presence of relatively coarse-grained sediment and the upward migration of thermogenic gas from the deeper sediment section into the overlying gas hydrate stability zone (BGHSZ); however, the spatial distribution of the gas hydrate remains poorly defined. We used a constrained sparse spike inversion technique to generate acoustic-impedance images of the hydrate-bearing sedimentary section from the newly acquired 3D seismic data volume. High-amplitude reflections just above the bottom-simulating reflectors (BSRs) were interpreted to be associated with the accumulation of gas hydrate with elevated saturations. Enhanced seismic reflections below the BSRs were interpreted to indicate the presence of free gas. The base of the BGHSZ was established using the occurrence of BSRs. In areas absent of well-developed BSRs, the BGHSZ was calculated from a model using the inverted P-wave velocity and subsurface temperature data. Seismic attributes were also extracted along the BGHSZ that indicate variations reservoir properties and inferred hydrocarbon accumulations at each site. Gas hydrate saturations estimated from the inversion of acoustic impedance of conventional 3D seismic data, along with well-log-derived rock-physics models were also used to estimate gas hydrate saturations. Our analysis determined that the gas hydrate petroleum system varies significantly across the Pearl River Mouth Basin and that variability in sedimentary properties as a product of depositional processes and the upward migration of gas from deeper thermogenic sources control the distribution of gas hydrates in this basin.

Differentiating climate- and human-induced drivers of grassland degradation in the Liao River Basin, China.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Chunyang; Tian, Jie; Gao, Bin; Zhao, Yuanyuan

2015-01-01

Quantitatively distinguishing grassland degradation due to climatic variations from that due to human activities is of great significance to effectively governing degraded grassland and realizing sustainable utilization. The objective of this study was to differentiate these two types of drivers in the Liao River Basin during 1999-2009 using the residual trend (RESTREND) method and to evaluate the applicability of the method in semiarid and semihumid regions. The relationship between the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and each climatic factor was first determined. Then, the primary driver of grassland degradation was identified by calculating the change trend of the normalized residuals between the observed and the predicted NDVI assuming that climate change was the only driver. We found that the RESTREND method can be used to quantitatively and effectively differentiate climate and human drivers of grassland degradation. We also found that the grassland degradation in the Liao River Basin was driven by both natural processes and human activities. The driving factors of grassland degradation varied greatly across the study area, which included regions having different precipitation and altitude. The degradation in the Horqin Sandy Land, with lower altitude, was driven mainly by human activities, whereas that in the Kungl Prairie, with higher altitude and lower precipitation, was caused primarily by climate change. Therefore, the drivers of degradation and local conditions should be considered in an appropriate strategy for grassland management to promote the sustainability of grasslands in the Liao River Basin.

Zinc and Its Isotopes in the Loire River Basin, France

Science.gov (United States)

Millot, R.; Desaulty, A. M.; Bourrain, X.

2014-12-01

The contribution of human activities such as industries, agriculture and domestic inputs, becomes more and more significant in the chemical composition of the dissolved load of rivers. Human factors act as a supplementary key process. Therefore the mass-balance for the budget of catchments and river basins include anthropogenic disturbances. The Loire River in central France is approximately 1010 km long and drains an area of 117,800 km2. In the upper basin, the bedrock is old plutonic rock overlain by much younger volcanic rocks. The intermediate basin includes three major tributaries flowing into the Loire River from the left bank: the Cher, the Indre and the Vienne rivers; the main stream flows westward and its valley stretches toward the Atlantic Ocean. Here, the Loire River drains the sedimentary series of the Paris Basin, mainly carbonate deposits. The lower Loire basin drains pre-Mesozoic basement of the Armorican Massif and its overlying Mesozoic to Cenozoic sedimentary deposits. The Loire River is one of the main European riverine inputs to the Atlantic ocean. Here we are reporting concentration and isotope data for Zn in river waters and suspended sediments from the Loire River Basin. In addition, we also report concentration and isotope data for the different industrial sources within the Loire Basin, as well as data for biota samples such as mussels and oysters from the Bay of Biscay and North Brittany. These organisms are known to be natural accumulators of metal pollutants. Zinc isotopic compositions are rather homogeneous in river waters with δ66Zn values ranging from 0.21 to 0.39‰. This range of variation is very different from anthropogenic signature (industrial and/or agriculture release) that displays δ66Zn values between 0.02 to 0.14‰. This result is in agreement with a geogenic origin and the low Zn concentrations in the Loire River Basin (from 0.8 to 6 µg/L).

Optimizing Irrigation Water Allocation under Multiple Sources of Uncertainty in an Arid River Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Y.; Tang, D.; Gao, H.; Ding, Y.

2015-12-01

Population growth and climate change add additional pressures affecting water resources management strategies for meeting demands from different economic sectors. It is especially challenging in arid regions where fresh water is limited. For instance, in the Tailanhe River Basin (Xinjiang, China), a compromise must be made between water suppliers and users during drought years. This study presents a multi-objective irrigation water allocation model to cope with water scarcity in arid river basins. To deal with the uncertainties from multiple sources in the water allocation system (e.g., variations of available water amount, crop yield, crop prices, and water price), the model employs a interval linear programming approach. The multi-objective optimization model developed from this study is characterized by integrating eco-system service theory into water-saving measures. For evaluation purposes, the model is used to construct an optimal allocation system for irrigation areas fed by the Tailan River (Xinjiang Province, China). The objective functions to be optimized are formulated based on these irrigation areas' economic, social, and ecological benefits. The optimal irrigation water allocation plans are made under different hydroclimate conditions (wet year, normal year, and dry year), with multiple sources of uncertainty represented. The modeling tool and results are valuable for advising decision making by the local water authority—and the agricultural community—especially on measures for coping with water scarcity (by incorporating uncertain factors associated with crop production planning).

Streamflow distribution maps for the Cannon River drainage basin, southeast Minnesota, and the St. Louis River drainage basin, northeast Minnesota

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Erik A.; Sanocki, Chris A.; Lorenz, David L.; Jacobsen, Katrin E.

2017-12-27

Streamflow distribution maps for the Cannon River and St. Louis River drainage basins were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, to illustrate relative and cumulative streamflow distributions. The Cannon River was selected to provide baseline data to assess the effects of potential surficial sand mining, and the St. Louis River was selected to determine the effects of ongoing Mesabi Iron Range mining. Each drainage basin (Cannon, St. Louis) was subdivided into nested drainage basins: the Cannon River was subdivided into 152 nested drainage basins, and the St. Louis River was subdivided into 353 nested drainage basins. For each smaller drainage basin, the estimated volumes of groundwater discharge (as base flow) and surface runoff flowing into all surface-water features were displayed under the following conditions: (1) extreme low-flow conditions, comparable to an exceedance-probability quantile of 0.95; (2) low-flow conditions, comparable to an exceedance-probability quantile of 0.90; (3) a median condition, comparable to an exceedance-probability quantile of 0.50; and (4) a high-flow condition, comparable to an exceedance-probability quantile of 0.02.Streamflow distribution maps were developed using flow-duration curve exceedance-probability quantiles in conjunction with Soil-Water-Balance model outputs; both the flow-duration curve and Soil-Water-Balance models were built upon previously published U.S. Geological Survey reports. The selected streamflow distribution maps provide a proactive water management tool for State cooperators by illustrating flow rates during a range of hydraulic conditions. Furthermore, after the nested drainage basins are highlighted in terms of surface-water flows, the streamflows can be evaluated in the context of meeting specific ecological flows under different flow regimes and potentially assist with decisions regarding groundwater and surface

Sustainable management of river oases along the Tarim River (SuMaRiO) in Northwest China under conditions of climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Rumbaur, C.; Thevs, N.; Disse, M.; Ahlheim, M.; Brieden, A.; Cyffka, B.; Duethmann, D.; Feike, T.; Frör, O.; Gärtner, P.; Halik, Ü.; Hill, J.; Hinnenthal, M.; Keilholz, P.; Kleinschmit, B.; Krysanova, V.; Kuba, M.; Mader, S.; Menz, C.; Othmanli, H.; Pelz, S.; Schroeder, M.; Siew, T. F.; Stender, V.; Stahr, K.; Thomas, F. M.; Welp, M.; Wortmann, M.; Zhao, X.; Chen, X.; Jiang, T.; Luo, J.; Yimit, H.; Yu, R.; Zhang, X.; Zhao, C.

2015-03-01

The Tarim River basin, located in Xinjiang, NW China, is the largest endorheic river basin in China and one of the largest in all of Central Asia. Due to the extremely arid climate, with an annual precipitation of less than 100 mm, the water supply along the Aksu and Tarim rivers solely depends on river water. This is linked to anthropogenic activities (e.g., agriculture) and natural and semi-natural ecosystems as both compete for water. The ongoing increase in water consumption by agriculture and other human activities in this region has been enhancing the competition for water between human needs and nature. Against this background, 11 German and 6 Chinese universities and research institutes have formed the consortium SuMaRiO (Sustainable Management of River Oases along the Tarim River; de"target="_blank">http://www.sumario.de), which aims to create a holistic picture of the availability of water resources in the Tarim River basin and the impacts on anthropogenic activities and natural ecosystems caused by the water distribution within the Tarim River basin. On the basis of the results from field studies and modeling approaches as well as from suggestions by the relevant regional stakeholders, a decision support tool (DST) will be implemented that will then assist stakeholders in balancing the competition for water, acknowledging the major external effects of water allocation to agriculture and to natural ecosystems. This consortium was formed in 2011 and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. As the data collection phase was finished this year, the paper presented here brings together the results from the fields from the disciplines of climate modeling, cryology, hydrology, agricultural sciences, ecology, geoinformatics, and social sciences in order to present a comprehensive picture of the effects of different water availability schemes on anthropogenic activities and natural ecosystems along the Tarim River. The second objective

A DYNAMIC APPROACH TO CALCULATE SHADOW PRICES OF WATER RESOURCES FOR NINE MAJOR RIVERS IN CHINA

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Jing HE; Xikang CHEN; Yong SHI

2006-01-01

China is experiencing from serious water issues. There are many differences among the Nine Major Rivers basins of China in the construction of dikes, reservoirs, floodgates, flood discharge projects, flood diversion projects, water ecological construction, water conservancy management, etc.The shadow prices of water resources for Nine Major Rivers can provide suggestions to the Chinese government. This article develops a dynamic shadow prices approach based on a multiperiod input-output optimizing model. Unlike previous approaches, the new model is based on the dynamic computable general equilibrium (DCGE) model to solve the problem of marginal long-term prices of water resources.First, definitions and algorithms of DCGE are elaborated. Second, the results of shadow prices of water resources for Nine Major Rivers in 1949-2050 in China using the National Water Conservancy input-holding-output table for Nine Major Rivers in 1999 are listed. A conclusion of this article is that the shadow prices of water resources for Nine Major Rivers are largely based on the extent of scarcity.Selling prices of water resources should be revised via the usage of parameters representing shadow prices.

Analysis on biomass and productivity of epilithic algae and their relations to environmental factors in the Gufu River basin, Three Gorges Reservoir area, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Ge, Jiwen; Wu, Shuyuan; Touré, Dado; Cheng, Lamei; Miao, Wenjie; Cao, Huafen; Pan, Xiaoying; Li, Jianfeng; Yao, Minmin; Feng, Liang

2017-12-01

The main purpose of this study conducted from August 2010 was to find biomass and productivity of epilithic algae and their relations to environmental factors and try to explore the restrictive factors affecting the growth of algae in the Gufu River, the one of the branches of Xiangxi River located in the Three Gorges Reservoir of the Yangtze River, Hubei Province, Central China. An improved method of in situ primary productivity measurement was utilized to estimate the primary production of the epilithic algae. It was shown that in rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, algae are the main primary producers and have a central role in the ecosystem. Chlorophyll a concentration and ash-free dry mass (AFDM) were estimated for epilithic algae of the Gufu River basin in Three Gorges Reservoir area. Environmental factors in the Gufu River ecosystem highlighted differences in periphyton chlorophyll a ranging from 1.49 mg m -2 (origin) to 69.58 mg m -2 (terminal point). The minimum and maximum gross primary productivity of epilithic algae were 96.12 and 1439.89 mg C m -2  day -1 , respectively. The mean net primary productivity was 290.24 mg C m -2  day -1 . The mean autotrophic index (AFDM:chlorophyll a) was 407.40. The net primary productivity, community respiration ratio (P/R ratio) ranged from 0.98 to 9.25 with a mean of 2.76, showed that autotrophic productivity was dominant in the river. Relationship between physicochemical characteristics and biomass was discussed through cluster and stepwise regression analysis which indicated that altitude, total nitrogen (TN), NO 3 - -N, and NH 4 + -N were significant environmental factors affecting the biomass of epilithic algae. However, a negative logarithmic relationship between altitude and the chlorophyll a of epilithic algae was high. The results also highlighted the importance of epilithic algae in maintaining the Gufu River basin ecosystems health.

Time still to restore the polluted Piracicaba river basin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Favaro, P.C.; De Nadai Fernandes, E.A.; Ferraz, E.S.B.; Falotico, M.H.B.

2004-01-01

Over the last decades the acceleration of the industrialization and urbanization processes together with the intensive agricultural practices have resulted in an impact on the Piracicaba river basin, state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The source rivers drain from an area of low population density, absence of heavy industries, non-significant agriculture, native forest and reforestation, the opposite is found in the middle part of the basin. Samples of riverbed sediments were collected along the basin for chemical analysis. Results showed that the source rivers still preserve their natural characteristics, while the Atibaia river in the middle part shows signs of pollution from the agricultural activity, industrial effluents and urban sewage. (author)

Evaluation TRMM Rainfall Data In Hydrological Modeling For An Ungaged In Lhasa River Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Ji, H. J.; Liu, J.

2017-12-01

Evaluation TRMM Rainfall Data In Hydrological Modeling For An Ungaged In Lhasa River BasinHaijuan Ji1* Jintao Liu1,2 Shanshan Xu1___________________ 1College of Hydrology and Water Resources, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, People's Republic of China 2State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, People's Republic of China ___________________ * Corresponding author. Tel.: +86-025-83786973; Fax: +86-025-83786606. E-mail address: Hhu201510@163.com (H.J. Ji). Abstract: The Tibetan Plateau plays an important role in regulating the regional hydrological processes due to its high elevations and being the headwaters of many major Asian river basins. If familiar with the distribution of hydrological characteristics, will help us improve the level of development and utilization the water resources. However, there exist glaciers and snow with few sites. It is significance for us to understand the glacier and snow hydrological process in order to recognize the evolution of water resources in the Tibetan. This manuscript takes Lhasa River as the study area, taking use of ground, remote sensing and assimilation data, taking advantage of high precision TRMM precipitation data and MODIS snow cover data, first, according to the data from ground station evaluation of TRMM data in the application of the accuracy of the Lhasa River, and based on MODIS data fusion of multi source microwave snow making cloudless snow products, which are used for discriminant and analysis glacier and snow regulation mechanism on day scale, add snow and glacier unit into xinanjing model, this model can simulate the study region's runoff evolution, parameter sensitivity even spatial variation of hydrological characteristics the next ten years on region grid scale. The results of hydrological model in Lhasa River can simulate the glacier and snow runoff variation in high cold region better, to enhance the predictive ability of the spring

Adaptive Fusion of Information for Seeing into Ordos Basin, China: A China-Germany-US Joint Venture.

Science.gov (United States)

Yeh, T. C. J.; Yin, L.; Sauter, M.; Hu, R.; Ptak, T.; Hou, G. C.

2014-12-01

Adaptive fusion of information for seeing into geological basins is the theme of this joint venture. The objective of this venture is to initiate possible collaborations between scientists from China, Germany, and US to develop innovative technologies, which can be utilized to characterize geological and hydrological structures and processes as well as other natural resources in regional scale geological basins of hundreds of thousands of kilometers (i.e., the Ordos Basin, China). This adaptive fusion of information aims to assimilate active (manmade) and passive (natural) hydrologic and geophysical tomography surveys to enhance our ability of seeing into hydrogeological basins at the resolutions of our interests. The active hydrogeophysical tomography refers to recently developed hydraulic tomgoraphic surveys by Chinese and German scientists, as well as well-established geophysical tomography surveys (such as electrical resistivity tomography, cross-borehole radars, electrical magnetic surveys). These active hydrogeophysical tomgoraphic surveys have been proven to be useful high-resolution surveys for geological media of tens and hundreds of meters wide and deep. For basin-scale (i.e., tens and hundreds of kilometers) problems, their applicabilities are however rather limited. The passive hydrogeophysical tomography refers to unexplored technologies that exploit natural stimuli as energy sources for tomographic surveys, which include direct lightning strikes, groundwater level fluctuations due to earthquakes, river stage fluctuations, precipitation storms, barometric pressure variations, and long term climate changes. These natural stimuli are spatially varying, recurrent, and powerful, influencing geological media over great distances and depths (e.g., tens and hundreds of kilometers). Monitoring hydrological and geophysical responses of geological media to these stimuli at different locations is tantamount to collecting data of naturally occurring tomographic

Thermal-history reconstruction of the Baiyun Sag in the deep-water area of the Pearl River Mouth Basin, northern South China Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Xiaoyin; Yang, Shuchun; Hu, Shengbiao

2017-11-01

The Baiyun Sag, located in the deep-water area of the northern South China Sea, is the largest and deepest subbasin in the Pearl River Mouth Basin and one of the most important hydrocarbon-accumulation depression areas in China. Thermal history is widely thought to be of great importance in oil and gas potential assessment of a basin as it controls the timing of hydrocarbon generation and expulsion from the source rock. In order to unravel the paleo-heat flow of the Baiyun Sag, we first analyzed tectonic subsidence of 55 pseudo-wells constructed based on newly interpreted seismic profiles, along with three drilled wells. We then carried out thermal modeling using the multi-stage finite stretching method and calibrated the results using collected present-day vitrinite reflectance data and temperature data. Results indicate that the first and second heating of the Baiyun Sag after 49 Ma ceased at 33.9 Ma and 23 Ma. Reconstructed average basal paleoheat flow values at the end of the rifting periods are 57.7-86.2 mW/m2 and 66.7-97.3 mW/m2, respectively. Following the last heating period at 23 Ma, the study area has undergone a persistent thermal attenuation phase, and basal heat flow has cooled down to 64.0-79.2 mW/m2 at present.

Studying groundwater and surface water interactions using airborne remote sensing in Heihe River basin, northwest China

OpenAIRE

Liu, C.; Liu, J.; Hu, Y.; Zheng, C.

2015-01-01

Managing surface water and groundwater as a unified system is important for water resource exploitation and aquatic ecosystem conservation. The unified approach to water management needs accurate characterization of surface water and groundwater interactions. Temperature is a natural tracer for identifying surface water and groundwater interactions, and the use of remote sensing techniques facilitates basin-scale temperature measurement. This study focuses on the Heihe River basin, the second...

Evaluation on uncertainty sources in projecting hydrological changes over the Xijiang River basin in South China

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Fei; Zhao, Chongxu; Jiang, Yong; Ren, Liliang; Shan, Hongcui; Zhang, Limin; Zhu, Yonghua; Chen, Tao; Jiang, Shanhu; Yang, Xiaoli; Shen, Hongren

2017-11-01

Projections of hydrological changes are associated with large uncertainties from different sources, which should be quantified for an effective implementation of water management policies adaptive to future climate change. In this study, a modeling chain framework to project future hydrological changes and the associated uncertainties in the Xijiang River basin, South China, was established. The framework consists of three emission scenarios (ESs), four climate models (CMs), four statistical downscaling (SD) methods, four hydrological modeling (HM) schemes, and four probability distributions (PDs) for extreme flow frequency analyses. Direct variance method was adopted to analyze the manner by which uncertainty sources such as ES, CM, SD, and HM affect the estimates of future evapotranspiration (ET) and streamflow, and to quantify the uncertainties of PDs in future flood and drought risk assessment. Results show that ES is one of the least important uncertainty sources in most situations. CM, in general, is the dominant uncertainty source for the projections of monthly ET and monthly streamflow during most of the annual cycle, daily streamflow below the 99.6% quantile level, and extreme low flow. SD is the most predominant uncertainty source in the projections of extreme high flow, and has a considerable percentage of uncertainty contribution in monthly streamflow projections in July-September. The effects of SD in other cases are negligible. HM is a non-ignorable uncertainty source that has the potential to produce much larger uncertainties for the projections of low flow and ET in warm and wet seasons than for the projections of high flow. PD contributes a larger percentage of uncertainty in extreme flood projections than it does in extreme low flow estimates. Despite the large uncertainties in hydrological projections, this work found that future extreme low flow would undergo a considerable reduction, and a noticeable increase in drought risk in the Xijiang

Adaptation of Arabidopsis thaliana to the Yangtze River basin.

Science.gov (United States)

Zou, Yu-Pan; Hou, Xing-Hui; Wu, Qiong; Chen, Jia-Fu; Li, Zi-Wen; Han, Ting-Shen; Niu, Xiao-Min; Yang, Li; Xu, Yong-Chao; Zhang, Jie; Zhang, Fu-Min; Tan, Dunyan; Tian, Zhixi; Gu, Hongya; Guo, Ya-Long

2017-12-28

Organisms need to adapt to keep pace with a changing environment. Examining recent range expansion aids our understanding of how organisms evolve to overcome environmental constraints. However, how organisms adapt to climate changes is a crucial biological question that is still largely unanswered. The plant Arabidopsis thaliana is an excellent system to study this fundamental question. Its origin is in the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa, but it has spread to the Far East, including the most south-eastern edge of its native habitats, the Yangtze River basin, where the climate is very different. We sequenced 118 A. thaliana strains from the region surrounding the Yangtze River basin. We found that the Yangtze River basin population is a unique population and diverged about 61,409 years ago, with gene flows occurring at two different time points, followed by a population dispersion into the Yangtze River basin in the last few thousands of years. Positive selection analyses revealed that biological regulation processes, such as flowering time, immune and defense response processes could be correlated with the adaptation event. In particular, we found that the flowering time gene SVP has contributed to A. thaliana adaptation to the Yangtze River basin based on genetic mapping. A. thaliana adapted to the Yangtze River basin habitat by promoting the onset of flowering, a finding that sheds light on how a species can adapt to locales with very different climates.

Geotemperature pattern and geothermal resources in North China Basin

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deng Xiao; Chen Moxing; Xiong Liangping; Zhang Juming [Inst. of Geology. Academis Sinica, Beijing (China)

1995-12-31

Geotemperature pattern of the North China Basin has been studied. Results indicate that the geotemperature pattern of the Basin is in close correlation with its geological structure, mainly controlled by the structural form or the relief of the basement rock. Generally, high heat flow and high geotemperature zone correspond to basement uplifts whereas low heat flow and low geotemperature zone, to basement depressions. As a consequence, a `high-low-high` geotemperature pattern with NE and EW trending was thus formed and is observed in the North China Basin. This pattern has been validated and revealed by mathematical simulation. In the North China Basin, two main thermal water reservoirs are identified: porous type water in the Neogene system and fissure type water in Lower Paleozoic to Mid-Upper Proterozoic limestone bedrocks. The reserve of thermal water and recoverable resource are estimated. Results show that the North China Basin is an area with abundant low-medium temperature thermal water resources. 9 figs., 5 tabs., 10 refs.

River and Reservoir Operations Model, Truckee River basin, California and Nevada, 1998

Science.gov (United States)

Berris, Steven N.; Hess, Glen W.; Bohman, Larry R.

2001-01-01

The demand for all uses of water in the Truckee River Basin, California and Nevada, commonly is greater than can be supplied. Storage reservoirs in the system have a maximum effective total capacity equivalent to less than two years of average river flows, so longer-term droughts can result in substantial water-supply shortages for irrigation and municipal users and may stress fish and wildlife ecosystems. Title II of Public Law (P.L.) 101-618, the Truckee?Carson?Pyramid Lake Water Rights Settlement Act of 1990, provides a foundation for negotiating and developing operating criteria, known as the Truckee River Operating Agreement (TROA), to balance interstate and interbasin allocation of water rights among the many interests competing for water from the Truckee River. In addition to TROA, the Truckee River Water Quality Settlement Agreement (WQSA), signed in 1996, provides for acquisition of water rights to resolve water-quality problems during low flows along the Truckee River in Nevada. Efficient execution of many of the planning, management, or environmental assessment requirements of TROA and WQSA will require detailed water-resources data coupled with sound analytical tools. Analytical modeling tools constructed and evaluated with such data could help assess effects of alternative operational scenarios related to reservoir and river operations, water-rights transfers, and changes in irrigation practices. The Truckee?Carson Program of the U.S. Geological Survey, to support U.S. Department of the Interior implementation of P.L. 101-618, is developing a modeling system to support efficient water-resources planning, management, and allocation. The daily operations model documented herein is a part of the modeling system that includes a database management program, a graphical user interface program, and a program with modules that simulate river/reservoir operations and a variety of hydrologic processes. The operations module is capable of simulating lake

A systematic approach for watershed ecological restoration strategy making: An application in the Taizi River Basin in northern China.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Mengdi; Fan, Juntao; Zhang, Yuan; Guo, Fen; Liu, Lusan; Xia, Rui; Xu, Zongxue; Wu, Fengchang

2018-05-15

Aiming to protect freshwater ecosystems, river ecological restoration has been brought into the research spotlight. However, it is challenging for decision makers to set appropriate objectives and select a combination of rehabilitation acts from numerous possible solutions to meet ecological, economic, and social demands. In this study, we developed a systematic approach to help make an optimal strategy for watershed restoration, which incorporated ecological security assessment and multi-objectives optimization (MOO) into the planning process to enhance restoration efficiency and effectiveness. The river ecological security status was evaluated by using a pressure-state-function-response (PSFR) assessment framework, and MOO was achieved by searching for the Pareto optimal solutions via Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) to balance tradeoffs between different objectives. Further, we clustered the searched solutions into three types in terms of different optimized objective function values in order to provide insightful information for decision makers. The proposed method was applied in an example rehabilitation project in the Taizi River Basin in northern China. The MOO result in the Taizi River presented a set of Pareto optimal solutions that were classified into three types: I - high ecological improvement, high cost and high benefits solution; II - medial ecological improvement, medial cost and medial economic benefits solution; III - low ecological improvement, low cost and low economic benefits solution. The proposed systematic approach in our study can enhance the effectiveness of riverine ecological restoration project and could provide valuable reference for other ecological restoration planning. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Flood Risk Index Assessment in Johor River Basin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmad Shakir Mohd Saudi; Hafizan Juahir; Azman Azid; Fazureen Azaman; Ahmad Shakir Mohd Saudi

2015-01-01

This study is focusing on constructing the flood risk index in the Johor river basin. The application of statistical methods such as factor analysis (FA), statistical process control (SPC) and artificial neural network (ANN) had revealed the most efficient flood risk index. The result in FA was water level has correlation coefficient of 0.738 and the most practicable variable to be used for the warning alert system. The upper control limits (UCL) for the water level in the river basin Johor is 4.423 m and the risk index for the water level has been set by this method consisting of 0-100.The accuracy of prediction has been evaluated by using ANN and the accuracy of the test result was R"2 = 0.96408 with RMSE= 2.5736. The future prediction for UCL in Johor river basin has been predicted and the value was 3.75 m. This model can shows the current and future prediction for flood risk index in the Johor river basin and can help local authorities for flood control and prevention of the state of Johor. (author)

Deriving Scaling Factors Using a Global Hydrological Model to Restore GRACE Total Water Storage Changes for China's Yangtze River Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Long, Di; Yang, Yuting; Yoshihide, Wada; Hong, Yang; Liang, Wei; Chen, Yaning; Yong, Bin; Hou, Aizhong; Wei, Jiangfeng; Chen, Lu

2015-01-01

This study used a global hydrological model (GHM), PCR-GLOBWB, which simulates surface water storage changes, natural and human induced groundwater storage changes, and the interactions between surface water and subsurface water, to generate scaling factors by mimicking low-pass filtering of GRACE signals. Signal losses in GRACE data were subsequently restored by the scaling factors from PCR-GLOBWB. Results indicate greater spatial heterogeneity in scaling factor from PCR-GLOBWB and CLM4.0 than that from GLDAS-1 Noah due to comprehensive simulation of surface and subsurface water storage changes for PCR-GLOBWB and CLM4.0. Filtered GRACE total water storage (TWS) changes applied with PCR-GLOBWB scaling factors show closer agreement with water budget estimates of TWS changes than those with scaling factors from other land surface models (LSMs) in China's Yangtze River basin. Results of this study develop a further understanding of the behavior of scaling factors from different LSMs or GHMs over hydrologically complex basins, and could be valuable in providing more accurate TWS changes for hydrological applications (e.g., monitoring drought and groundwater storage depletion) over regions where human-induced interactions between surface water and subsurface water are intensive.

Atmospheric nitrogen deposition in the Yangtze River basin: Spatial pattern and source attribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, Wen; Zhao, Yuanhong; Liu, Xuejun; Dore, Anthony J.; Zhang, Lin; Liu, Lei; Cheng, Miaomiao

2018-01-01

The Yangtze River basin is one of the world's hotspots for nitrogen (N) deposition and likely plays an important role in China's riverine N output. Here we constructed a basin-scale total dissolved inorganic N (DIN) deposition (bulk plus dry) pattern based on published data at 100 observational sites between 2000 and 2014, and assessed the relative contributions of different reactive N (N r ) emission sectors to total DIN deposition using the GEOS-Chem model. Our results show a significant spatial variation in total DIN deposition across the Yangtze River basin (33.2 kg N ha −1 yr −1 on average), with the highest fluxes occurring mainly in the central basin (e.g., Sichuan, Hubei and Hunan provinces, and Chongqing municipality). This indicates that controlling N deposition should build on mitigation strategies according to local conditions, namely, implementation of stricter control of N r emissions in N deposition hotspots but moderate control in the areas with low N deposition levels. Total DIN deposition in approximately 82% of the basin area exceeded the critical load of N deposition for semi-natural ecosystems along the basin. On the basin scale, the dominant source of DIN deposition is fertilizer use (40%) relative to livestock (11%), industry (13%), power plant (9%), transportation (9%), and others (18%, which is the sum of contributions from human waste, residential activities, soil, lighting and biomass burning), suggesting that reducing NH 3 emissions from improper fertilizer (including chemical and organic fertilizer) application should be a priority in curbing N deposition. This, together with distinct spatial variations in emission sector contributions to total DIN deposition also suggest that, in addition to fertilizer, major emission sectors in different regions of the basin should be considered when developing synergistic control measures. - Highlights: • Total DIN deposition fluxes showed a significant spatial variation in the

Sharing water and benefits in transboundary river basins

Science.gov (United States)

Arjoon, Diane; Tilmant, Amaury; Herrmann, Markus

2016-06-01

The equitable sharing of benefits in transboundary river basins is necessary to solve disputes among riparian countries and to reach a consensus on basin-wide development and management activities. Benefit-sharing arrangements must be collaboratively developed to be perceived not only as efficient, but also as equitable in order to be considered acceptable to all riparian countries. The current literature mainly describes what is meant by the term benefit sharing in the context of transboundary river basins and discusses this from a conceptual point of view, but falls short of providing practical, institutional arrangements that ensure maximum economic welfare as well as collaboratively developed methods for encouraging the equitable sharing of benefits. In this study, we define an institutional arrangement that distributes welfare in a river basin by maximizing the economic benefits of water use and then sharing these benefits in an equitable manner using a method developed through stakeholder involvement. We describe a methodology in which (i) a hydrological model is used to allocate scarce water resources, in an economically efficient manner, to water users in a transboundary basin, (ii) water users are obliged to pay for water, and (iii) the total of these water charges is equitably redistributed as monetary compensation to users in an amount determined through the application of a sharing method developed by stakeholder input, thus based on a stakeholder vision of fairness, using an axiomatic approach. With the proposed benefit-sharing mechanism, the efficiency-equity trade-off still exists, but the extent of the imbalance is reduced because benefits are maximized and redistributed according to a key that has been collectively agreed upon by the participants. The whole system is overseen by a river basin authority. The methodology is applied to the Eastern Nile River basin as a case study. The described technique not only ensures economic efficiency, but may

Colorado River basin sensitivity to disturbance impacts

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Bennett, K. E.; Urrego-Blanco, J. R.; Jonko, A. K.; Vano, J. A.; Newman, A. J.; Bohn, T. J.; Middleton, R. S.

2017-12-01

The Colorado River basin is an important river for the food-energy-water nexus in the United States and is projected to change under future scenarios of increased CO2emissions and warming. Streamflow estimates to consider climate impacts occurring as a result of this warming are often provided using modeling tools which rely on uncertain inputs—to fully understand impacts on streamflow sensitivity analysis can help determine how models respond under changing disturbances such as climate and vegetation. In this study, we conduct a global sensitivity analysis with a space-filling Latin Hypercube sampling of the model parameter space and statistical emulation of the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrologic model to relate changes in runoff, evapotranspiration, snow water equivalent and soil moisture to model parameters in VIC. Additionally, we examine sensitivities of basin-wide model simulations using an approach that incorporates changes in temperature, precipitation and vegetation to consider impact responses for snow-dominated headwater catchments, low elevation arid basins, and for the upper and lower river basins. We find that for the Colorado River basin, snow-dominated regions are more sensitive to uncertainties. New parameter sensitivities identified include runoff/evapotranspiration sensitivity to albedo, while changes in snow water equivalent are sensitive to canopy fraction and Leaf Area Index (LAI). Basin-wide streamflow sensitivities to precipitation, temperature and vegetation are variable seasonally and also between sub-basins; with the largest sensitivities for smaller, snow-driven headwater systems where forests are dense. For a major headwater basin, a 1ºC of warming equaled a 30% loss of forest cover, while a 10% precipitation loss equaled a 90% forest cover decline. Scenarios utilizing multiple disturbances led to unexpected results where changes could either magnify or diminish extremes, such as low and peak flows and streamflow timing

Suitability Evaluation of River Bank Filtration along the Second Songhua River, China

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Lixue Wang

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The Second Songhua River is the biggest river system in Jilin Province, China. In recent years, the rapid economic development in this area has increased the prominence of water resources and water-related environmental problems; these include surface water pollution and the overexploitation of groundwater resources. Bank infiltration on the floodplains of the Second Songhua River is an important process of groundwater-surface water exchange under exploitation conditions. Understanding this process can help in the development of water resource management plans and strategies for the region. In this research, a multi-criteria evaluation index system was developed with which to evaluate the suitability of bank filtration along the Second Songhua River. The system was comprised of main suitability indexes for water quantity, water quality, the interaction intensity between surface water and groundwater, and the exploitation condition of groundwater resources. The index system was integrated into GIS (Geographic Information System to complete the evaluation of the various indicators. According to the weighted sum of each index, the suitability of river bank filtration (RBF in the study area was divided into five grades. Although the evaluation index system and evaluation method are applicable only to the Second Songhua River basin, the underlying principle and techniques it embodies can be applied elsewhere. For future generalization of the evaluation index system, the specific evaluation index and its scoring criteria should be modified appropriately based on local conditions.

Comparative study of carbonic anhydrase activity in waters among different geological eco-environments of Yangtze River basin and its ecological significance.

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Nzung'a, Sila Onesmus; Pan, Weizhi; Shen, Taiming; Li, Wei; Qin, Xiaoqun; Wang, Chenwei; Zhang, Liankai; Yu, Longjiang

2018-04-01

This study provides the presence of carbonic anhydrase (CA) activity in waters of the Yangtze River basin, China, as well as the correlation of CA activity with HCO 3 - concentration and CO 2 sink flux. Different degrees of CA activity could be detected in almost all of the water samples from different geological eco-environments in all four seasons. The CA activity of water samples from karst areas was significantly higher than from non-karst areas (PP3 - concentration (r=0.672, P2 sink flux (r=0.602, P=0.076) in karst areas. This suggests that CA in waters might have a promoting effect on carbon sinks for atmospheric CO 2 in karst river basins. In conditions of similar geological type, higher CA activity was generally detected in water samples taken from areas that exhibited better eco-environments, implying that the CA activity index of waters could be used as an indicator for monitoring ecological environments and protection of river basins. These findings suggest that the role of CA in waters in the karst carbon sink potential of river basins is worthy of further in-depth studies. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Susquehanna River Basin Flood Control Review Study

Science.gov (United States)

1980-08-01

and made recommendations for an intergrated water plan for the Basin and included a specific Early Action Plan. Concerning flood damage reduction, the...transportation and by agriculture as a source of income and occupation. The river served as a source of transportation for trade and commerce and also as a... trade patterns, and labor market areas. The Susquehanna River Basin is largely comprised of BEA economic areas 011, 012, 013, and 016. Figure II shows the

Policy and Practice – River Basins

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Ms Suruchi Bhadwal

nature of rivers in the northern belt- inextricably linked. Exacerbated water stress in some areas. Increasing demands – food and drinking water needs. Socioeconomics. CC Impacts. Glacier-fed basins in the. North. Glacier melt and river flooding,. GLOFs, landslides. Unique socio-cultural settings and political differences.

Study on Law of Groundwater Evolution under Natural and Artificial Forcing with Case study of Haihe River Basin

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You, Jinjun; Gan, Hong; Wang, Lin; Bi, Xue; Du, Sisi

2010-05-01

The evolution of groundwater is one of the key problems of water cycle study. It is a result of joint effect of natural condition and human activities, but until now the driving forces of groundwater system evolution were not fully understood due to the complexity of groundwater system structures and the uncertainty of affecting factors. Geology, precipitation and human activity are the main factors affecting the groundwater system evolution and interact each other, but the influence of such three factors on groundwater system are not clarified clearly on a macroscopic scale. The precipitation changes the volume of water recharge and the groundwater pumping effect the discharge of groundwater. Another important factor influencing balance of groundwater storage is the underlaying that affects the renewablility of groundwater. The underlaying is decided mainly by geological attributes but also influenced by human activited. The macroscopic environment of groundwater evolves under the natural and anthropic factors. This paper study the general law of groundwater evolution among the factors based on the case study in Haihe River Basin, a typical area with dramatic groundwater change under natural precipitation attenuation and gradually increase of water suuply. Haihe River Basin is located in north-China, covers an area of 320,041 km2 with over 40% plain areas. The plain area of Haihe Basin is densely populated with many large and medium-sized cities, including metropolis of Beijing and Tianjin, and concentrated irrigated areas, playing important roles in China's economy and food production. It is the unique basin where groundwater occupies majority of total water supply in China. Long-term groundwater over-exploitation causes a series of ecological and environmental problems that threats the sustainable development. In this paper, the historical process of groundwater balance in Haihe Basin is divided into three phases by decrease of rainfall and increase of water

A Basin Approach to a Hydrological Service Delivery System in the Amur River Basin

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Sergei Borsch

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the basin approach to the design, development, and operation of a hydrological forecasting and early warning system in a large transboundary river basin of high flood potential, where accurate, reliable, and timely available daily water-level and reservoir-inflow forecasts are essential for water-related economic and social activities (the Amur River basin case study. Key aspects of basin-scale system planning and implementation are considered, from choosing efficient forecast models and techniques, to developing and operating data-management procedures, to disseminating operational forecasts using web-GIS. The latter, making the relevant forecast data available in real time (via Internet, visual, and well interpretable, serves as a good tool for raising awareness of possible floods in a large region with transport and industrial hubs located alongside the Amur River (Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur.

Flood Frequency Analysis For Partial Duration Series In Ganjiang River Basin

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zhangli, Sun; xiufang, Zhu; yaozhong, Pan

2016-04-01

Accurate estimation of flood frequency is key to effective, nationwide flood damage abatement programs. The partial duration series (PDS) method is widely used in hydrologic studies because it considers all events above a certain threshold level as compared to the annual maximum series (AMS) method, which considers only the annual maximum value. However, the PDS has a drawback in that it is difficult to define the thresholds and maintain an independent and identical distribution of the partial duration time series; this drawback is discussed in this paper. The Ganjiang River is the seventh largest tributary of the Yangtze River, the longest river in China. The Ganjiang River covers a drainage area of 81,258 km2 at the Wanzhou hydrologic station as the basin outlet. In this work, 56 years of daily flow data (1954-2009) from the Wanzhou station were used to analyze flood frequency, and the Pearson-III model was employed as the hydrologic probability distribution. Generally, three tasks were accomplished: (1) the threshold of PDS by percentile rank of daily runoff was obtained; (2) trend analysis of the flow series was conducted using PDS; and (3) flood frequency analysis was conducted for partial duration flow series. The results showed a slight upward trend of the annual runoff in the Ganjiang River basin. The maximum flow with a 0.01 exceedance probability (corresponding to a 100-year flood peak under stationary conditions) was 20,000 m3/s, while that with a 0.1 exceedance probability was 15,000 m3/s. These results will serve as a guide to hydrological engineering planning, design, and management for policymakers and decision makers associated with hydrology.

Nitrate Pollution and Preliminary Source Identification of Surface Water in a Semi-Arid River Basin, Using Isotopic and Hydrochemical Approaches

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Ying Xue

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Nitrate contamination in rivers has raised widespread concern in the world, particularly in arid/semi-arid river basins lacking qualified water. Understanding the nitrate pollution levels and sources is critical to control the nitrogen input and promote a more sustainable water management in those basins. Water samples were collected from a typical semi-arid river basin, the Weihe River watershed, China, in October 2014. Hydrochemical assessment and nitrogen isotopic measurement were used to determine the level of nitrogen compounds and identify the sources of nitrate contamination. Approximately 32.4% of the water samples exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO drinking water standard for NO3−-N. Nitrate pollution in the main stream of the Weihe River was obviously much more serious than in the tributaries. The δ15N-NO3− of water samples ranged from +8.3‰ to +27.0‰. No significant effect of denitrification on the shift in nitrogen isotopic values in surface water was observed by high dissolved oxygen (DO values and linear relationship diagram between NO3−-N and δ15N-NO3−, except in the Weihe River in Huayin County and Shitou River. Analyses of hydrochemistry and isotopic compositions indicate that domestic sewage and agricultural activities are the main sources of nitrate in the river.

Raptors of the Izdrevaya River Basin, Russia

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Elvira G. Nikolenko

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This article compiles the results of episodic visits of the aurhoes to the basin of the Izdrevaya river during 2012–2016. The main goals of those visits were: to figure out the species composition of nesting fauna of birds of prey, estabishing the manner of nesting pairs’ distribution and designing a system of nestboxes for different species of birds of prey and owls. 8 species of Falconiformes are present in the Izdrevaya river basin, 4 of which are nesting, and 3 species of Strigiformes, 2 of which are nesting. The Black Kite (Milvus migrans has maximum density in the Izdrevaya river basin – 51.83 ind./100km2 (n=93. The Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo is the second in number after the Black Kite, its density being 8.88 ind/100km2 of the total area. The Ural Owl (Strix uralensis, encountered only on two territories in 2012, inhabited 4 nestboxes in 2013 as the result of biotechnical measures taken, and its number increased to 8 pairs successfully breeding in the nextboxes in 2016. Main negative factors for birds of prey in the Izdrevaya river basin were established: electrocution on power lines, illegal logging, illegal construction of dams and the construction of waste-sorting plant with a range of solid municipal waste.

Relationship between urbanisation and pollutant emissions in transboundary river basins under the strategy of the Belt and Road Initiative.

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Yu, Sen; Lu, Hongwei

2018-07-01

Urbanisation has increased the discharge of pollutants, altered water flow regimes, and modified the morphology of transboundary river basins. All these actions have resulted in multiple pressures on aquatic ecosystems of transboundary river basins, undermining the healthy development of their aquatic ecosystems as well as impairing the sustainable economic and social development associated therewith. Quantifying the relationship between socio-economic factors, and water environment systems, and understanding the multiple pressures in their combined impact on environmental fairness of transboundary river basins is challenging, and it is crucial to the strategic planning of the Belt and Road strategy. Here, the Songhua River basin, which is the largest branch of the China-Russia boundary river is taken as the study area. The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) model, which is coupled with the integrated model (pollutant emissions intensity, pollutant discharge efficiency, and pollutant emissions per capita), are used to reveal the spatio-temporal variations in regional pollutant emissions in the SRB. The results show that the features of the EKC are present in the pollutant emissions during economic development of the SRB. It also demonstrates that the turning point value of the EKC appeared when the GDP per capita is around ¥40,000 (CNY) in the SRB, which means that the pollutant emissions show an increasing trend, when the GDP per capita is less than ¥40,000. Our findings could contribute to a better understanding of the coupling relationship between pollutant emissions in transboundary river basins and urbanisation process in water stress to help address water allocation problems. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Spatial and temporal variability of reference evapotranspiration and influenced meteorological factors in the Jialing River Basin, China

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Herath, Imali Kaushalya; Ye, Xuchun; Wang, Jianli; Bouraima, Abdel-Kabirou

2018-02-01

Reference evapotranspiration (ETr) is one of the important parameters in the hydrological cycle. The spatio-temporal variation of ETr and other meteorological parameters that influence ETr were investigated in the Jialing River Basin (JRB), China. The ETr was estimated using the CROPWAT 8.0 computer model based on the Penman-Montieth equation for the period 1964-2014. Mean temperature (MT), relative humidity (RH), sunshine duration (SD), and wind speed (WS) were the main input parameters of CROPWAT while 12 meteorological stations were evaluated. Linear regression and Mann-Kendall methods were applied to study the spatio-temporal trends while the inverse distance weighted (IDW) method was used to identify the spatial distribution of ETr. Stepwise regression and partial correlation methods were used to identify the meteorological variables that most significantly influenced the changes in ETr. The highest annual ETr was found in the northern part of the basin, whereas the lowest rate was recorded in the western part. In the autumn, the highest ETr was recorded in the southeast part of JRB. The annual ETr reflected neither significant increasing nor decreasing trends. Except for the summer, ETr is slightly increasing in other seasons. The MT significantly increased whereas SD and RH were significantly decreased during the 50-year period. Partial correlation and stepwise regression methods found that the impact of meteorological parameters on ETr varies on an annual and seasonal basis while SD, MT, and RH contributed to the changes of annual and seasonal ETr in the JRB.

Development of streamflow projections under changing climate conditions over Colorado River basin headwaters

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W. P. Miller

2011-07-01

Full Text Available The current drought over the Colorado River Basin has raised concerns that the US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation may impose water shortages over the lower portion of the basin for the first time in history. The guidelines that determine levels of shortage are affected by relatively short-term (3 to 7 month forecasts determined by the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center (CBRFC using the National Weather Service (NWS River Forecasting System (RFS hydrologic model. While these forecasts by the CBRFC are useful, water managers within the basin are interested in long-term projections of streamflow, particularly under changing climate conditions. In this study, a bias-corrected, statistically downscaled dataset of projected climate is used to force the NWS RFS utilized by the CBRFC to derive projections of streamflow over the Green, Gunnison, and San Juan River headwater basins located within the Colorado River Basin. This study evaluates the impact of changing climate to evapotranspiration rates and contributes to a better understanding of how hydrologic processes change under varying climate conditions. The impact to evapotranspiration rates is taken into consideration and incorporated into the development of streamflow projections over Colorado River headwater basins in this study. Additionally, the NWS RFS is modified to account for impacts to evapotranspiration due to changing temperature over the basin. Adjusting evapotranspiration demands resulted in a 6 % to 13 % average decrease in runoff over the Gunnison River Basin when compared to static evapotranspiration rates. Streamflow projections derived using projections of future climate and the NWS RFS provided by the CBRFC resulted in decreased runoff in 2 of the 3 basins considered. Over the Gunnison and San Juan River basins, a 10 % to 15 % average decrease in basin runoff is projected through the year 2099. However, over the Green River basin, a 5 % to 8

Atmospheric nitrogen deposition in the Yangtze River basin: Spatial pattern and source attribution.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Wen; Zhao, Yuanhong; Liu, Xuejun; Dore, Anthony J; Zhang, Lin; Liu, Lei; Cheng, Miaomiao

2018-01-01

The Yangtze River basin is one of the world's hotspots for nitrogen (N) deposition and likely plays an important role in China's riverine N output. Here we constructed a basin-scale total dissolved inorganic N (DIN) deposition (bulk plus dry) pattern based on published data at 100 observational sites between 2000 and 2014, and assessed the relative contributions of different reactive N (N r ) emission sectors to total DIN deposition using the GEOS-Chem model. Our results show a significant spatial variation in total DIN deposition across the Yangtze River basin (33.2 kg N ha -1 yr -1 on average), with the highest fluxes occurring mainly in the central basin (e.g., Sichuan, Hubei and Hunan provinces, and Chongqing municipality). This indicates that controlling N deposition should build on mitigation strategies according to local conditions, namely, implementation of stricter control of N r emissions in N deposition hotspots but moderate control in the areas with low N deposition levels. Total DIN deposition in approximately 82% of the basin area exceeded the critical load of N deposition for semi-natural ecosystems along the basin. On the basin scale, the dominant source of DIN deposition is fertilizer use (40%) relative to livestock (11%), industry (13%), power plant (9%), transportation (9%), and others (18%, which is the sum of contributions from human waste, residential activities, soil, lighting and biomass burning), suggesting that reducing NH 3 emissions from improper fertilizer (including chemical and organic fertilizer) application should be a priority in curbing N deposition. This, together with distinct spatial variations in emission sector contributions to total DIN deposition also suggest that, in addition to fertilizer, major emission sectors in different regions of the basin should be considered when developing synergistic control measures. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Hydroclimatology of the Missouri River basin

Science.gov (United States)

Wise, Erika K.; Woodhouse, Connie A.; McCabe, Gregory; Pederson, Gregory T.; St. Jacques, Jeannine-Marie

2018-01-01

Despite the importance of the Missouri River for navigation, recreation, habitat, hydroelectric power, and agriculture, relatively little is known about the basic hydroclimatology of the Missouri River basin (MRB). This is of particular concern given the droughts and floods that have occurred over the past several decades and the potential future exacerbation of these extremes by climate change. Here, observed and modeled hydroclimatic data and estimated natural flow records in the MRB are used to 1) assess the major source regions of MRB flow, 2) describe the climatic controls on streamflow in the upper and lower basins , and 3) investigate trends over the instrumental period. Analyses indicate that 72% of MRB runoff is generated by the headwaters in the upper basin and by the lowest portion of the basin near the mouth. Spring precipitation and temperature and winter precipitation impacted by changes in zonal versus meridional flow from the Pacific Ocean play key roles in surface water supply variability in the upper basin. Lower basin flow is significantly correlated with precipitation in late spring and early summer, indicative of Atlantic-influenced circulation variability affecting the flow of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. Although increases in precipitation in the lower basin are currently overriding the effects of warming temperatures on total MRB flow, the upper basin’s long-term trend toward decreasing flows, reduction in snow versus rain fraction, and warming spring temperatures suggest that the upper basin may less often provide important flow supplements to the lower basin in the future.

Transport and Retention of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Carbon in North America’s Largest River Swamp Basin, the Atchafalaya River Basin

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Y. Jun Xu

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Floodplains and river corridor wetlands may be effectively managed for reducing nutrients and carbon. However, our understanding is limited to the reduction potential of these natural riverine systems. This study utilized the long-term (1978–2004 river discharge and water quality records from an upriver and a downriver location of the Atchafalaya River to quantify the inflow, outflow, and inflow–outflow mass balance of total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN = organic nitrogen + ammonia nitrogen, nitrate + nitrite nitrogen (NO3 + NO2, total phosphorous (TP, and total organic carbon (TOC through the largest river swamp basin in North America. The study found that, over the past 27 years, the Atchafalaya River Basin (ARB acted as a significant sink for TKN (annual retention: 24%, TP (41%, and TOC (12%, but a source for NO3 + NO2 nitrogen (6%. On an annual basis, ARB retained 48,500 t TKN, 16,900 t TP, and 167,100 t TOC from the river water. The retention rates were closely and positively related to the river discharge with highs during the winter and spring and lows in the late summer. The higher NO3 + NO2 mass outflow occurred throughout spring and summer, indicating an active role of biological processes on nitrogen as water and air temperatures in the basin rise.

Correlation between hydrological drought, climatic factors, reservoir operation, and vegetation cover in the Xijiang Basin, South China

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Qingxia; Wu, Zhiyong; Singh, Vijay P.; Sadeghi, S. H. R.; He, Hai; Lu, Guihua

2017-06-01

The Xijiang River is known as the Golden Watercourse because of its role in the development of the Pearl River Delta Regional Economic System in China, which was made possible by its abundant water resources. At present, the hydrological regime of the Xijiang River has now become complicated, the water shortages and successive droughts pose a threat to regional economic development. However, the complexity of hydroclimatological processes with emphasizes on drought has not been comprehended. In order to effectively predict and develop the adaptation strategies to cope with the water scarcity damage caused by hydrological droughts, it is essential to thoroughly analyze the relationship between hydrological droughts and pre/post-dependent hydroclimatological factors. To accomplish this, the extreme-point symmetric mode decomposition method (ESMD) was utilized to reveal the periodic variation in hydrological droughts that is characterized by the Standardized Drought Index (SDI). In addition, the cross-wavelet transform method was applied to investigate the correlation between large-scale climate indices and drought. The results showed that hydrological drought had the most significant response to spring ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation), and the response lags in sub-basins were mostly 8-9 months except that in Yujiang River were mainly 5 or 8 months. Signal reservoir operation in the Yujiang River reduced drought severity by 52-95.8% from January to April over the 2003-2014 time period. Similarly, the cascade reservoir alleviated winter and spring droughts in the Hongshuihe River Basin. However, autumn drought was aggravated with severity increased by 41.9% in September and by 160.9% in October, so that the land surface models without considering human intervention must be used with caution in the hydrological simulation. The response lags of the VCI (Vegetation Condition Index) to hydrological drought were different in the sub-basins. The response lag for the

Baseflow simulation using SWAT model in an inland river basin in Tianshan Mountains, Northwest China

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Y. Luo

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Baseflow is an important component in hydrological modeling. The complex streamflow recession process complicates the baseflow simulation. In order to simulate the snow and/or glacier melt dominated streamflow receding quickly during the high-flow period but very slowly during the low-flow period in rivers in arid and cold northwest China, the current one-reservoir baseflow approach in SWAT (Soil Water Assessment Tool model was extended by adding a slow- reacting reservoir and applying it to the Manas River basin in the Tianshan Mountains. Meanwhile, a digital filter program was employed to separate baseflow from streamflow records for comparisons. Results indicated that the two-reservoir method yielded much better results than the one-reservoir one in reproducing streamflow processes, and the low-flow estimation was improved markedly. Nash-Sutcliff efficiency values at the calibration and validation stages are 0.68 and 0.62 for the one-reservoir case, and 0.76 and 0.69 for the two-reservoir case. The filter-based method estimated the baseflow index as 0.60, while the model-based as 0.45. The filter-based baseflow responded almost immediately to surface runoff occurrence at onset of rising limb, while the model-based responded with a delay. In consideration of watershed surface storage retention and soil freezing/thawing effects on infiltration and recharge during initial snowmelt season, a delay response is considered to be more reasonable. However, a more detailed description of freezing/thawing processes should be included in soil modules so as to determine recharge to aquifer during these processes, and thus an accurate onset point of rising limb of the simulated baseflow.

Water security evaluation in Yellow River basin

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Guiqin; He, Liyuan; Jing, Juan

2018-03-01

Water security is an important basis for making water security protection strategy, which concerns regional economic and social sustainable development. In this paper, watershed water security evaluation index system including 3 levels of 5 criterion layers (water resources security, water ecological security and water environment security, water disasters prevention and control security and social economic security) and 24 indicators were constructed. The entropy weight method was used to determine the weights of the indexes in the system. The water security index of 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015 in Yellow River basin were calculated by linear weighting method based on the relative data. Results show that the water security conditions continue to improve in Yellow River basin but still in a basic security state. There is still a long way to enhance the water security in Yellow River basin, especially the water prevention and control security, the water ecological security and water environment security need to be promoted vigorously.

Development of river flood model in lower reach of urbanized river basin

Science.gov (United States)

Yoshimura, Kouhei; Tajima, Yoshimitsu; Sanuki, Hiroshi; Shibuo, Yoshihiro; Sato, Shinji; Lee, SungAe; Furumai, Hiroaki; Koike, Toshio

2014-05-01

Japan, with its natural mountainous landscape, has demographic feature that population is concentrated in lower reach of elevation close to the coast, and therefore flood damage with large socio-economic value tends to occur in low-lying region. Modeling of river flood in such low-lying urbanized river basin is complex due to the following reasons. In upstream it has been experienced urbanization, which changed land covers from natural forest or agricultural fields to residential or industrial area. Hence rate of infiltration and runoff are quite different from natural hydrological settings. In downstream, paved covers and construct of sewerage system in urbanized areas affect direct discharges and it enhances higher and faster flood peak arrival. Also tidal effect from river mouth strongly affects water levels in rivers, which must be taken into account. We develop an integrated river flood model in lower reach of urbanized areas to be able to address above described complex feature, by integrating model components: LSM coupled distributed hydrological model that models anthropogenic influence on river discharges to downstream; urban hydrological model that simulates run off response in urbanized areas; Saint Venant's equation approximated river model that integrates upstream and urban hydrological models with considering tidal effect from downstream. These features are integrated in a common modeling framework so that model interaction can be directly performed. The model is applied to the Tsurumi river basin, urbanized low-lying river basin in Yokohama and model results show that it can simulate water levels in rivers with acceptable model errors. Furthermore the model is able to install miscellaneous water planning constructs, such as runoff reduction pond in urbanized area, flood control field along the river channel, levee, etc. This can be a useful tool to investigate cost performance of hypothetical water management plan against impact of climate change in

Application of the PRMS model in the Zhenjiangguan watershed in the Upper Minjiang River basin

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L. Fang

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The PRMS model was established for Zhenjiangguan watershed in the upper reach of the Minjiang River basin, China. The results showed that PRMS had an acceptable performance in simulating monthly runoff in the study area. The analysis on the impacts of precipitation changes on hydrological processes indicated that both runoff and evapotranspiration increased with the increase of precipitation. Moreover, evapotranspiration had larger sensitivity to the change of precipitation than runoff.

Integrated water resources management : A case study in the Hehei river basin, China

Science.gov (United States)

Jia, Siqi; Deng, Xiangzheng

2017-04-01

The lack of water resources experienced in different parts of the world has now been recognized and analyzed by different international organizations such as WHO, the World Bank, etc. Add to this the growing urbanization and the fast socio-economic development, the water supply of many urban areas is already or will be severely threatened. Recently published documents from the UN Environmental Program confirms that severe water shortage affects 400 million people today and will affect 4 billion people by 2050. Water nowadays is getting scarce, and access to clean drinking water and water for agricultural usage is unequally distributed. The biggest opportunity and challenge for future water management is how to achieve water sustainability to reduce water consumption. Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is a process which promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources in order to maximize economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems. We take the Heibe river basin where agriculture water there accounted for 90% of total water consumption as an example to study the impacts of IWRM on regional water resources. We calculated the elasticity of substitution values between labor and land, water by each irrigation areas to find the variable elastic value among irrigation areas, and the water-use efficiency based on NPP estimation with the C-fix model and WUE estimation with NPP and ET. The empirical analysis indicated that the moderate scale of farmland is 0.27-0.53hm2 under the condition of technical efficiency of irrigation water and production. Agricultural water use accounted for 94% of the social and economic water consumption in 2012, but water efficiency and water productivity were both at a low stage. In conclusion, land use forms at present in Heihe river basin have a detrimental impact on the availability of ecological water use. promoting water

RESERVES IN WESTERN BASINS PART IV: WIND RIVER BASIN

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Robert Caldwell

1998-04-01

Vast quantities of natural gas are entrapped within various tight formations in the Rocky Mountain area. This report seeks to quantify what proportion of that resource can be considered recoverable under today's technological and economic conditions and discusses factors controlling recovery. The ultimate goal of this project is to encourage development of tight gas reserves by industry through reducing the technical and economic risks of locating, drilling and completing commercial tight gas wells. This report is the fourth in a series and focuses on the Wind River Basin located in west central Wyoming. The first three reports presented analyses of the tight gas reserves and resources in the Greater Green River Basin (Scotia, 1993), Piceance Basin (Scotia, 1995) and the Uinta Basin (Scotia, 1995). Since each report is a stand-alone document, duplication of language will exist where common aspects are discussed. This study, and the previous three, describe basin-centered gas deposits (Masters, 1979) which contain vast quantities of natural gas entrapped in low permeability (tight), overpressured sandstones occupying a central basin location. Such deposits are generally continuous and are not conventionally trapped by a structural or stratigraphic seal. Rather, the tight character of the reservoirs prevents rapid migration of the gas, and where rates of gas generation exceed rates of escape, an overpressured basin-centered gas deposit results (Spencer, 1987). Since the temperature is a primary controlling factor for the onset and rate of gas generation, these deposits exist in the deeper, central parts of a basin where temperatures generally exceed 200 F and drill depths exceed 8,000 feet. The abbreviation OPT (overpressured tight) is used when referring to sandstone reservoirs that comprise the basin-centered gas deposit. Because the gas resources trapped in this setting are so large, they represent an important source of future gas supply, prompting studies

Susquehanna River Basin Hydrologic Observing System (SRBHOS)

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, P. M.; Duffy, C. J.; Dressler, K. A.

2004-12-01

In response to the NSF-CUAHSI initiative for a national network of Hydrologic Observatories, we propose to initiate the Susquehanna River Basin Hydrologic Observing System (SRBHOS), as the northeast node. The Susquehanna has a drainage area of 71, 410 km2. From the headwaters near Cooperstown, NY, the river is formed within the glaciated Appalachian Plateau physiographic province, crossing the Valley and Ridge, then the Piedmont, before finishing its' 444 mile journey in the Coastal Plain of the Chesapeake Bay. The Susquehanna is the major source of water and nutrients to the Chesapeake. It has a rich history in resource development (logging, mining, coal, agriculture, urban and heavy industry), with an unusual resilience to environmental degradation, which continues today. The shallow Susquehanna is one of the most flood-ravaged rivers in the US with a decadal regularity of major damage from hurricane floods and rain-on-snow events. As a result of this history, it has an enormous infrastructure for climate, surface water and groundwater monitoring already in place, including the nations only regional groundwater monitoring system for drought detection. Thirty-six research institutions have formed the SRBHOS partnership to collaborate on a basin-wide network design for a new scientific observing system. Researchers at the partner universities have conducted major NSF research projects within the basin, setting the stage and showing the need for a new terrestrial hydrologic observing system. The ultimate goal of SRBHOS is to close water, energy and solute budgets from the boundary layer to the water table, extending across plot, hillslope, watershed, and river basin scales. SRBHOS is organized around an existing network of testbeds (legacy watershed sites) run by the partner universities, and research institutions. The design of the observing system, when complete, will address fundamental science questions within major physiographic regions of the basin. A nested

Evolution of the alluvial fans of the Luo River in the Weihe Basin, central China, controlled by faulting and climate change - A reevaluation of the paleogeographical setting of Dali Man site

Science.gov (United States)

Rits, Daniël S.; van Balen, Ronald T.; Prins, Maarten A.; Zheng, Hongbo

2017-06-01

The Luo River is located in the southern part of the Chinese Loess Plateau and the northern part of the Weihe Basin, in Central China. In the basin it flows proximal to the site of the Luyang Wetland core, which is an important archive of climate change over the past 1 Myr in this region. In this paper, the contribution of the Luo River to the sedimentary record is analyzed by reconstructing the evolution of this river during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. It is argued that an alluvial fan of the Luo River has contributed to the sedimentary archive until approximately 200-240 ka. From this moment onwards, the fan became incised and terraces began to form. The formation of a new alluvial fan further downstream led to the disconnection of the Luo River from the Luyang Wetland core site. We propose that this series of events was caused by the displacement of an intra-basinal fault and the resultant faulting-forced folding, which caused increased relative subsidence, and thus increased sedimentation rates at the core site. Therefore, a complete sediment record in the 'Luyang Wetland' was preserved, despite the disconnection from the Luo River. The chronology of the fans and terraces was established using existing age control (U-series, ESR, OSL, pIRIR290 and magnetic susceptibility correlation), and through correlation of the loess-paleosol cover to marine isotope stages. Based on sedimentological characteristics of the fluvial sequence, we suggest that incision of the Luo River occurred in two steps. Small incisions took place at transitions to interglacials and the main incision phases occur at the transition from an interglacial to glacial climate. Due to the incision, basal parts of the oldest Luo River alluvial fan are exposed, and it is in one of these exposures that the famous Dali Man skull was retrieved. This study shows that the Dali Man did not live on a river terrace as previously thought, but on an aggrading alluvial fan, during wet, glacial conditions.

Trends and variability of daily precipitation extremes during 1960-2012 in the Yangtze River Basin, China

Science.gov (United States)

Trends and variability of extreme precipitation events are important for water-related disaster prevention and mitigation as well as water resource management. Based on daily precipitation dataset from 143 meteorological stations in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB), a suite of precipitation indices rec...

Applying the input-output method to account for water footprint and virtual water trade in the Haihe River basin in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Xu; Yang, Hong; Yang, Zhifeng; Chen, Bin; Qin, Yan

2010-12-01

The virtual water strategy which advocates importing water intensive products and exporting products with low water intensity is gradually accepted as one of the options for solving water crisis in severely water scarce regions. However, if we count the virtual water embodied in imported products as the water saved for a region, we might overestimate the saving by including the virtual water that is later re-exported in association with the proceeded products made from the originally imported products. This problem can be avoided by accounting for the saved water through calculating water footprint (WF) in domestic final consumptive products. In this paper, an input-output analysis (IOA) based on the water footprint accounting framework is built to account for WF and virtual water trade of final consumptive products in the water stressed Haihe River basin in China for the year 1997, 2000, and 2002. The input-output transaction tables of the three years are constructed. The results show WF of 46.57, 44.52, and 42.71 billion m(3) for the three years, respectively. These volumes are higher than the water used directly in the corresponding years in the basin. A WF intensity (WFI) indicator is then used to assess if the economic activities in the basin are consistent with the virtual water strategy. The temporal change of the WFI is also decomposed by the index number analysis method. The results showed that the basin was silently importing virtual water through the trade of raw and processed food commodities under the background of the whole economic circulation.

Environmental education for river-basin planning

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saha, S K

1980-08-01

Harmonious intervention in land use, a result of environmental education and good planning, can increase the social and economic benefits without precluding development. Modern river basin planning began as a US innovation in 1874 over the subject of water regulation in the west. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was devised as a state tool for comprehensive river basin planning and development. The TVA example was not repeated in the other 10 US basins by the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation, although the concept of unified development has survived as a three-part relationship of physical,biological, and human forces in which any malfunctioning of one subsystem affects the others. This is evident in problems of water transfer from agricultural to industrial functions and changes to drainage patterns. The potential damage from ignoring these relationships can be avoided with true interdisciplinary communications. 24 references, 2 tables. (DCK)

Hydrologic Evaluation of TRMM Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis for Nanliu River Basin in Humid Southwestern China.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Yinjun; Xie, Qiongying; Lu, Yuan; Hu, Baoqing

2017-06-01

The accuracy of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) multi-satellite precipitation analysis (TMPA) daily accumulated precipitation products (3B42RTV7 and 3B42V7) was evaluated for a small basin (the Nanliu river basin). A direct comparison was performed against gauge observations from a period of 9 years (2000-2009) at temporal and spatial scales. The results show that the temporal-spatial precipitation characteristics of the Nanliu river basin are highly consistent with 3B42V7 relative to 3B42RTV7, with higher correlation coefficient (CC) approximately 0.9 at all temporal scales except for the daily scale and a lower relative bias percentage. 3B42V7 slightly overestimates precipitation at all temporal scales except the yearly scale; it slightly underestimates the precipitation at the daily spatial scale. The results also reveal that the precision of TMPA products increases with longer time-aggregated data, and the detection capability of daily TMPA precipitation products are enhanced by augmentation with daily precipitation rates. In addition, daily TMPA products were input into the Xin'anjiang hydrologic model; the results show that 3B42V7-based simulated outputs were well in line with actual stream flow observations, with a high CC (0.90) and Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE, 0.79), and the results adequately captured the pattern of the observed flow curve.

Assessing Management Regimes in Transboundary River Basins: Do They Support Adaptive Management?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G.T. (Tom Raadgever

2008-06-01

Full Text Available River basin management is faced with complex problems that are characterized by uncertainty and change. In transboundary river basins, historical, legal, and cultural differences add to the complexity. The literature on adaptive management gives several suggestions for handling this complexity. It recognizes the importance of management regimes as enabling or limiting adaptive management, but there is no comprehensive overview of regime features that support adaptive management. This paper presents such an overview, focused on transboundary river basin management. It inventories the features that have been claimed to be central to effective transboundary river basin management and refines them using adaptive management literature. It then collates these features into a framework describing actor networks, policy processes, information management, and legal and financial aspects. Subsequently, this framework is applied to the Orange and Rhine basins. The paper concludes that the framework provides a consistent and comprehensive perspective on transboundary river basin management regimes, and can be used for assessing their capacity to support adaptive management.

Multi-linear model of transformation of runoff in river-basins

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Szolgay, J.; Kubes, R.

2005-01-01

The component part of atmospheric precipitations-runoff model of Hron River is a individual model of transformation of flows in river network, too, which transforms runoff from separate partial catchment basin into terminal profile. This component of precipitations-runoff model can also be used as individual hydrologic transformation model of runoff waves in river-basin. Identification and calibration of this model is realised independently on precipitations-runoff model of Hron River, which is described in this chapter in detail.

Probability modeling of high flow extremes in Yingluoxia watershed, the upper reaches of Heihe River basin

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Zhanling; Li, Zhanjie; Li, Chengcheng

2014-05-01

Probability modeling of hydrological extremes is one of the major research areas in hydrological science. Most basins in humid and semi-humid south and east of China are concerned for probability modeling analysis of high flow extremes. While, for the inland river basin which occupies about 35% of the country area, there is a limited presence of such studies partly due to the limited data availability and a relatively low mean annual flow. The objective of this study is to carry out probability modeling of high flow extremes in the upper reach of Heihe River basin, the second largest inland river basin in China, by using the peak over threshold (POT) method and Generalized Pareto Distribution (GPD), in which the selection of threshold and inherent assumptions for POT series are elaborated in details. For comparison, other widely used probability distributions including generalized extreme value (GEV), Lognormal, Log-logistic and Gamma are employed as well. Maximum likelihood estimate is used for parameter estimations. Daily flow data at Yingluoxia station from 1978 to 2008 are used. Results show that, synthesizing the approaches of mean excess plot, stability features of model parameters, return level plot and the inherent independence assumption of POT series, an optimum threshold of 340m3/s is finally determined for high flow extremes in Yingluoxia watershed. The resulting POT series is proved to be stationary and independent based on Mann-Kendall test, Pettitt test and autocorrelation test. In terms of Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Anderson-Darling test and several graphical diagnostics such as quantile and cumulative density function plots, GPD provides the best fit to high flow extremes in the study area. The estimated high flows for long return periods demonstrate that, as the return period increasing, the return level estimates are probably more uncertain. The frequency of high flow extremes exhibits a very slight but not significant decreasing trend from 1978 to

Use of the RHS method in Golijska Moravica river basin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milanović Ana

2006-01-01

Full Text Available River Habitat Survey (RHS is terrain method developed in UK in 1994. for determination of physical character of rivers and river basin. This method is applied for the first time in Golijska Moravica river basin. Two indices which broadly describe the diversity of river habitat and landscape features (Habitat Quality Assessment (HQA and extent and severity of artificial modification to the channel (Habitat Modification Class (HMC has been developed for reporting purposes. These are based on simple scoring systems which have been agreed by technical experts.

Mapping Ecosystem Service Bundles to Detect Distinct Types of Multifunctionality within the Diverse Landscape of the Yangtze River Basin, China

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Lingqiao Kong

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The tradeoffs and synergies of ecosystem services are widely discussed and recognized. However, explicit information for understanding and managing the complex relationships of multiple ecosystem services at regional scales is still lacking, which often leads to the degradation of important ecosystem services due to one ecosystem service being enhanced over another. We assessed the biodiversity and the production of nine ESs (ecosystem services across 779 counties in the Yangtze River Basin, the largest basin in China. Then, we mapped the distribution of ES for each county and used correlations and “partitioning around medoids” clustering analysis to assess the existence of ES bundles. We found five distinct types of bundles of ecosystem services spatially agglomerated in the landscape, which could be mainly explained by land use, slope and altitude gradients. Our results also show landscape-scale tradeoffs between provisioning and almost all regulating services (and biodiversity, and synergies among almost all regulating services (and biodiversity. Mapping ecosystem service bundles can identify areas in a landscape where ecosystem management has produced exceptionally desirable or undesirable sets of ecosystem services, and can also provide explicit, tailored information on landscape planning for ecosystem service conservation and the design of payment policies for ecosystem services within diverse landscapes at watershed scales.

Foundations of the participatory approach in the Mekong River basin management.

Science.gov (United States)

Budryte, Paulina; Heldt, Sonja; Denecke, Martin

2018-05-01

Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) was acknowledged as a leading concept in the water management for the last two decades by academia, political decision-makers and experts. It strongly promotes holistic management and participatory approaches. The flexibility and adaptability of IWRM concept are especially important for large, transboundary river basins - e.g. the Mekong river basin - where natural processes and hazards, as well as, human-made "disasters" are demanding for a comprehensive approach. In the Mekong river basin, the development and especially the enforcement of one common strategy has always been a struggle. The past holds some unsuccessful experiences. In 2016 Mekong River Commission published IWRM-based Basin Development Strategy 2016-2020 and The Mekong River Commission Strategic Plan 2016-2020. They should be the main guiding document for the Mekong river development in the near future. This study analyzes how the concept of public participation resembles the original IWRM participatory approach in these documents. Therefore, IWRM criteria for public participation in international literature and official documents from the Mekong river basin are compared. As there is often a difference between "de jure" and "de facto" implementation of public participation in management concepts, the perception of local stakeholders was assessed in addition. The results of social survey give an insight if local people are aware of Mekong river basin development and present their dominant attitudes about the issue. The findings enable recommendations how to mitigate obstacles in the implementation of common development strategy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Rural Settlement Development and Environment Carrying Capacity Changes in Progo River Basin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Su Ritohardoyo

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Generally the broader rural settlement the heavier population pressure on agricultural land. It indicates that carrying capacity of the rural environment threatened lower. The spatial distribution of the threat in a river basin is quite important as one of the river basin management inputs. Therefore, this article aims at exposing result of research about influence rural population growth and rural settlement land changes to environment carrying capacity. This research was carried out in the rural area in Progo river basin consists 56 sub districts (34 sub districts part of Jawa Tengah Province, and 22 sub districts part of Yogyakarta Special Region. The whole sub districts are such as unit analysis, and research method is based on secondary data analysis. Several data consist Districts Region in Figure 1997 and 2003 (Temanggung, Magelang, Kulon Progo, Sleman and Bantul such as secondary data analysis. Data analysis employs of frequency and cross tabulation, statistics of regression and test. Result of the research shows that population growth of the rural areas in Progo river basin are about 0.72% annum; or the household growth about 3.15% annum as long as five years (1996-2003. Spatial distribution of the population growth in the upper part of the Progo river basin is higher than in the middle and lower part of the basin. The number proportion of farmer in every sub district area in this river basin have increased from 69.95% in 1997 to 70.81% in the year of 2003. It means that work opportunities broadening are still sluggish. However, the number proportion of farmers in the upper part of the Progo river basin is lower than in the middle and lower part of the basin. The rates of settlement land areas changes (0.32 ha/annum as long as five years (1997-2003 is not as fast as the rates of agricultural land areas changes (0.47 ha/annum. Spatial land settlement areas changes in the lower (6.1 ha/annum and middle parts (2.4 ha/annum faster than

Changing climatic conditions in the Upper Thames River Basin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simonovic, S.P.

2009-01-01

'Full text:' Many climate change impact studies have been conducted using a top-down approach. First, outputs from Global Circulation Models (GCMs) are considered which are downscaled in a second step to the river basin scale using either a statistical/empirical or a dynamic approach. The local climatic signal that is obtained is then used as input into a hydrological model to assess the direct consequences in the basin. Problems related to this approach include: a high degree of uncertainty associated with GCM outputs; and an increase in uncertainty due to the downscaling approach. An original inverse approach is developed in this work in order to improve the understanding of the processes leading to hydrological hazards, including both flood and drought events. The developed approach starts with the analysis of existing guidelines and management practices in a river basin with respect to critical hydrological exposures that may lead to failure of the water resources system or parts thereof. This implies that vulnerable components of the river basin have to be identified together with the risk exposure. In the next step the critical hydrologic exposures (flood levels for example) are transformed into corresponding critical meteorological conditions (extreme precipitation events for example). These local weather scenarios are then be statistically linked to possible large-scale climate conditions that are available from the GCMs. The developed procedure allows for the assessment of the vulnerability of river basins with respect to climate forcing. It also provides a tool for identifying the spatial distribution of the vulnerability and risk. Vulnerability is here characterized by the incremental losses, expressed either quantitatively or qualitatively, due to a change in the probability and magnitude of hazard events driven by climatic forcing. Vulnerability is seen as the basis for risk mitigation measures for hydrologic extremes at the basin level. The

Spatio-temporal distribution of fecal indicators in three rivers of the Haihe River Basin, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yawei; Chen, Yanan; Zheng, Xiang; Gui, Chengmin; Wei, Yuansong

2017-04-01

Because of their significant impact on public health, waterborne pathogens, especially bacteria and viruses, are frequently monitored in surface water to assess microbial quality of water bodies. However, more than one billion people worldwide currently lack access to safe drinking water, and a diversity of waterborne outbreaks caused by pathogens is reported in nations at all levels of economic development. Spatio-temporal distribution of conventional pollutants and five pathogenic microorganisms were discussed for the Haihe River Basin. Land use and socio-economic assessments were coupled with comprehensive water quality monitoring. Physical, chemical, and biological parameters were measured at 20 different sites in the watershed for 1 year, including pH, temperature, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, chemical oxygen demand, ammonia-N, total and fecal coliforms, E. coli, and Enterococcus. The results highlighted the high spatio-temporal variability in pathogen distribution at watershed scale: high concentration of somatic coliphages and fecal indicator bacteria in March and December and their very low concentration in June and September. All pathogens were positively correlated to urban/rural residential/industrial land and negatively correlated to other four land use types. Microbial pollution was greatly correlated with population density, urbanization rate, and percentage of the tertiary industry in the gross domestic product. In the future, river microbial risk control strategy should focus more on the effective management of secondary effluent of wastewater treatment plant and land around rivers.

Projection of future runoff change using climate elasticity method derived from Budyko framework in major basins across China

Science.gov (United States)

Xing, Wanqiu; Wang, Weiguang; Zou, Shan; Deng, Chao

2018-03-01

This study established a climate elasticity method based on Budyko hypothesis and enhanced it by selecting the most effective Budyko-type formula to strengthen the runoff change prediction reliability. The spatiotemporal variations in hydrologic variables (i.e., runoff, precipitation and potential evaporation) during historical period were revealed first and the climate elasticities of runoff were investigated. The proposed climate elasticity method was also applied to project the spatiotemporal variations in future runoff and its key influencing factors in 35 watersheds across China. Wherein, the future climate series were retrieved by consulting the historical series, informed by four global climate models (GCMs) under representative concentration pathways from phase five of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project. Wang-Tang equation was selected as the optimal Budyko-type equation for its best ability in reproducing the runoff change (with a coefficient of determination and mean absolute error of 0.998 and 1.36 mm, respectively). Observed runoff presents significant decreasing trends in the northern and increasing trends in the southern regions of China, and generally its change is identified to be more sensitive to climatic variables in Hai River Basin and lower Yellow River Basin. Compared to the runoff during the reference period, positive change rates in the north and negative change rates in the south of China in the mid-21st century can be practically generalized from the majority of GCMs projections. This maybe resulted from the increasing precipitation, especially in parts of northern basins. Meanwhile, GCMs project a consistently upward trend in potential evaporation although significant decreasing trends occur in the majority of catchments for the historical period. The results indicate that climate change will possibly bring some changes to the water resources over China in the mid-21st century and some countermeasures of water resources planning

Exposure risk of young population to lead: A case study in Le'an River Basin in Jiangxi Province, China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, Yanxin; Li, Qi; Wang, Hui; Wang, Bin; Lu, Qun; Yan, Zhenghong; Ding, Aizhong

2016-01-01

Blood lead (Pb) level of children has widely been attracting public concern in China, particularly in the sites near mining or industrial areas. However, the policies about how to efficiently reduce the Pb intake of children are still under discussion. We collected six food types based on the local dietary habits and soils from Dexing, Leping, and Poyang Counties situated along the Le'an River Basin from upstream to downstream, and their Pb contents were analyzed. A Monte Carlo model was used to simulate the dietary chronic daily intake of Pb (CDI_P_b) from various foods and ingested soil by hand-to-mouth activities and its non-carcinogenic risk to children indicated by hazard quotient (HQ). Only in the rural area of Dexing, its soil and vegetables both had higher Pb content than the national tolerance limits of China, resulting its the highest CDI_P_b among all the areas. The Pb contents of the six food types and soils in other sites were overall below the limits. Vegetables and rice accounted for from 63% (Leping, urban) to 85% (Dexing, rural) of the total CDI_P_b and ingested soil overall took up ∼6%. In the rural area, Dexing had the highest proportion (82.8%) of children with HQ > 1, followed by Leping (36.1%) and Poyang (27.7%). Different order was found in the urban areas, i.e. Dexing (46.7%) > Poyang (41.0%) > Leping (26.4%). Vegetables and rice were overall the two major contributors to the total CDI of Pb, which should be focused on to control the Pb intake by the local children, especially for those living in the rural area of Dexing County. - Highlights: • Lead (Pb) contents of the local foods and soils in the Le'an River Basin were analyzed. • The exposure risk of children to Pb was estimated by a Monte Carlo simulation. • Ingested soil by hand-to-mouth activities took up ∼5.9% to their total chronic Pb intake. • Vegetables and rice were the two major contributors to the total intake of Pb. • Children in the rural area near the

Drainage areas of the Potomac River basin, West Virginia

Science.gov (United States)

Wiley, Jeffrey B.; Hunt, Michelle L.; Stewart, Donald K.

1996-01-01

This report contains data for 776 drainage-area divisions of the Potomac River Basin, from the headwaters to the confluence of the Potomac River and the Shenandoah River. Data, compiled in downstream order, are listed for streams with a drainage area of approximately 2 square miles or larger within West Virginia and for U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging stations. The data presented are the stream name, the geographical limits in river miles, the latitude and longitude of the point, the name of the county, and the 7 1/2-minute quadrangle in which the point lies, and the drainage area of that site. The total drainage area of the Potomac River Basin downstream of the confluence of the Shenandoah River at the State boundary is 9,367.29 square miles.

[Dynamic coupling and spatial disparity of economic development and water environmental quality in Songhua River Basin of Jilin Province, Northeast China].

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Li-Hua; Tong, Lian-Jun

2013-02-01

By using coupling model, this paper analyzed the relationships between the economic development and water environment quality in Songhua River Basin of Jilin Province from 1991 to 2010. During the study period, both the economic development index and the water environment index in the Basin showed an uptrend, basically in a coordination state. From the perspective of coupling coordination degree, the economic development and the water environment system were in interactive coupling, with the features of complexity, nonlinearity, and time-variation. As a whole, the coupling experienced three stages, i.e., low level stage, antagonistic stage, and breaking-in stage. As for the coupling degree, the coupling of the economic development and the water environment system was in the first quadrant, i.e., at a development stage of basic coordination. From the perspective of spatial disparity, the coupling degree of the economic development and the water environment system was higher in the upper reaches of the Songhua River Basin, including Changchun and Jilin, than in the lower reaches, including Songyuan and Baicheng. The coupling degree was not only significantly positively correlated with regional economic development, but also affected by the links between the regions as well as the industrial structure within the regions. The economic development of the cities in the upper reaches of the Songhua River Basin was obviously higher than that in the lower reaches, and, due to the adopting of more strict and effective measures for environmental protection and pollution emissions reduction, the water environment quality in the upper reaches of the Songhua River Basin was better.

Social-ecological resilience and law in the Platte River Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Birge, Hannah E.; Allen, Craig R.; Craig, Robin; Garmestani, Ahjond S.; Hamm, Joseph A.; Babbitt, Christina; Nemec, Kristine T.; Schlager, Edella

2014-01-01

Efficiency and resistance to rapid change are hallmarks of both the judicial and legislative branches of the United States government. These defining characteristics, while bringing stability and predictability, pose challenges when it comes to managing dynamic natural systems. As our understanding of ecosystems improves, we must devise ways to account for the non-linearities and uncertainties rife in complex social-ecological systems. This paper takes an in-depth look at the Platte River basin over time to explore how the system's resilience—the capacity to absorb disturbance without losing defining structures and functions—responds to human driven change. Beginning with pre-European settlement, the paper explores how water laws, policies, and infrastructure influenced the region's ecology and society. While much of the post-European development in the Platte River basin came at a high ecological cost to the system, the recent tri-state and federal collaborative Platte River Recovery and Implementation Program is a first step towards flexible and adaptive management of the social-ecological system. Using the Platte River basin as an example, we make the case that inherent flexibility and adaptability are vital for the next iteration of natural resources management policies affecting stressed basins. We argue that this can be accomplished by nesting policy in a resilience framework, which we describe and attempt to operationalize for use across systems and at different levels of jurisdiction. As our current natural resources policies fail under the weight of looming global change, unprecedented demand for natural resources, and shifting land use, the need for a new generation of adaptive, flexible natural resources govern-ance emerges. Here we offer a prescription for just that, rooted in the social , ecological and political realities of the Platte River basin. Social-Ecological Resilience and Law in the Platte River Basin (PDF Download Available). Available

The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Monocentric and Polycentric River Basin Management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bruce Lankford

2010-02-01

Full Text Available Two contemporary theories of river basin management are compared. One is centralised 'regulatory river basin management' with an apex authority that seeks hydrometric data and nationally agreed standards and procedures in decisions over water quality and allocation. This model is commonplace and can be identified in many water training curricula and derivatives of basin management policy. The other, 'polycentric river basin management', is institutionally, organisationally and geographically more decentralised, emphasising local, collective ownership and reference to locally agreed standards. The polycentric model is constructed from the creation of appropriate managerial subunits within river basins. This model emphasises the deployment of hydrologists, scientists and other service providers as mediating agents of environmental and institutional transformation, tackling issues arising within and between the basin subunits such as water allocation and distribution, productivity improvement and conflict resolution. Significantly, it considers water allocation between subunits rather than between sectors and to do this promulgates an experimental, step-wise pragmatic approach, building on local ideas to make tangible progress in basins where data monitoring is limited, basin office resources are constrained and regulatory planning has stalled. To explore these issues, the paper employs the 'Cathedral and Bazaar' metaphor of Eric Raymond. The discussion is informed by observations from Tanzania, Nigeria and the UK.

Effects of climate change on water requirements and phenological period of major crops in Heihe River basin, China - Based on the accumulated temperature threshold method

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Dongmei; Xu, Xinyi; Yan, Denghua

2016-04-01

In recent years, global climate change has significantly caused a serious crisis of water resources throughout the world. However, mainly through variations in temperature, climate change will affect water requirements of crop. It is obvious that the rise of temperature affects growing period and phenological period of crop directly, then changes the water demand quota of crop. Methods including accumulated temperature threshold and climatic tendency rate were adopted, which made up for the weakness of phenological observations, to reveal the response of crop phenological change during the growing period. Then using Penman-Menteith model and crop coefficients from the United Nations Food& Agriculture Organization (FAO), the paper firstly explored crop water requirements in different growth periods, and further forecasted quantitatively crop water requirements in Heihe River Basin, China under different climate change scenarios. Results indicate that: (i) The results of crop phenological change established in the method of accumulated temperature threshold were in agreement with measured results, and (ii) there were many differences in impacts of climate warming on water requirement of different crops. The growth periods of wheat and corn had tendency of shortening as well as the length of growth periods. (ii)Results of crop water requirements under different climate change scenarios showed: when temperature increased by 1°C, the start time of wheat growth period changed, 2 days earlier than before, and the length of total growth period shortened 2 days. Wheat water requirements increased by 1.4mm. However, corn water requirements decreased by almost 0.9mm due to the increasing temperature of 1°C. And the start time of corn growth period become 3 days ahead, and the length of total growth period shortened 4 days. Therefore, the contradiction between water supply and water demands are more obvious under the future climate warming in Heihe River Basin, China.

Simulation of regional temperature change effect of land cover change in agroforestry ecotone of Nenjiang River Basin in China

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Tingxiang; Zhang, Shuwen; Yu, Lingxue; Bu, Kun; Yang, Jiuchun; Chang, Liping

2017-05-01

The Northeast China is one of typical regions experiencing intensive human activities within short time worldwide. Particularly, as the significant changes of agriculture land and forest, typical characteristics of pattern and process of agroforestry ecotone change formed in recent decades. The intensive land use change of agroforestry ecotone has made significant change for regional land cover, which had significant impact on the regional climate system elements and the interactions among them. This paper took agroforestry ecotone of Nenjiang River Basin in China as study region and simulated temperature change based on land cover change from 1950s to 1978 and from 1978 to 2010. The analysis of temperature difference sensitivity to land cover change based on Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model showed that the land cover change from 1950s to 1978 induced warming effect over all the study area, including the change of grassland to agriculture land, grassland to deciduous broad-leaved forest, and deciduous broad-leaved forest to shrub land. The land cover change from 1978 to 2010 induced cooling effect over all the study area, including the change of deciduous broad-leaved forest to agriculture land, grassland to agriculture land, shrub land to agriculture land, and deciduous broad-leaved forest to grassland. In addition, the warming and cooling effect of land cover change was more significant in the region scale than specific land cover change area.

Agricultural land use doubled sediment yield of western China's rivers

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, A. H.; Bierman, P. R.; Sosa-Gonzalez, V.; Neilson, T. B.; Rood, D. H.; Martin, J.; Hill, M.

2017-12-01

Land use changes, such as deforestation and agriculture, increase soil erosion rates on the scale of hillslopes and small drainage basins; however, the effects of these changes on the sediment load in larger rivers is poorly quantified, with a few studies scattered globally, and only 10 data points in the world's most populous nation, China. At 20 different sites in western China, we compare contemporary (1945-1987) fluvial sediment yield data collected daily over 4 to 26 years (median = 19 years) to long-term measures of erosion (sediment generation) based on new isotopic measurements of in situ 10Be in river sediments. We find that median sediment transport at these sites exceeds background sediment generation rates by a factor of two (from 0.13 to 5.79 times, median 1.85 times) and that contemporary sediment yield is statistically significantly different from long-term sediment yield (p measured unsupported 210Pb and 137Cs in 130 detrital samples from throughout the region. We find that only 4 samples (those from high elevation, low relief watersheds) have detectable 137Cs and 31 samples have detectable unsupported 210Pb. The lack of 137Cs in most samples suggests high rates of erosion in the 1950s-1960s when 137Cs would have been delivered to the landscape. Detectable 210Pb in 25% of the watersheds suggests that in some areas erosion rates have slowed since that time allowing 210Pb to accumulate to measurable levels. Together, these data sets demonstrate that upstream agricultural land use has significantly increased sediment supply to rivers in western China, likely increasing turbidity and decreasing ecosystem services such as fisheries.

Sources identification and pollution evaluation of heavy metals in the surface sediments of Bortala River, Northwest China.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zhaoyong; Juying, Li; Mamat, Zulpiya; QingFu, Ye

2016-04-01

The current study focused on the Bortala River - a typical inland river located in an oasis of arid area in northwestern China. The sediment and soil samples were collected from the river and drainage basin. Results showed that: (1) the particle size of the sand fraction of the sediments was 78-697 µm, accounting for 78.82% of the total samples; the average concentrations of eight heavy metals fell within the concentration ranges recommended by the Secondary National Standard of China, while the maximum concentrations of Pb, Cd, and Hg exceeded these standards; (2) results from multivariate statistical analysis indicated that Cu, Ni, As, and Zn originated primarily from natural geological background, while Cd, Pb, Hg and Cr in the sediments originated from human activities; (3) results of the enrichment factor analysis and the geo-accumulation index evaluation showed that Cd, Hg, and Pb were present in the surface sediments of the river at low or partial serious pollution levels, while Zn, Cr, As, Ni, and Cu existed at zero or low pollution levels; (4) calculation of the potential ecological hazards index showed that among the eight tested heavy metals, Cd, Pb, Hg, and Cr were the main potential ecological risk factors, with relative contributions of 25.43%, 22.23%, 21.16%, and 14.87%, respectively; (5) the spatial distribution of the enrichment factors (EF(S)), the Geo-accumulation index (I(geo)), and the potential ecological risk coefficient (E(r)(i)) for eight heavy metals showed that there was a greater accumulation of heavy metals Pb, Cd, and Hg in the sediments of the central and eastern parts of the river. Results of this research can be a reference for the heavy metals pollution prevention, the harmony development of the ecology protection and the economy development of the oases of inland river basin of arid regions of China, Central Asia and also other parts of the world. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Attribution of the response of the stream flows of the Brahmaputra river basin of a 1.5°C warmer world

Science.gov (United States)

Saiful Islam, Akm; Mamun Rashid, Md; Allen, Myles; Mitchell, Daniel; Mohammed, Khaled; Uddin Khan, Md Jamal

2017-04-01

An increase in global average temperature due to climate change is likely to intensify the global hydrological cycle, which in turn will impact regional water resources. Changes of the frequency and magnitude of the precipitation patterns over a river basin will change the intensity of floods and droughts. It's still an active field of research to determine the impact of climate change on extreme events though the attribution community has been using large climate model ensembles to characterize the low signal to noise problems. After the Paris agreement of 2015, limiting the increase of the global temperature below 1.5°C was emphasized. However, it is not clear the benefits of additional half a degree reduction of temperature below 2°C which needs comprehensive scientific analysis. In this context, a collaborative effort of 39 academic and research institutions around the global is on-going to generate large ensemble simulations of climate projections under a project entitled, 'the Half a degree Additional warming, Prognosis and Projected Impacts (HAPPI)'. This study has made an attempt to conduct ensemble simulations of a hydrological model over a transboundary river basin (Brahmaputra) for estimating the changes in future extremes and mean discharges of the river forced by the climate projections generated under the HAPPI project. The Brahmaputra is a transboundary river originating in China and ending in Bangladesh and it is the fourth largest river in the world in terms of average discharge of approximately 20,000 cms. It drains water from approximately 520,000 sq.km. area of China, India, Bhutan and Bangladesh. An estimated 66 million people depend on water from this river for their livelihood through subsistence agriculture and thus any change in the river's discharge due to climate change may have a negative impact on this large population. A decrease in discharge during the dry season when the basin requires water for irrigation systems translates into a

Effects of climate change on spring wheat phenophase and water requirement in Heihe River basin, China

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Dongmei; Yan, Denghua; Xu, Xinyi; Gao, Yu

2017-02-01

Climate change has significantly altered the temperature rhythm which is a key factor for the growth and phenophase of the crop. And temperature change further affects crop water requirement and irrigation system. In the north-west of China, one of the most important crop production bases is Heihe River basin where the observed phenological data is scarce. This study thus first adopted accumulated temperature threshold (ATT) method to define the phenological stages of the crop, and analysed the effect of climate change on phenological stages and water requirement of the crop during growing season. The results indicated the ATT was available for the determination of spring wheat phenological stages. The start dates of all phenological stages became earlier and the growing season length (days) was reduced by 7 days under climate change. During the growing season, water requirement without consideration of phenophase change has been increased by 26.1 mm, while that with consideration of phenophase change was featured in the decrease of water requirement by 50 mm. When temperature increased by 1°C on average, the changes were featured in the 2 days early start date of growing season, 2 days decrease of growing season length, and the 1.4 mm increase of water requirement, respectively.

Possible Future Climate Change Impacts on the Hydrological Drought Events in the Weihe River Basin, China

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Fei Yuan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Quantitative evaluation of future climate change impacts on hydrological drought characteristics is one of important measures for implementing sustainable water resources management and effective disaster mitigation in drought-prone regions under the changing environment. In this study, a modeling system for projecting the potential future climate change impacts on hydrological droughts in the Weihe River basin (WRB in North China is presented. This system consists of a large-scale hydrological model driven by climate outputs from three climate models (CMs for future streamflow projections, a probabilistic model for univariate drought assessment, and a copula-based bivariate model for joint drought frequency analysis under historical and future climates. With the observed historical climate data as the inputs, the Variable Infiltration Capacity hydrological model projects an overall runoff reduction in the WRB under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change A1B scenario. The univariate drought assessment found that although fewer hydrological drought events would occur under A1B scenario, drought duration and severity tend to increase remarkably. Moreover, the bivariate drought assessment reveals that future droughts in the same return period as the baseline droughts would become more serious. With these trends in the future, the hydrological drought situation in the WRB would be further deteriorated.

Regional Frequency Analysis of Extreme Dry Spells during Rainy Season in the Wei River Basin, China

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Dunxian She

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Our research analyzes the regional changes of extreme dry spell, represented by the annual maximum dry spell length (noted as AMDSL during the rainy season in the Wei River Basin (WRB of China for 1960–2014 using the L-moments method. The mean AMDSL values increase from the west to the east of the WRB, suggesting a high dry risk in the east compared to the west in the WRB. To investigate the regional frequency more reasonably, the WRB is clustered into four homogenous subregions via the K-means method and some subjective adjustments. The goodness-of-fit test shows that the GEV, PE3, and GLO distribution can be accepted as the “best-fit” model for subregions 1 and 4, subregion 2, and subregion 3, respectively. The quantiles of AMDSL under various return levels figure out a similar spatial distribution with mean AMDSL. We also find that the dry risk in subregion 2 and subregion 4 might be higher than that in subregion 1. The relationship between ENSO events and extreme dry spell events in the rainy season with cross wavelet analysis method proves that ENSO events play a critical role in triggering extreme dry events during rainy season in the WRB.

Multivariate Regression Analysis and Statistical Modeling for Summer Extreme Precipitation over the Yangtze River Basin, China

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Tao Gao

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Extreme precipitation is likely to be one of the most severe meteorological disasters in China; however, studies on the physical factors affecting precipitation extremes and corresponding prediction models are not accurately available. From a new point of view, the sensible heat flux (SHF and latent heat flux (LHF, which have significant impacts on summer extreme rainfall in Yangtze River basin (YRB, have been quantified and then selections of the impact factors are conducted. Firstly, a regional extreme precipitation index was applied to determine Regions of Significant Correlation (RSC by analyzing spatial distribution of correlation coefficients between this index and SHF, LHF, and sea surface temperature (SST on global ocean scale; then the time series of SHF, LHF, and SST in RSCs during 1967–2010 were selected. Furthermore, other factors that significantly affect variations in precipitation extremes over YRB were also selected. The methods of multiple stepwise regression and leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV were utilized to analyze and test influencing factors and statistical prediction model. The correlation coefficient between observed regional extreme index and model simulation result is 0.85, with significant level at 99%. This suggested that the forecast skill was acceptable although many aspects of the prediction model should be improved.

33 CFR 207.10 - Charles River, Mass.; dam of Charles River Basin Commission.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Charles River, Mass.; dam of Charles River Basin Commission. 207.10 Section 207.10 Navigation and Navigable Waters CORPS OF ENGINEERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE NAVIGATION REGULATIONS § 207.10 Charles River, Mass.; dam of...

Northern Rivers Basins human health monitoring program : report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gabos, S.

1999-04-01

The Northern River Basins Human Health Monitoring Program was established in 1994 to investigate the possible relationships between various environmental risk factors and the health of northern residents in the province. This report presents the initial analysis of the health program and examines the differences in health outcomes across the province and compares the Northern Rivers Basin Study (NRBS) area with the other areas of the province. A series of maps and graphs showed the prevalence of certain diseases and disorders within the Peace and Athabasca river basins. The focus of the report was on reproductive health, congenital anomalies, respiratory ailments, circulatory diseases, gastrointestinal disorders, endocrine and metabolic disorders, and neurocognitive disorders. The study showed that compared to other areas of the province, the NRBS area had higher incidences of endometriosis, selected congenital anomalies, bronchitis, pneumonia, peptic ulcers and epilepsy. There were three potential exposure pathways to environmental contaminants. These were through ingestion of water or food, inhalation of air and through dermal exposure. refs., tabs., figs

Northern Rivers Basins human health monitoring program : report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gabos, S. [Alberta Health, Edmonton, AB (Canada). Health Surveillance

1999-04-01

The Northern River Basins Human Health Monitoring Program was established in 1994 to investigate the possible relationships between various environmental risk factors and the health of northern residents in the province. This report presents the initial analysis of the health program and examines the differences in health outcomes across the province and compares the Northern Rivers Basin Study (NRBS) area with the other areas of the province. A series of maps and graphs showed the prevalence of certain diseases and disorders within the Peace and Athabasca river basins. The focus of the report was on reproductive health, congenital anomalies, respiratory ailments, circulatory diseases, gastrointestinal disorders, endocrine and metabolic disorders, and neurocognitive disorders. The study showed that compared to other areas of the province, the NRBS area had higher incidences of endometriosis, selected congenital anomalies, bronchitis, pneumonia, peptic ulcers and epilepsy. There were three potential exposure pathways to environmental contaminants. These were through ingestion of water or food, inhalation of air and through dermal exposure. refs., tabs., figs.

Using Detrital Zircon Geochronology to Constrain Paleogene Provenance and Its Relationship to Rifting in the Zhu 1 Depression, Pearl River Mouth Basin, South China Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Wei; Ye, Jiaren; Bidgoli, Tandis; Yang, Xianghua; Shi, Hesheng; Shu, Yu

2017-11-01

Paleogene syn-rift successions in the South China Sea are poorly understood and systematic provenance analysis, which could provide clues to their history, is lacking. Here we report 409 new concordant U-Pb ages from detrital zircons separated from the Paleogene Wenchang, Enping, and Zhuhai formations in the Zhu 1 depression, Pearl River Mouth Basin. The new data, combined with the published age data from the region, document changes in the provenance of syn-rift successions. Detrital zircons from the Eocene Wenchang Formation are unimodal, with Jurassic-Cretaceous (180-80 Ma) ages making up >80% of grains. The ages are consistent with the geochronology of intrabasinal highs, dominated by igneous rocks emplaced during the Yanshanian orogeny, and suggest local provenance. By contrast, detrital zircons from the upper Eocene to lower Oligocene Enping Formation form three well-recognized age-clusters, with peaks at 150, 254, and 438 Ma that match documented tectonomagmatism in South China Block (SCB). Combined with increasing numbers of Precambrian zircons, the data suggest increasing influence of regional provenance of the SCB. Similar age peaks are also recognized from the limited number of zircons analyzed from the upper Oligocene Zhuhai Formation and comparability with modern shelf and river sediment indicates the unit was mainly sourced from the SCB and likely transported by a paleo-Pearl River. We infer that the change in provenance, from local uplifts within the Zhu 1 to the SCB, is related to distinct phases of PRMB rift development; however, later changes are best explained by SCB drainage evolution.

Soil erosion assessment of a Himalayan river basin using TRMM data

Science.gov (United States)

Pandey, A.; Mishra, S. K.; Gautam, A. K.; Kumar, D.

2015-04-01

In this study, an attempt has been made to assess the soil erosion of a Himalayan river basin, the Karnali basin, Nepal, using rainfall erosivity (R-factor) derived from satellite-based rainfall estimates (TRMM-3B42 V7). Average annual sediment yield was estimated using the well-known Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). The eight-year annual average rainfall erosivity factor (R) for the Karnali River basin was found to be 2620.84 MJ mm ha-1 h-1 year-1. Using intensity-erosivity relationships and eight years of the TRMM daily rainfall dataset (1998-2005), average annual soil erosion was also estimated for Karnali River basin. The minimum and maximum values of the rainfall erosivity factor were 1108.7 and 4868.49 MJ mm ha-1 h-1 year-1, respectively, during the assessment period. The average annual soil loss of the Karnali River basin was found to be 38.17 t ha-1 year-1. Finally, the basin area was categorized according to the following scale of erosion severity classes: Slight (0 to 5 t ha-1 year-1), Moderate (5 to 10 t ha-1 year-1), High (10 to 20 t ha-1 year-1), Very High (20 to 40 t ha-1 year-1), Severe (40 to 80 t ha-1 year-1) and Very Severe (>80 t ha-1 year-1). About 30.86% of the river basin area was found to be in the slight erosion class. The areas covered by the moderate, high, very high, severe and very severe erosion potential zones were 13.09%, 6.36%, 11.09%, 22.02% and 16.64% respectively. The study revealed that approximately 69% of the Karnali River basin needs immediate attention from a soil conservation point of view.

A framework model for water-sharing among co-basin states of a river basin

Science.gov (United States)

Garg, N. K.; Azad, Shambhu

2018-05-01

A new framework model is presented in this study for sharing of water in a river basin using certain governing variables, in an effort to enhance the objectivity for a reasonable and equitable allocation of water among co-basin states. The governing variables were normalised to reduce the governing variables of different co-basin states of a river basin on same scale. In the absence of objective methods for evaluating the weights to be assigned to co-basin states for water allocation, a framework was conceptualised and formulated to determine the normalised weighting factors of different co-basin states as a function of the governing variables. The water allocation to any co-basin state had been assumed to be proportional to its struggle for equity, which in turn was assumed to be a function of the normalised discontent, satisfaction, and weighting factors of each co-basin state. System dynamics was used effectively to represent and solve the proposed model formulation. The proposed model was successfully applied to the Vamsadhara river basin located in the South-Eastern part of India, and a sensitivity analysis of the proposed model parameters was carried out to prove its robustness in terms of the proposed model convergence and validity over the broad spectrum values of the proposed model parameters. The solution converged quickly to a final allocation of 1444 million cubic metre (MCM) in the case of the Odisha co-basin state, and to 1067 MCM for the Andhra Pradesh co-basin state. The sensitivity analysis showed that the proposed model's allocation varied from 1584 MCM to 1336 MCM for Odisha state and from 927 to 1175 MCM for Andhra, depending upon the importance weights given to the governing variables for the calculation of the weighting factors. Thus, the proposed model was found to be very flexible to explore various policy options to arrive at a decision in a water sharing problem. It can therefore be effectively applied to any trans-boundary problem where

Morphometric analyses of the river basins in Goa

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Iyer, S.D.; Wagle, B.G.

Morphometric analyses of seven river basins in Goa, India have been carried out. The linear and areal aspects of these basins are reported here. The plots of stream order versus stream numbers and stream orders versus mean stream lengths are found...

The politics of river basin organizations: institutional design choices, coalitions, and consequences

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Dave Huitema

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The idea that ecosystem management should be approached at the bioregional scale is central to the thinking on adaptive governance. Taken to the domain of water management, a bioregional approach implies the foundation of river basin organizations (RBOs, a notion that has been warmly welcomed by scholars and practitioners alike. However, it appears that river basin organizations come in various shapes and sizes, their intended foundation often leads to resistance, and their actual performance is understudied. Through this special feature we seek to advance the state of our knowledge in this respect. Through this introduction we lay the foundation for the case studies that follow in the special feature and for the conclusions. We do so by presenting a worked typology of river basin organizations. This typology helps us differentiate between various kinds of proposals that are all referred to as river basin organizations, but that are actually quite different in nature. In addition, in this introduction we present an approach to dissecting the inevitable political debates that ensue once a proposal to found a river basin organization is made, something that is often ill understood by the proponents of river basin organizations. After this, we explain the criteria that one could use to assess the performance of river basin organizations that actually come into being. Although the thinking in adaptive governance is strongly concerned with ecological effectiveness, we do show that other criteria can be applied too. Finally, we briefly introduce the various contributions to the special feature.

Potential impact of climate change to the future streamflow of Yellow River Basin based on CMIP5 data

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Xiaoli; Zheng, Weifei; Ren, Liliang; Zhang, Mengru; Wang, Yuqian; Liu, Yi; Yuan, Fei; Jiang, Shanhu

2018-02-01

The Yellow River Basin (YRB) is the largest river basin in northern China, which has suffering water scarcity and drought hazard for many years. Therefore, assessments the potential impacts of climate change on the future streamflow in this basin is very important for local policy and planning on food security. In this study, based on the observations of 101 meteorological stations in YRB, equidistant CDF matching (EDCDFm) statistical downscaling approach was applied to eight climate models under two emissions scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) from phase five of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). Variable infiltration capacity (VIC) model with 0.25° × 0.25° spatial resolution was developed based on downscaled fields for simulating streamflow in the future period over YRB. The results show that with the global warming trend, the annual streamflow will reduced about 10 % during the period of 2021-2050, compared to the base period of 1961-1990 in YRB. There should be suitable water resources planning to meet the demands of growing populations and future climate changing in this region.

CryoSat-2 radar altimetry for monitoring freshwater resources of China

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jiang, Liguang; Nielsen, Karina; Andersen, Ole Baltazar

2017-01-01

, the Northeast China Plain, and the central Yangtze River basin. Estimated changes in volume indicate that surface water variation contributes significantly to terrestrial storage variation, especially in the Qaidam Basin and the Tibetan Plateau. CryoSat-2 is capable of measuring regional-scale river level....... Comparatively, accuracy is much lower over the Yangtze and Pearl Rivers (RMSE ~ 2.6 m and ~ 3.3 m), probably due to intensive inland waterway navigation. CryoSat-2 shows great potential for monitoring surface water at national scale in China....

Expansion of the South China Sea basin: Constraints from magnetic anomaly stripes, sea floor topography, satellite gravity and submarine geothermics

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Xuezhong Yu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The widely distributed E–W-trending magnetic anomaly stripes in the central basin and the N–E-trending magnetic anomaly stripes in the southwest sub-basin provide the most important evidence for Neogene expansion of the South China Sea. The expansion mechanism remains, however, controversial because of the lack of direct drilling data, non-systematic marine magnetic survey data, and irregular magnetic anomaly stripes with two obvious directions. For example, researchers have inferred different ages and episodes of expansion for the central basin and southwest sub-basin. Major controversy centers on the order of basinal expansion and the mechanism of expansion for the entire South China Sea basin. This study attempts to constrain these problems from a comprehensive analysis of the seafloor topography, magnetic anomaly stripes, regional aeromagnetic data, satellite gravity, and submarine geothermics. The mapped seafloor terrain shows that the central basin is a north-south rectangle that is relatively shallow with many seamounts, whereas the southwest sub-basin is wide in northeast, gradually narrows to the southwest, and is relatively deeper with fewer seamounts. Many magnetic anomaly stripes are present in the central basin with variable dimensions and directions that are dominantly EW-trending, followed by the NE-, NW- and NS-trending. Conversely such stripes are few in the southwest sub-basin and mainly NE-trending. Regional magnetic data suggest that the NW-trending Ailaoshan-Red River fault extends into the South China Sea, links with the central fault zone in the South China Sea, which extends further southward to Reed Tablemount. Satellite gravity data show that both the central basin and southwest sub-basin are composed of oceanic crust. The Changlong seamount is particularly visible in the southwest sub-basin and extends eastward to the Zhenbei seamount. Also a low gravity anomaly zone coincides with the central fault zone in the sub-basin

GRACE-based estimates of water discharge over the Yellow River basin

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Qiong Li

2016-05-01

Full Text Available As critical component of hydrologic cycle, basin discharge is a key issue for understanding the hydrological and climatologic related to water and energy cycles. Combining GRACE gravity field models with ET from GLDAS models and precipitation from GPCP, discharge of the Yellow River basin are estimated from the water balance equation. While comparing the results with discharge from GLDAS model and in situ measurements, the results reveal that discharge from Mosaic and CLM GLDAS model can partially represent the river discharge and the discharge estimation from water balance equation could reflect the discharge from precipitation over the Yellow River basin.

Numerical representation of rainfall field in the Yarmouk River Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Shentsis, Isabella; Inbar, Nimrod; Magri, Fabien; Rosenthal, Eliyahu

2017-04-01

Rainfall is the decisive factors in evaluating the water balance of river basins and aquifers. Accepted methods rely on interpolation and extrapolation of gauged rain to regular grid with high dependence on the density and regularity of network, considering the relief complexity. We propose an alternative method that makes up to those restrictions by taking into account additional physical features of the rain field. The method applies to areas with (i) complex plain- and mountainous topography, which means inhomogeneity of the rainfall field and (ii) non-uniform distribution of a rain gauge network with partial lack of observations. The rain model is implemented in two steps: 1. Study of the rainfall field, based on the climatic data (mean annual precipitation), its description by the function of elevation and other factors, and estimation of model parameters (normalized coefficients of the Taylor series); 2. Estimation of rainfall in each historical year using the available data (less complete and irregular versus climatic data) as well as the a-priori known parameters (by the basic hypothesis on inter-annual stability of the model parameters). The proposed method was developed by Shentsis (1990) for hydrological forecasting in Central Asia and was later adapted to the Lake Kinneret Basin. Here this model (the first step) is applied to the Yarmouk River Basin. The Yarmouk River is the largest tributary of the Jordan River. Its transboundary basin (6,833 sq. km) extends over Syria (5,257 sq.km), Jordan (1,379 sq. km) and Israel (197 sq. km). Altitude varies from 1800 m (and more) to -235 m asl. The total number of rain stations in use is 36 (17 in Syria, 19 in Jordan). There is evidently lack and non-uniform distribution of a rain gauge network in Syria. The Yarmouk Basin was divided into five regions considering typical relationship between mean annual rain and elevation for each region. Generally, the borders of regions correspond to the common topographic

Arsenic occurrence in water bodies in Kharaa river basin

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Azzaya T

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Distribution of arsenic (As and its compound and related toxicology are serious concerns nowadays. Gold mining activity is one of the anthropogenic sources of environmental contamination regarding As and other heavy metals. In Mongolia, the most productive gold mining sites are placed in the Kharaa river basin. A hundred water samples were collected from river, spring and deep wells in this river basin. Along with total As and its species-As(III and As(V, examination of concentration levels of other key parameters, 21 heavy metals with pH, total hardness, electric conductivity, anion and cations, was also carried out. In respect to the permissible limit formulated by the Mongolian National Drinking water quality standard (MNS 0900:2005, As10 µg/l, the present study showed that most of samples were found no contamination. In Kharaa river basin, an average concentration of total As in surface water was 4.04 µg/l with wide range in 0.07−30.30 µg/l whereas it was 2.24 µg/l in groundwater. As analysis in surface water in licensed area of Gatsuurt gold mining showed a mean concentration with 24.90 µg/l presenting higher value than that of value in river basin by 6 orders of magnitude and it was 2 times higher than permissible level as well. In Boroo river nearby Boroo gold mining area, As concentration in water was ranged in 6.05−6.25 µg/l. Ammonia pollution may have present at estuary of Zuunmod river in Mandal sum with above the permissible level described in national water quality standard. Geological formation of the rocks and minerals affected to change of heavy metal concentration, especially As and uranium (U at spring water nearby Gatsuurt-Boroo improved road.

Hydrologic Evaluation of Integrated Multi-satellite Retrivals for GPM over Nanliu River Basin in Southern China

Science.gov (United States)

Zhenqing, L.; Sheng, C.; Chaoying, H.

2017-12-01

The core satellite of Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission was launched on 27 February2014 with two core sensors dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) and microwave imager (GMI). The algorithm of Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission (IMERG) blends the advantages of currently most popular satellite-based quantitative precipitation estimates (QPE) algorithms, i.e. TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA), Climate Prediction Center morphing technique (CMORPH) ADDIN EN.CITE ADDIN EN.CITE.DATA , Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks-Cloud Classification System (PERSIANN-CCS).Therefore, IMERG is deemed to be the state-of-art precipitation product with high spatio-temporal resolution of 0.1°/30min. The real-time and post real-time IMERG products are now available online at https://stormpps.gsfc.nasa.gov/storm. Early studies about assessment of IMERG with gauge observations or analysis products show that the current version GPM Day-1 product IMERG demonstrates promising performance over China [1], Europe [2], and United States [3]. However, few studies are found to study the IMERG' potentials of hydrologic utility.In this study, the real-time and final run post real-time IMERG products are hydrologically evaluated with gauge analysis product as reference over Nanliu River basin (Fig.1) in Southern China since March 2014 to February 2017 with Xinanjiang model. Statistics metrics Relative Bias (RB), Root-Mean-Squared Error (RMSE), Correlation Coefficient (CC), Probability Of Detection (POD), False Alarm Ratio (FAR), Critical Success Index (CSI), and Nash-Sutcliffe (NSCE) index will be used to compare the stream flow simulated with IMERG to the observed stream flow. This timely hydrologic evaluation is expected to offer insights into IMERG' potentials in hydrologic utility and thus provide useful feedback to the IMERG algorithm developers and

Association between Changing Mortality of Digestive Tract Cancers and Water Pollution: A Case Study in the Huai River Basin, China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hongyan Ren

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The relationship between the ever-increasing cancer mortality and water pollution is an important public concern in China. This study aimed to explore the association between serious water pollution and increasing digestive cancer mortality in the Huai River Basin (HRB in China. A series of frequency of serious pollution (FSP indices including water quality grade (FSPWQG, biochemical oxygen demand (FSPBOD, chemical oxygen demand (FSPCOD, and ammonia nitrogen (FSPAN were used to characterize the surface water quality between 1997 and 2006. Data on the county-level changing mortality (CM due to digestive tract cancers between 1975 and 2006 were collected for 14 counties in the study area. Most of investigated counties (eight with high FSPWQG (>50% distributed in the northern region of the HRB and had larger CMs of digestive tract cancers. In addition to their similar spatial distribution, significant correlations between FSP indices and CMs were observed by controlling for drinking water safety (DWS, gross domestic product (GDP, and population (POP. Furthermore, the above-mentioned partial correlations were clearly increased when only controlling for GDP and POP. Our study indicated that county-level variations of digestive cancer mortality are remarkably associated with water pollution, and suggested that continuous measures for improving surface water quality and DWS and hygienic interventions should be effectively implemented by local governments.

Association between changing mortality of digestive tract cancers and water pollution: a case study in the Huai River Basin, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Hongyan; Wan, Xia; Yang, Fei; Shi, Xiaoming; Xu, Jianwei; Zhuang, Dafang; Yang, Gonghuan

2014-12-23

The relationship between the ever-increasing cancer mortality and water pollution is an important public concern in China. This study aimed to explore the association between serious water pollution and increasing digestive cancer mortality in the Huai River Basin (HRB) in China. A series of frequency of serious pollution (FSP) indices including water quality grade (FSPWQG), biochemical oxygen demand (FSPBOD), chemical oxygen demand (FSPCOD), and ammonia nitrogen (FSPAN) were used to characterize the surface water quality between 1997 and 2006. Data on the county-level changing mortality (CM) due to digestive tract cancers between 1975 and 2006 were collected for 14 counties in the study area. Most of investigated counties (eight) with high FSPWQG (>50%) distributed in the northern region of the HRB and had larger CMs of digestive tract cancers. In addition to their similar spatial distribution, significant correlations between FSP indices and CMs were observed by controlling for drinking water safety (DWS), gross domestic product (GDP), and population (POP). Furthermore, the above-mentioned partial correlations were clearly increased when only controlling for GDP and POP. Our study indicated that county-level variations of digestive cancer mortality are remarkably associated with water pollution, and suggested that continuous measures for improving surface water quality and DWS and hygienic interventions should be effectively implemented by local governments.

Model simulations of potential contribution of the proposed Huangpu Gate to flood control in the Lake Taihu basin of China

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Hanghui; Liu, Shuguang; Ye, Jianchun; Yeh, Pat J.-F.

2017-10-01

The Lake Taihu basin (36 895 km2), one of the most developed regions in China located in the hinterland of the Yangtze River Delta, has experienced increasing flood risk. The largest flood in history occurred in 1999 with a return period estimate of 200 years, considerably larger than the current capacity of the flood defense with a design return period of 50 years. Due to its flat saucer-like terrain, the capacity of the flood control system in this basin depends on flood control infrastructures and peripheral tidal conditions. The Huangpu River, an important river of the basin connecting Lake Taihu upstream and Yangtze River estuaries downstream, drains two-fifths of the entire basin. Since the water level in the Huangpu River is significantly affected by the high tide conditions in estuaries, constructing an estuary gate is considered an effective solution for flood mitigation. The main objective of this paper is to assess the potential contributions of the proposed Huangpu Gate to the flood control capacity of the basin. To achieve this goal, five different scenarios of flooding conditions and the associated gate operations are considered by using numerical model simulations. Results of quantitative analyses show that the Huangpu Gate is effective for evacuating floodwaters. It can help to reduce both peak values and duration of high water levels in Lake Taihu to benefit surrounding areas along the Taipu Canal and the Huangpu River. The contribution of the gate to the flood control capacity is closely associated with its operation modes and duration. For the maximum potential contribution of the gate, the net outflow at the proposed site is increased by 52 %. The daily peak level is decreased by a maximum of 0.12 m in Lake Taihu, by maxima of 0.26-0.37 and 0.46-0.60 m in the Taipu Canal and the Huangpu River, respectively, and by 0.05-0.39 m in the surrounding areas depending on the local topography. It is concluded that the proposed Huangpu Gate can reduce

Case study on rehabilitation of a polluted urban water body in Yangtze River Basin.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Juan; Cheng, Shuiping; Li, Zhu; Guo, Weijie; Zhong, Fei; Yin, Daqiang

2013-10-01

In the past three decades, the fast development of economy and urbanization has caused increasingly severe pollutions of urban water bodies in China. Consequently, eutrophication and deterioration of aquatic ecosystem, which is especially significant for aquatic vegetation, inevitably became a pervasive problem across the Yangtze River Basin. To rehabilitate the degraded urban water bodies, vegetation replanting is an important issue to improve water quality and to rehabilitate ecosystem. As a case study, a representative polluted urban river, Nanfeihe River, in Hefei City, Anhui Province, was chosen to be a rehabilitation target. In October 2009 and May 2010, 13 species of indigenous and prevalent macrophytes, including seven species emergent, one species floating leaved, and five species submersed macrophytes, were planted along the bank slopes and in the river. Through 1.5 years' replanting practice, the water quality and biodiversity of the river had been improved. The concentrations of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and ammonia nitrogen (NH4 (+)-N) declined by 46.0, 39.5, and 60.4 %, respectively. The species of macrophytes increased from 14 to 60, and the biodiversity of phytoplankton rose significantly in the river (purban waters restoration in the middle-downstream area of Yangtze River Base.

Standardized Water Budget Index and Validation in Drought Estimation of Haihe River Basin, North China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shaohua Liu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The physical-based drought indices such as the self-calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index (sc-PDSI with the fixed time scale is inadequate for the multiscalar drought assessment, and the multiscalar drought indices including Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI, Reconnaissance Drought Index (RDI, and Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI based on the meteorological factors are lack of physical mechanism and cannot depict the actual water budget. To fill this gap, the Standardized Water Budget Index (SWBI is constructed based on the difference between areal precipitation and actual evapotranspiration (AET, which can describe the actual water budget but also assess the drought at multiple time scales. Then, sc-PDSI was taken as the reference drought index to compare with multiscalar drought indices at different time scale in Haihe River basin. The result shows that SWBI correlates better with sc-PDSI and the RMSE of SWBI is less than other multiscalar drought indices. In addition, all of drought indices show a decreasing trend in Haihe River Basin, possibly due to the decreasing precipitation from 1961 to 2010. The decreasing trends of SWBI were significant and consistent at all the time scales, while the decreasing trends of other multiscalar drought indices are insignificant at time scale less than 3 months.

RUNOFF POTENTIAL OF MUREŞ RIVER UPPER BASIN TRIBUTARIES

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V. SOROCOVSCHI

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Runoff Potential of Mureş River Upper Basin Tributaries. The upper basin of the Mureş River includes a significant area of the Eastern Carpathians central western part with different runoff formation conditions. In assessing the average annual runoff potential we used data from six gauging stations and made assessments on three distinct periods. Identifying the appropriate areas of the obtained correlations curves (between specific average runoff and catchments mean altitude allowed the assessment of potential runoff at catchment level and on geographical units. The potential average runoff is also assessed on altitude intervals of the mentioned areas. The runoff potential analysis on hydrographic basins, geographical units and altitude intervals highlights the variant spatial distribution of this general water resources indicator in the different studied areas.

Identification of basin characteristics influencing spatial variation of river flows

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mazvimavi, D.; Burgers, S.L.G.E.; Stein, A.

2006-01-01

The selection of basin characteristics that explain spatial variation of river flows is important for hydrological regionalization as this enables estimation of flow statistics of ungauged basins. A direct gradient analysis method, redundancy analysis, is used to identify basin characteristics,

Probabilistic evaluation of the water footprint of a river basin: Accounting method and case study in the Segura River Basin, Spain.

Science.gov (United States)

Pellicer-Martínez, Francisco; Martínez-Paz, José Miguel

2018-06-15

In the current study a method for the probabilistic accounting of the water footprint (WF) at the river basin level has been proposed and developed. It is based upon the simulation of the anthropised water cycle and combines a hydrological model and a decision support system. The methodology was carried out in the Segura River Basin (SRB) in South-eastern Spain, and four historical scenarios were evaluated (1998-2010-2015-2027). The results indicate that the WF of the river basin reached 5581 Mm 3 /year on average in the base scenario, with a high variability. The green component (3231 Mm 3 /year), mainly generated by rainfed crops (62%), was responsible for the great variability of the WF. The blue WF (1201 Mm 3 /year) was broken down into surface water (56%), renewable groundwater (20%) and non-renewable groundwater (24%), and it showed the generalized overexploitation of aquifers. Regarding the grey component (1150 Mm 3 /year), the study reveals that wastewater, especially phosphates (90%), was the main culprit producing water pollution in surface water bodies. The temporal evolution of the four scenarios highlighted the successfulness of the water treatment plans developed in the river basin, with a sharp decrease in the grey WF, as well as the stability of the WF and its three components in the future. So, the accounting of the three components of the WF in a basin was integrated into the management of water resources, it being possible to predict their evolution, their spatial characterisation and even their assessment in probabilistic terms. Then, the WF was incorporated into the set of indicators that usually is used in water resources management and hydrological planning. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Integrated resource assessment of the Drina River Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Almulla, Youssef; Ramos, Eunice; Gardumi, Francesco; Howells, Mark

2017-04-01

The integrated assessment and management of resources: water, energy, food and environment is of fundamental importance, yet it is a very challenging task especially when it is carried out on the transboundary level. This study focuses on the Drina River Basin (DRB) which is a transboundary basin in South East Europe spreading across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro with a total surface area of 19,982 km2. Water resources from the Drina River Basin are shared among many activities in the basin: domestic water supply, electricity generation, fishery, tourism and, to a lesser extent, irrigation, industry and mining. The region has recently experienced repeated events of floods and droughts causing significant damage to the economy, showing a high vulnerability of the area to the effects of climate change. The assessment of the Drina River Basin is carried out in the framework of the project "Water food energy ecosystems nexus in transboundary river basins" under the UNECE Water Convention. This study aims to: 1) Improve the cooperation in the operation of dams and hydropower plants in the DRB for optimized production; 2) Explore the opportunities generated by electricity trade between the DRB countries as a mechanism to enhance cooperation and as an enabler for the synchronised operation of hydropower plants; 3) Motivate the implementation of energy efficiency measures to reduce the electricity production requirement from hydro and thermal power. In order to achieve that, a multi-country electricity system model was developed for the three countries of Drina river basin using the Open Source energy MOdelling SYStem (OSeMOSYS). The model represents the whole electricity system of each country, with special cascade representation of hydropower plants along Drina river and its tributaries. The results show that, in a scenario of synchronised operation of all power plants along Drina and its tributaries, those downstream can significantly increase their

Contamination assessment of heavy metal in surface sediments of the Wuding River, northern China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Longjiang, M.; Qiang, F.; Duowen, M.; Ke, H.; Jinghong, Y.

2011-01-01

The heavy metal contents and the contamination levels of the surface sediments of the Wuding River, northern China, were investigated. Heavy metal concentration ranged in μg g -1 : 50.15 - 71.91 for Cr, 408.1 - 442.9 for Mn, 20.11 - 43.59 for Ni, 17.51 - 20.1 for Cu, 68.32 - 89.57 for Zn, 0.2 - 0.38 for Cd and 15.08 - 16.14 for Pb in the Wuding River sediments. The enrichment factor (EF) and the geo-accumulation index (Igeo) demonstrated that the sediments of the Wuding River had been polluted by Cd, Cr and Ni, which mainly originated from anthropogenic sources, whereas the sediments had not been polluted by Zn, Pb, Cu and Mn, which were derived from the crust. In addition, the assessment results of EF and Igeo suggested that the sediments of the Wuding River was 'moderately' polluted by Cd and 'unpolluted to moderately' polluted by Cr and Ni. The elevated urban sewage discharges and agriculture fertilizers usage in river basin are the anthropogenic sources of these heavy metals in river. (author)

Quantifying climatic impacts on peatland in the Zoige basin, China

Science.gov (United States)

Gao, P.; Li, Z.; Hu, X.

2017-12-01

Actual evapotranspiration (ET) of the Zoige basin in the Yellow River source region of China is a critical parameter for understanding water balance of peatland in the Zoige basin and hence the cause of the changing land cover. Using daily meteorological data sets of Zoige, Hongyuan, and Maqu stations from 1967 to 2011, the well-known FAO56 Penman-Monteith (P-M) formula was selected to calculate the reference crop evapotranspiration (ET0) in combination with the crop coefficient method in which the crop coefficient Kc is modified in terms of local climatic conditions. By classifying land cover of the Zoige basin in to swamp, grassland, water surface, and desert, the actual ET cover time for each type was obtained. Since late 1990s, the ET0 increased along with the increased air temperature. Different from previous studies, the ET of the swamp was slightly lower than that of water surface, but was slightly larger than the difference between annual precipitation and runoff in the Zoige basin. The increase of ET in the past 45 years was small in comparison with the change of the annual precipitation. More specifically, the annual precipitation, which was about 560-860 mm, slightly decreased between 1967 and 1997, and increased 2.23% in the 1998-2011 period. These results allowed us to conclude that though the slightly increased ET might be a factor leading to the long-term swamp dewatering, it cannot be the primary cause of the degraded peatland swamp and grassland in the Zoige basin.

Turbidity and suspended-sediment transport in the Russian River Basin, California

Science.gov (United States)

Ritter, John R.; Brown, William M.

1971-01-01

The Russian River in north coastal California has a persistent turbidness, which has reportedly caused a decline in the success of the sports fishermen. As a consequence, the number of sports fishermen angling in the river has declined, and industries dependent on their business have suffered. To determine the source of the turbidity and the rate of sediment transport in the basin, a network of sampling station was established in February 1964 along the river, on some of its tributaries, and near Lake Pillsbury in the upper Eel River basin.

The future of the reservoirs in the Siret River Basin considering the sediment transport of rivers (ROMANIA

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Petru OLARIU

2015-02-01

Full Text Available The Siret River Basin is characterized by an important use of hydro potential, resulted in the number of reservoirs constructed and operational. The cascade power stage of the reservoirs on Bistrita and Siret rivers indicate the anthropic interventions with different purposes (hydro energy, water supply, irrigation etc. in the Siret River Basin. In terms of the capacity in the Siret River Basin there is a dominance of the small capacity reservoirs, which is given by the less than 20 mil m³ volumes. Only two lakes have capacities over 200 mil m³: Izvoru Muntelui on Bistrita River and Siriu on Buzau River. Based on the monitoring of the alluvial flow at the hydrometric stations, from the Siret River Basin, there have been analysed the sediment yield formation and the solid transit dimensions in order to obtain typical values for the geographical areas of this territory. The silting of these reservoirs was monitored by successive topobatimetric measurements performed by the Bureau of Prognosis, Hydrology and Hydrogeology and a compartment within Hidroelectrica S.A. Piatra Neamt Subsidiary. The quantities of the deposited sediments are very impressive. The annual rates range betwee3 000 – 2 000 000 t/year, depending on the size of the hydrographical basin, the capacity of the reservoirs, the liquid flow and many other factors which may influence the upstream transport of sediments. These rates of sedimentation lead to a high degree of silting in the reservoirs. Many of them are silted over 50% of the initial capacity and the others even more. The effects of the silting have an important impact when analysing the effective exploitation of the reservoirs. 

M-area basin closure-Savannah River Site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McMullin, S.R.; Horvath, J.G.

1991-01-01

M-Area, on the Savannah River Site, processes raw materials and manufactures fuel and target rods for reactor use. Effluent from these processes were discharged into the M-Area settling basin and Lost Lake, a natural wetland. The closure of this basin began in 1988 and included the removal and stabilization of basin fluids, excavation of all contaminated soils from affected areas and Lost Lake, and placement of all materials in the bottom of the emptied basin. These materials were covered with a RCRA style cap, employing redundant barriers of kaolin clay and geosynthetic material. Restoration of excavated uplands and wetlands is currently underway

Grande Ronde Basin Supplementation Program; Lostine River, 2000 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Onjukka, Sam T. (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Portland, OR); Harbeck, Jim (Nez Perce Tribe, Department of Fisheries Resource Management, Enterprise, OR)

2003-03-01

The Northwest Power Planning Council (NPPC) identified supplementation as a high priority to achieve its goal of increasing runs of anadromous fish in the Columbia Basin. Supplementation activities in the Lostine River and associated monitoring and evaluation conducted by the Nez Perce Tribe relate directly to the needs addressed in the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program (NPPC 1994). Measure 7.4L.1 of the Program mandates that appropriate research accompany any proposed supplementation. In addition, measure 7.3B.2 of the Program stresses the need for evaluating supplementation projects to assess their ability to increase production. Finally, Section 7.4D.3 encourages the study of hatchery rearing and release strategies to improve survival and adaptation of cultured fish. In 1997, Oregon Department of Fisheries and Wildlife (ODFW) requested a modification of Permit 1011 to allow the take of adult spring chinook salmon. In 1998, the Nez Perce Tribe also requested a permit specific to activities on Lostine River. The permit was issued in 2000. A special condition in the permits required the development of a long term management plan for the spring chinook salmon of the Grande Ronde Basin. The Nez Perce Tribe, ODFW, and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) completed a formal long range plan entitled ''Grande Ronde Basin Endemic Spring Chinook Salmon Supplementation Program''. The program proposes to increase the survival of spring chinook salmon in the Grand Ronde Basin through hatchery intervention. Adult salmon from the Lostine River, Catherine Creek, and the Upper Grande Ronde River are used for a conventional supplementation program in the basin. The Nez Perce program currently operates under the ESA Section 10 Permit 1149.

Grande Ronde Basin Supplementation Program; Lostine River, 2001 Annual Report.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Onjukka, Sam T. (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Portland, OR); Harbeck, Jim (Nez Perce Tribe, Department of Fisheries Resource Management, Enterprise, OR)

2003-03-01

The Northwest Power Planning Council (NPPC) identified supplementation as a high priority to achieve its goal of increasing runs of anadromous fish in the Columbia Basin. Supplementation activities in the Lostine River and associated monitoring and evaluation conducted by the Nez Perce Tribe relate directly to the needs addressed in the Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program (NPPC 1994). Measure 7.4L.1 of the Program mandates that appropriate research accompany any proposed supplementation. In addition, measure 7.3B.2 of the Program stresses the need for evaluating supplementation projects to assess their ability to increase production. Finally, Section 7.4D.3 encourages the study of hatchery rearing and release strategies to improve survival and adaptation of cultured fish. In 1997, Oregon Department of Fisheries and Wildlife (ODFW) requested a modification of Permit 1011 to allow the take of adult spring chinook salmon. In 1998, the Nez Perce Tribe also requested a permit specific to activities on Lostine River. The permit was issued in 2000. A special condition in the permits required the development of a long term management plan for the spring chinook salmon of the Grande Ronde Basin. The Nez Perce Tribe, ODFW, and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) completed a formal long range plan entitled ''Grande Ronde Basin Endemic Spring Chinook Salmon Supplementation Program''. The program proposes to increase the survival of spring chinook salmon in the Grand Ronde Basin through hatchery intervention. Adult salmon from the Lostine River, Catherine Creek, and the Upper Grande Ronde River are used for a conventional supplementation program in the basin. The Nez Perce program currently operates under the ESA Section 10 Permit 1149.

Assessing the evolution of oases in arid regions by reconstructing their historic spatio-temporal distribution: a case study of the Heihe River Basin, China

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Yaowen; Wang, Guisheng; Wang, Xueqiang; Fan, Peilei

2017-12-01

Oasis evolution, one of the most obvious surface processes in arid regions, affects various aspects of the regional environment, such as hydrological processes, ecological conditions, and microclimates. In this paper, the historical spatio-temporal evolution of the cultivated oases in the Heihe River Basin, the second largest inland watershed in the northwest of China, was assessed using multidisciplinary methods and data from multiple sources, including historical literature, ancient sites, maps and remotely sensed images. The findings show that cultivated oases were first developed on a large scale during the Han Dynasty (121 BC-220) and then gradually decreased in extent from the Six Dynasties period (220-581) to the Sui-Tang period (581-907), reaching a minimum in the Song-Yuan period (960-1368). An abrupt revival occurred during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and continued through the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and during the period of the Republic of China (1912-1949), oasis development reached its greatest peak of the entire historical period. The oasis areas during seven major historical periods, i.e., Han, Six Dynasties, Sui-Tang, Song-Yuan, Ming, Qing, and Republic of China, are estimated to have been 1703 km2, 1115 km2, 629 km2, 614 km2, 964 km2, 1205 km2, and 1917 km2, respectively. The spatial distribution generally exhibited a continuous sprawl process, with the center of the oases moving gradually from the downstream region to the middle and even upstream regions. The oases along the main river remained stable during most periods, whereas those close to the terminal reaches were subject to frequent variations and even abandonment. Socio-economic factors were the main forces driving the evolution of cultivated oases in the area; among them, political and societal stability, national defense, agricultural policy, population, and technological progress were the most important.

Water-energy-food nexus in Large Asian River Basins

OpenAIRE

Keskinen, Marko; Varis, Olli

2016-01-01

The water-energy-food nexus ("nexus") is promoted as an approach to look at the linkages between water, energy and food. The articles of Water's Special Issue "Water-Energy-Food Nexus in Large Asian River Basins" look at the applicability of the nexus approach in different regions and rivers basins in Asia. The articles provide practical examples of the various roles and importance of water-energy-food linkages, but also discuss the theoretical aspects related to the nexus. While it is eviden...

Fish, Corumbataí and Jacaré-Pepira river basins, São Paulo State, Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Braga, F. M. S.

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Fish were studied in two river basins (Corumbataí and Jacaré-Pepira subjected to strong human pressure, in the interior of the State of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil. In the Corumbataí basin, four sites were sampled: Cabeça river, Lapa stream, Passa-Cinco river, and Corumbataí river; in the Jacaré-Pepira basin, three sites were sampled: Tamanduá stream, Jacaré-Pepira river, and Água Branca stream. A total of 4,050 specimens belonging to 48 species and 13 families were caught and analyzed.

Environmental Setting of the Lower Merced River Basin, California

Science.gov (United States)

Gronberg, Jo Ann M.; Kratzer, Charles R.

2006-01-01

In 1991, the U.S. Geological Survey began to study the effects of natural and anthropogenic influences on the quality of ground water, surface water, biology, and ecology as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. As part of this program, the San Joaquin-Tulare Basins study unit is assessing parts of the lower Merced River Basin, California. This report provides descriptions of natural and anthropogenic features of this basin as background information to assess the influence of these and other factors on water quality. The lower Merced River Basin, which encompasses the Mustang Creek Subbasin, gently slopes from the northeast to the southwest toward the San Joaquin River. The arid to semiarid climate is characterized by hot summers (highs of mid 90 degrees Fahrenheit) and mild winters (lows of mid 30 degrees Fahrenheit). Annual precipitation is highly variable, with long periods of drought and above normal precipitation. Population is estimated at about 39,230 for 2000. The watershed is predominately agricultural on the valley floor. Approximately 2.2 million pounds active ingredient of pesticides and an estimated 17.6 million pounds active ingredient of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer is applied annually to the agricultural land.

Mapping Water Resources, Allocation and Consumption in the Mills River Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Hodes, J.; Jeuland, M. A.; Barros, A. P.

2014-12-01

Mountain basins and the headwaters of river basins along the foothills of major mountain ranges are undergoing rapid environmental change due to urban development, land acquisition by investors, population increase, and climate change. Classical water infrastructure in these regions is primarily designed to meet human water demand associated with agriculture, tourism, and economic development. Often overlooked and ignored is the fundamental interdependence of human water demand, ecosystem water demand, water rights and allocation, and water supply. A truly sustainable system for water resources takes into account ecosystem demand along with human infrastructure and economic demand, as well as the feedbacks that exist between them. Allocation policies need to take into account basin resilience that is the amount of stress the system can handle under varying future scenarios. Changes in stress on the system can be anthropogenic in the form of population increase, land use change, economic development, or may be natural in the form of climate change and decrease in water supply due to changes in precipitation. Mapping the water rights, supply, and demands within the basin can help determine the resiliency and sustainability of the basin. Here, we present a coupled natural human system project based in the French Broad River Basin, in the Southern Appalachians. In the first phase of the project, we are developing and implementing a coupled hydro-economics modeling framework in the Mills River Basin (MRB), a tributary of the French Broad. The Mills River Basin was selected as the core basin for implementing a sustainable system of water allocation that is adaptive and reflects the interdependence of water dependent sectors. The headwaters of the Mills River are in the foothills of the Appalachians, and are currently under substantial land use land cover (LULC) change pressure for agricultural purposes. In this regard, the MRB is representative of similar headwater

River Basin Scale Management and Governance: Competing Interests for Western Water

Science.gov (United States)

Lindquist, Eric

2015-04-01

One of the most significant issues in regard to how social scientists understand environmental and resource management is the question of scale: what is the appropriate scale at which to consider environmental problems, and associated stakeholders (including hydrologists) and their interests, in order to "govern" them? Issues of scale touch on the reality of political boundaries, from the international to the local, and their overlap and conflict across jurisdictions. This presentation will consider the questions of environmental management and governance at the river basin scale through the case of the Boise River Basin (BRB), in southwest Idaho. The river basin scale provides a viable, and generalizable, unit of analysis with which to consider theoretical and empirical questions associated with governance and the role of hydrological science in decision making. As a unit of analysis, the "river basin" is common among engineers and hydrologists. Indeed, hydrological data is often collected and assessed at the basin level, not at an institutional or jurisdictional level. In the case of the BRB much is known from the technical perspective, such as infrastructure and engineering factors, who manages the river and how, and economic perspectives, in regard to benefits in support of major agricultural interests in the region. The same level of knowledge cannot be said about the political and societal factors, and related concepts of institutions and power. Compounding the situation is the increasing probability of climate change impacts in the American West. The geographic focus on the Boise River Basin provides a compelling example of what the future might hold in the American West, and how resource managers and other vested interests make or influence river basin policy in the region. The BRB represents a complex and dynamic environment covering approximately 4,100 square miles of land. The BRB is a highly managed basin, with multiple dams and diversions, and is

Using remotely sensed imagery to estimate potential annual pollutant loads in river basins.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Bin; Oki, Kazuo; Wang, Yi; Oki, Taikan

2009-01-01

Land cover changes around river basins have caused serious environmental degradation in global surface water areas, in which the direct monitoring and numerical modeling is inherently difficult. Prediction of pollutant loads is therefore crucial to river environmental management under the impact of climate change and intensified human activities. This research analyzed the relationship between land cover types estimated from NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) imagery and the potential annual pollutant loads of river basins in Japan. Then an empirical approach, which estimates annual pollutant loads directly from satellite imagery and hydrological data, was investigated. Six water quality indicators were examined, including total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), suspended sediment (SS), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), and Dissolved Oxygen (DO). The pollutant loads of TN, TP, SS, BOD, COD, and DO were then estimated for 30 river basins in Japan. Results show that the proposed simulation technique can be used to predict the pollutant loads of river basins in Japan. These results may be useful in establishing total maximum annual pollutant loads and developing best management strategies for surface water pollution at river basin scale.

Morphometric analysis of Suketi river basin, Himachal Himalaya, India

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

The entire Suketi river basin has been divided into five sub-basins based on the catchment areas of ..... with equilibrium profile, where driving force is equivalent to the .... need attention for revival and sustenance by taking suitable artificial ...

Understanding Socio-Hydrology System in the Kissimmee River Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, X.; Wang, D.; Tian, F.; Sivapalan, M.

2014-12-01

This study is to develop a conceptual socio-hydrology model for the Kissimmee River Basin. The Kissimmee River located in Florida was channelized in mid-20 century for flood protection. However, the environmental issues caused by channelization led Floridians to conduct a restoration project recently, focusing on wetland recovery. As a complex coupled human-water system, Kissimmee River Basin shows the typical socio-hydrology interactions. Hypothetically, the major reason to drive the system from channelization to restoration is that the community sensitivity towards the environment has changed from controlling to restoring. The model developed in this study includes 5 components: water balance, flood risk, wetland area, crop land area, and community sensitivity. Furthermore, urban population and rural population in the basin have different community sensitivities towards the hydrologic system. The urban population, who live further away from the river are more sensitive to wetland restoration; while the rural population, who live closer to the river are more sensitive to flood protection. The power dynamics between the two groups and its impact on management decision making is described in the model. The model is calibrated based on the observed watershed outflow, wetland area and crop land area. The results show that the overall focus of community sensitivity has changed from flood protection to wetland restoration in the past 60 years in Kissimmee River Basin, which confirms the study hypothesis. There are two main reasons for the community sensitivity change. Firstly, people's flood memory is fading because of the effective flood protection, while the continuously shrinking wetland and the decreasing bird and fish population draw more and more attention. Secondly, in the last 60 years, the urban population in Florida drastically increased compared with a much slower increase of rural population. As a result, the community sensitivity of urban population towards

Combined multivariate statistical techniques, Water Pollution Index (WPI) and Daniel Trend Test methods to evaluate temporal and spatial variations and trends of water quality at Shanchong River in the Northwest Basin of Lake Fuxian, China.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Quan; Wu, Xianhua; Zhao, Bin; Qin, Jie; Peng, Tingchun

2015-01-01

Understanding spatial and temporal variations in river water quality and quantitatively evaluating the trend of changes are important in order to study and efficiently manage water resources. In this study, an analysis of Water Pollution Index (WPI), Daniel Trend Test, Cluster Analysis and Discriminant Analysis are applied as an integrated approach to quantitatively explore the spatial and temporal variations and the latent sources of water pollution in the Shanchong River basin, Northwest Basin of Lake Fuxian, China. We group all field surveys into 2 clusters (dry season and rainy season). Moreover, 14 sampling sites have been grouped into 3 clusters for the rainy season (highly polluted, moderately polluted and less polluted sites) and 2 clusters for the dry season (highly polluted and less polluted sites) based on their similarities and the level of pollution during the two seasons. The results show that the main trend of pollution was aggravated during the transition from the dry to the rainy season. The Water Pollution Index of Total Nitrogen is the highest of all pollution parameters, whereas the Chemical Oxygen Demand (Chromium) is the lowest. Our results also show that the main sources of pollution are farming activities alongside the Shanchong River, soil erosion and fish culture at Shanchong River reservoir area and domestic sewage from scattered rural residential area. Our results suggest that strategies to prevent water pollutionat the Shanchong River basin need to focus on non-point pollution control by employing appropriate fertilizer formulas in farming, and take the measures of soil and water conservation at Shanchong reservoir area, and purifying sewage from scattered villages.

Combined multivariate statistical techniques, Water Pollution Index (WPI and Daniel Trend Test methods to evaluate temporal and spatial variations and trends of water quality at Shanchong River in the Northwest Basin of Lake Fuxian, China.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Quan Wang

Full Text Available Understanding spatial and temporal variations in river water quality and quantitatively evaluating the trend of changes are important in order to study and efficiently manage water resources. In this study, an analysis of Water Pollution Index (WPI, Daniel Trend Test, Cluster Analysis and Discriminant Analysis are applied as an integrated approach to quantitatively explore the spatial and temporal variations and the latent sources of water pollution in the Shanchong River basin, Northwest Basin of Lake Fuxian, China. We group all field surveys into 2 clusters (dry season and rainy season. Moreover, 14 sampling sites have been grouped into 3 clusters for the rainy season (highly polluted, moderately polluted and less polluted sites and 2 clusters for the dry season (highly polluted and less polluted sites based on their similarities and the level of pollution during the two seasons. The results show that the main trend of pollution was aggravated during the transition from the dry to the rainy season. The Water Pollution Index of Total Nitrogen is the highest of all pollution parameters, whereas the Chemical Oxygen Demand (Chromium is the lowest. Our results also show that the main sources of pollution are farming activities alongside the Shanchong River, soil erosion and fish culture at Shanchong River reservoir area and domestic sewage from scattered rural residential area. Our results suggest that strategies to prevent water pollutionat the Shanchong River basin need to focus on non-point pollution control by employing appropriate fertilizer formulas in farming, and take the measures of soil and water conservation at Shanchong reservoir area, and purifying sewage from scattered villages.

The Role of Forests in Regulating the River Flow Regime of Large Basins of the World

Science.gov (United States)

Salazar, J. F.; Villegas, J. C.; Mercado-Bettin, D. A.; Rodríguez, E.

2017-12-01

Many natural and social phenomena depend on river flow regimes that are being altered by global change. Understanding the mechanisms behind such alterations is crucial for predicting river flow regimes in a changing environment. Here we explore potential linkages between the presence of forests and the capacity of river basins for regulating river flows. Regulation is defined here as the capacity of river basins to attenuate the amplitude of the river flow regime, that is to reduce the difference between high and low flows. We first use scaling theory to show how scaling properties of observed river flows can be used to classify river basins as regulated or unregulated. This parsimonious classification is based on a physical interpretation of the scaling properties (particularly the scaling exponents) that is novel (most previous studies have focused on the interpretation of the scaling exponents for floods only), and widely-applicable to different basins (the only assumption is that river flows in a given river basin exhibit scaling properties through well-known power laws). Then we show how this scaling framework can be used to explore global-change-induced temporal variations in the regulation capacity of river basins. Finally, we propose a conceptual hypothesis (the "Forest reservoir concept") to explain how large-scale forests can exert important effects on the long-term water balance partitioning and regulation capacity of large basins of the world. Our quantitative results are based on data analysis (river flows and land cover features) from 22 large basins of the world, with emphasis in the Amazon river and its main tributaries. Collectively, our findings support the hypothesis that forest cover enhances the capacity of large river basins to maintain relatively high mean river flows, as well as to regulate (ameliorate) extreme river flows. Advancing towards this quantitative understanding of the relation between forest cover and river flow regimes is

opulation growth and deforestation in the Volta River basin of Ghana ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The Volta River basin in Ghana, about 160,000 km2, is experiencing rapid deforestation. Paper uses satellite, household survey and population census data to relate trends and patterns of population in the Volta River sub-basins to forest cover. It assesses amount of forest available in 1990 and 2000, and the relationship ...

Comprehensive evaluation of the main technology for new sewage treatment plants in small towns along the Duliujian river basin

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yiming; Zhou, Beihai; Yuan, Rongfang; Bao, Xiangming; Li, Dongwei

2018-02-01

In recent years, water contamination problem has been becoming more and more serious due to increasing wastewater discharge. So our country has accelerated the pace of constructing sewage treatment plant in small towns. But in China it has not been issued any corresponding technical specifications about the choice of treatment technology. So the article is based on the basin of Duliujian river, through field research, data collection and analysis of relevant documentations, preliminarily elects seven kinds of technology: Improved A2/O, Integrated oxidation ditch, Orbal oxidation ditch, CASS, A/O+refined diatomite, BIOLAK and UNITANK as alternatives for Tianjin sewage discharge local standard.Then the article use the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to evaluate the seven kinds of alternatives, finally it is concluded that CASS technology is most suitable for the main technology of new sewage treatment plants in small towns along the Duliujian River basin.

Pb-Zn-Cd-Hg multi isotopic characterization of the Loire River Basin, France

Science.gov (United States)

Millot, R.; Widory, D.; Innocent, C.; Guerrot, C.; Bourrain, X.; Johnson, T. M.

2012-12-01

The contribution of human activities such as industries, agriculture and domestic inputs, becomes more and more significant in the chemical composition (major ions and pollutants such as metals) of the dissolved load of rivers. Furthermore, this influence can also be evidenced in the suspended solid matter known to play an important role in the transport of heavy metals through river systems. Human factors act as a supplementary key process. Therefore the mass-balance for the budget of catchments and river basins include anthropogenic disturbances. The Loire River in central France is approximately 1010 km long and drains an area of 117,800 km2. Initially, the Loire upstream flows in a south to north direction originating in the Massif Central, and continues up to the city of Orléans, 650 km from the source. In the upper basin, the bedrock is old plutonic rock overlain by much younger volcanic rocks. The Loire River then follows a general east to west direction to the Atlantic Ocean. The intermediate basin includes three major tributaries flowing into the Loire River from the left bank: the Cher, the Indre and the Vienne rivers; the main stream flows westward and its valley stretches toward the Atlantic Ocean. Here, the Loire River drains the sedimentary series of the Paris Basin, mainly carbonate deposits. The lower Loire basin drains pre-Mesozoic basement of the Armorican Massif and its overlying Mesozoic to Cenozoic sedimentary deposits. The Loire River is one of the main European riverine inputs to the Atlantic ocean. Here we are reporting concentration and isotope data for heavy metals Zn-Cd-Pb-Hg in river waters and suspended sediments from the Loire River Basin. In addition, we also report concentration and isotope data for these metals for the different industrial sources within the Loire Basin, as well as data for biota samples such as mussels and oysters from the Bay of Biscay and North Brittany. These organisms are known to be natural accumulators of

30-year changes in the nitrogen inputs to the Yangtze River Basin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Qinxue; Koshikawa, Hiroshi; Liu, Chen; Otsubo, Kuninori

2014-01-01

To understand both spatial and temporal changes in nitrogen inputs to the Yangtze River Basin (YRB), we collected decadal statistical data for 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010 at the county level and the annual statistical data for the period 1980–2010 at the provincial level of China. Based on these datasets, we estimated the nitrogen inputs, including the atmospheric deposition, synthetic N fertilizer, biological N fixation and recycling reactive N inputs, such as N from human waste and animal excrement, crop residue recycled as manure, and N emission from burning crop residue. The results showed that, geographically, the variation of the total amount of N input during the last 30 years (δN = N 2010  – N 1980 ) has increased about 0–50 kg ha −1 over most of the area of the YRB. Moreover, it has increased dramatically by about 50–300 kg ha −1 in the Sichuan Basin, the Han River Basin, the Poyang and Dongting lake basins, and the Yangtze Delta as well. Temporally, the total amount of N inputs to the whole YRB was approximately 16.4 Tg N in 2010, which was a 2.0-fold increase over 1980. It increased dramatically in the 1990s and then stabilized at a high level in the 2000s. The major N inputs were human and animal wastes as well as synthetic fertilizers, but they varied regionally. Animal waste was the major input to the water source regions, and its contribution percentage gradually decreased from upper to lower reaches. In contrast, the contribution of N fertilizer increased from upper to lower reaches, and became the major input to the middle and lower reaches. The total N inputs changed slightly in the upper reaches, but increased largely in the middle reaches in the last 30 years. However, in the lower reaches, it had increased remarkably before 2000, and then tended to decrease in the last decade. Finally, the atmospheric N deposition over the basin increased continuously in the last 30 years. (paper)

Flood of May 23, 2004, in the Turkey and Maquoketa River basins, northeast Iowa

Science.gov (United States)

Eash, David A.

2006-01-01

Severe flooding occurred on May 23, 2004, in the Turkey River Basin in Clayton County and in the Maquoketa River Basin in Delaware County following intense thunderstorms over northeast Iowa. Rain gages at Postville and Waucoma, Iowa, recorded 72-hour rainfall of 6.32 and 6.55 inches, respectively, on May 23. Unofficial rainfall totals of 8 to 10 inches were reported in the Turkey River Basin. The peak discharge on May 23 at the Turkey River at Garber streamflow-gaging station was 66,700 cubic feet per second (recurrence interval greater than 500 years) and is the largest flood on record in the Turkey River Basin. The timing of flood crests on the Turkey and Volga Rivers, and local tributaries, coincided to produce a record flood on the lower part of the Turkey River. Three large floods have occurred at the Turkey River at Garber gaging station in a 13-year period. Peak discharges of the floods of June 1991 and May 1999 were 49,900 cubic feet per second (recurrence interval about 150 years) and 53,900 cubic feet per second (recurrence interval about 220 years), respectively. The peak discharge on May 23 at the Maquoketa River at Manchester gaging station was 26,000 cubic feet per second (recurrence interval about 100 years) and is the largest known flood in the upper part of the Maquoketa River Basin.

Estimating and Predicting Metal Concentration Using Online Turbidity Values and Water Quality Models in Two Rivers of the Taihu Basin, Eastern China.

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Hong; Zhuang, Wei; Qian, Yu; Xia, Bisheng; Yang, Yang; Qian, Xin

2016-01-01

Turbidity (T) has been widely used to detect the occurrence of pollutants in surface water. Using data collected from January 2013 to June 2014 at eleven sites along two rivers feeding the Taihu Basin, China, the relationship between the concentration of five metals (aluminum (Al), titanium (Ti), nickel (Ni), vanadium (V), lead (Pb)) and turbidity was investigated. Metal concentration was determined using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The linear regression of metal concentration and turbidity provided a good fit, with R(2) = 0.86-0.93 for 72 data sets collected in the industrial river and R(2) = 0.60-0.85 for 60 data sets collected in the cleaner river. All the regression presented good linear relationship, leading to the conclusion that the occurrence of the five metals are directly related to suspended solids, and these metal concentration could be approximated using these regression equations. Thus, the linear regression equations were applied to estimate the metal concentration using online turbidity data from January 1 to June 30 in 2014. In the prediction, the WASP 7.5.2 (Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program) model was introduced to interpret the transport and fates of total suspended solids; in addition, metal concentration downstream of the two rivers was predicted. All the relative errors between the estimated and measured metal concentration were within 30%, and those between the predicted and measured values were within 40%. The estimation and prediction process of metals' concentration indicated that exploring the relationship between metals and turbidity values might be one effective technique for efficient estimation and prediction of metal concentration to facilitate better long-term monitoring with high temporal and spatial density.

Socio-Hydrology of Channel Flows in Complex River Basins: Rivers, Canals, and Distributaries in Punjab, Pakistan

Science.gov (United States)

Wescoat, James L.; Siddiqi, Afreen; Muhammad, Abubakr

2018-01-01

This paper presents a socio-hydrologic analysis of channel flows in Punjab province of the Indus River basin in Pakistan. The Indus has undergone profound transformations, from large-scale canal irrigation in the mid-nineteenth century to partition and development of the international river basin in the mid-twentieth century, systems modeling in the late-twentieth century, and new technologies for discharge measurement and data analytics in the early twenty-first century. We address these processes through a socio-hydrologic framework that couples historical geographic and analytical methods at three levels of flow in the Punjab. The first level assesses Indus River inflows analysis from its origins in 1922 to the present. The second level shows how river inflows translate into 10-daily canal command deliveries that vary widely in their conformity with canal entitlements. The third level of analysis shows how new flow measurement technologies raise questions about the performance of established methods of water scheduling (warabandi) on local distributaries. We show how near real-time measurement sheds light on the efficiency and transparency of surface water management. These local socio-hydrologic changes have implications in turn for the larger scales of canal and river inflow management in complex river basins.

Magnetic signature of river sediments drained into the southern and eastern part of the South China Sea (Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Luzon and Taiwan)

Science.gov (United States)

Kissel, Catherine; Liu, Zhifei; Li, Jinhua; Wandres, Camille

2017-01-01

Magnetic properties of 22 river samples collected in the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Luzon and Taiwan have been investigated in order to magnetically characterize the sediments drained and deposited into the South China Sea. The geological formations as well as the present climatic conditions are different from one region to another. Laboratory analyses include low-field magnetic susceptibility, anhysteretic (ARM) and isothermal (IRM) remanent magnetizations acquisition and decay, back-field acquisition, thermal demagnetization of three-axes IRM, hysteresis cycles and low-temperature magnetic measurements. The magnetic properties indicate that the sediments are a mixture of hematite, magnetite and pyrrhotite in different proportions depending on the region. Combined with results previously reported for the three main Asian rivers (Pearl, Red and Mekong rivers), the new data indicate that, in general, hematite-rich sediments are delivered to the southern basin of the South China Sea while the northern basin is fed with magnetite and pyrrhotite-rich sediments. In addition to this general picture, some variability is observed at smaller geographic scales. Indeed, the magnetic assemblages are closely related to the geology of the various catchments while clay minerals, previously reported for the same samples, are more representative of the climatic conditions under which the parent rocks have evolved within each catchment. The magnetic fraction, now well characterized in the main river sediments drained into the South China Sea, can be used as a tracer for changes in precipitation on land and in oceanic water mass transport and exchange.

[Effect of hydrochemistry characteristics under impact of human activity: a case study in the upper reaches of the Xijiang River basin].

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Shil; Sun, Ping-an; Du, Wen-yue; He, Shi-yi; Li, Rui

2015-01-01

In this paper, observation and sampling were taken three times a month in a hydrological year for three typical sections of the middle and upper reaches of the Xijiang River basin, based on the data of hydrochemistry and flow, the article mainly discusses the evolution process of hydrochemistry in river under natural process and impact of human activity. Hydrochemical characteristics of 116. samples were analyzed in the study area. The hydrochemistry type in the middle and upper reaches of the Xijiang River basin belonged to HCO3- -Ca2+ type, and the chemical weathering type mainly came from carbonate rock weathering. Ca2+ and HCO3- were the main cations and anions, which reflected that hydrochemical characteristics of river in karst area mainly affected by the dissolution of carbonate rock. Na, Mg2, Ca2+ and Cl- mainly affected by natural conditions, the impact of human activity was little. K+, NO3-, SO4(2-) and HCO3- were affected by human activity in different degrees, and it showed different influence ways. This study had an important significance for the change of river hydrochemistry, water quality characteristics, and the effect on substance transported fluxes in the downstream of Pearl River and water quality protection in South China Monsoon Area.

Geographic Information System and Geoportal «River basins of the European Russia»

Science.gov (United States)

Yermolaev, O. P.; Mukharamova, S. S.; Maltsev, K. A.; Ivanov, M. A.; Ermolaeva, P. O.; Gayazov, A. I.; Mozzherin, V. V.; Kharchenko, S. V.; Marinina, O. A.; Lisetskii, F. N.

2018-01-01

Geographic Information System (GIS) and Geoportal with open access «River basins of the European Russia» were implemented. GIS and Geoportal are based on the map of basins of small rivers of the European Russia with information about natural and anthropogenic characteristics, namely geomorphometry of basins relief; climatic parameters, representing averages, variation, seasonal variation, extreme values of temperature and precipitation; land cover types; soil characteristics; type and subtype of landscape; population density. The GIS includes results of spatial analysis and modelling, in particular, assessment of anthropogenic impact on river basins; evaluation of water runoff and sediment runoff; climatic, geomorphological and landscape zoning for the European part of Russia.

Eco-hydrological Responses to Soil and Water Conservation in the Jinghe River Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, H.; Jia, Y.; Qiu, Y.

2011-12-01

The Jinghe River Basin is one of the most serious soil erosion areas in the Loess Plateau. Many measures of soil and water conservation were applied in the basin. Terrestrial ecosystem model BIOME-BGC and distributed hydrological model WEP-L were used to build eco-hydrological model and verified by field observation and literature values. The model was applied in the Jinghe River Basin to analyze eco-hydrological responses under the scenarios of vegetation type change due to soil and water conservation polices. Four scenarios were set under the measures of conversion of cropland to forest, forestation on bare land, forestation on slope wasteland and planting grass on bare land. Analysis results show that the soil and water conservation has significant effects on runoff and the carbon cycle in the Jinghe River Basin: the average annual runoff would decrease and the average annual NPP and carbon storage would increase. Key words: soil and water conservation; conversion of cropland to forest; eco-hydrology response; the Jinghe River Basin

Future Climate Change Impacts on Streamflows of Two Main West Africa River Basins: Senegal and Gambia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ansoumana Bodian

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This research investigated the effect of climate change on the two main river basins of Senegal in West Africa: the Senegal and Gambia River Basins. We used downscaled projected future rainfall and potential evapotranspiration based on projected temperature from six General Circulation Models (CanESM2, CNRM, CSIRO, HadGEM2-CC, HadGEM2-ES, and MIROC5 and two scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 to force the GR4J model. The GR4J model was calibrated and validated using observed daily rainfall, potential evapotranspiration from observed daily temperature, and streamflow data. For the cross-validation, two periods for each river basin were considered: 1961–1982 and 1983–2004 for the Senegal River Basin at Bafing Makana, and 1969–1985 and 1986–2000 for the Gambia River Basin at Mako. Model efficiency is evaluated using a multi-criteria function (Fagg which aggregates Nash and Sutcliffe criteria, cumulative volume error, and mean volume error. Alternating periods of simulation for calibration and validation were used. This process allows us to choose the parameters that best reflect the rainfall-runoff relationship. Once the model was calibrated and validated, we simulated streamflow at Bafing Makana and Mako stations in the near future at a daily scale. The characteristic flow rates were calculated to evaluate their possible evolution under the projected climate scenarios at the 2050 horizon. For the near future (2050 horizon, compared to the 1971–2000 reference period, results showed that for both river basins, multi-model ensemble predicted a decrease of annual streamflow from 8% (Senegal River Basin to 22% (Gambia River Basin under the RCP4.5 scenario. Under the RCP8.5 scenario, the decrease is more pronounced: 16% (Senegal River Basin and 26% (Gambia River Basin. The Gambia River Basin will be more affected by the climate change.

Beyond water, beyond boundaries: spaces of water management in the Krishna river basin, South India.

Science.gov (United States)

Venot, Jean-Philippe; Bharati, Luna; Giordano, Mark; Molle, François

2011-01-01

As demand and competition for water resources increase, the river basin has become the primary unit for water management and planning. While appealing in principle, practical implementation of river basin management and allocation has often been problematic. This paper examines the case of the Krishna basin in South India. It highlights that conflicts over basin water are embedded in a broad reality of planning and development where multiple scales of decisionmaking and non-water issues are at play. While this defines the river basin as a disputed "space of dependence", the river basin has yet to acquire a social reality. It is not yet a "space of engagement" in and for which multiple actors take actions. This explains the endurance of an interstate dispute over the sharing of the Krishna waters and sets limits to what can be achieved through further basin water allocation and adjudication mechanisms – tribunals – that are too narrowly defined. There is a need to extend the domain of negotiation from that of a single river basin to multiple scales and to non-water sectors. Institutional arrangements for basin management need to internalise the political spaces of the Indian polity: the states and the panchayats. This re-scaling process is more likely to shape the river basin as a space of engagement in which partial agreements can be iteratively renegotiated, and constitute a promising alternative to the current interstate stalemate.

Drought evolution characteristics and precipitation intensity changes during alternating dry-wet changes in the Huang-Huai-Hai River basin

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, D. H.; Wu, D.; Huang, R.; Wang, L. N.; Yang, G. Y.

2013-03-01

According to the Chinese climate divisions and the Huang-Huai-Hai River basin digital elevation map, the basin is divided into seven sub-regions by means of cluster analysis of the basin meteorological stations using the self-organizing map (SOM) neural network method. Based on the daily precipitation data of 171 stations for the years 1961-2011, the drought frequency changes with different magnitudes are analyzed and the number of consecutive days without precipitation is used to identify the drought magnitudes. The first precipitation intensity after a drought period is analyzed with the Pearson-III frequency curve, then the relationship between rainfall intensity and different drought magnitudes is observed, as are the drought frequency changes for different years. The results of the study indicated the following: (1) the occurrence frequency of different drought level shows an overall increasing trend; there is no clear interdecadal change shown, but the spatial difference is significant. The occurrence frequencies of severe and extraordinary drought are higher on the North China Plain, Hetao Plains in Ningxia-Inner Mongolia, as well as on the Inner Mongolia and the Loess Plateaus, and in the Fen-Wei Valley basin. (2) As the drought level increases, the probability of extraordinary rainstorm becomes lower, and the frequency of occurrence of spatial changes in different precipitation intensities vary. In the areas surrounding Bo Sea, the Shandong Peninsula and the Huai River downstream, as the drought level increases, the occurrence frequency of different precipitation intensities first shows a decreasing trend, which becomes an increasing trend when extraordinary drought occurs. In the middle and upper reaches of the Huai River basin, on the Hai River basin piedmont plain and Hetao Plains in Ningxia-Inner Mongolia, Inner Mongolia and Loess Plateaus, and in the Fen-Wei Valley basin, the probability of the different precipitation intensities shows an overall

Spatial-temporal variability of soil water content in a cropland-shelterbelt-desert site in an arid inland river basin of Northwest China

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Qin; Gao, Guangyao; Hu, Wei; Fu, Bojie

2016-09-01

Knowledge of the spatial-temporal variability of soil water content (SWC) is critical for understanding a range of hydrological processes. In this study, the spatial variance and temporal stability of SWC were investigated in a cropland-shelterbelt-desert site at the oasis-desert ecotone in the middle of the Heihe River Basin, China. The SWC was measured on 65 occasions to a depth of 2.8 m at 45 locations during two growing seasons from 2012 to 2013. The standard deviation of the SWC versus the mean SWC exhibited a convex upward relationship in the shelterbelt with the greatest spatial variation at the SWC of around 22.0%, whereas a linearly increasing relationship was observed for the cropland, desert, and land use pattern. The standard deviation of the relative difference was positively linearly correlated with the SWC (p < 0.05) for the land use pattern, whereas such a relationship was not found in the three land use types. The spatial pattern of the SWC was more time stable for the land use pattern, followed by desert, shelterbelt, and cropland. The spatial pattern of SWC changed dramatically among different soil layers. The locations representing the mean SWC varied with the depth, and no location could represent the whole soil profile due to different soil texture, root distribution and irrigation management. The representative locations of each soil layer could be used to estimate the mean SWC well. The statistics of temporal stability of the SWC could be presented equally well with a low frequency of observation (30-day interval) as with a high frequency (5-day interval). Sampling frequency had little effect on the selection of the representative locations of the field mean SWC. This study provides useful information for designing the optimal strategy for sampling SWC at the oasis-desert ecotone in the arid inland river basin.

Ecosystem Services and Related Sustainable Management of River Oases along the Tarim River in Northwest China

Science.gov (United States)

Disse, M.; Keilholz, P.; Rumbaur, C.; Thevs, N.

2011-12-01

Within the Taklimakan Desert of Northwestern China, an area renowned for its extreme climate and vulnerable ecosystems, lies one of the largest inland rivers in the world, the Tarim River. Because the Tarim River is located in a remote area from the oceans, rainfall is extremely rare (less than 50 mm per year) but potential evaporation is high (3000 mm). Thus, the major source of water discharge comes from snowmelt and glacier-melt in the mountains. Though the water discharge into the Tarim River has experienced an increase over the past ten years, global climate change forecasts predict this water supply to decline within the century. The Tarim River is the major source of water in Northwestern China, and has become the hub of many economic activities related to agriculture and urban life. Over the past 50 years increased activity in the area has led to a severe decline in river flow. Both human and natural ecosystems have been impacted by water diversions. Since rainfall is rare, the majority of vegetation in this area depends solely on groundwater for survival, and plants are experiencing stress caused by decreasing groundwater levels. Recently nearby cities have experienced severe dust storms caused by the shrinking of the vegetative region along the river. SuMaRiO (Sustainable Management of River Oases) is a bundle project between Germany and China working to contribute to a sustainable land management which explicitly takes into account ecosystem functions (ESF) and ecosystem services (ESS). In a transdisciplinary research process, SuMaRiO will identify realizable management strategies, considering social, economic and ecological criteria. SuMaRiO is developing tools to work with Chinese decision makers to implement sustainable land management strategies. In addition, research is being conducted to estimate climate change impacts, floodplain biodiversity, and water runoff characteristics. The overarching goal of SuMaRiO is to support oasis management along

Hydrological assessment of freshwater resource areas in the Zambezi River Basin

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Mwenge Kahinda, Jean-Marc

2012-10-01

Full Text Available characterisation of the degree of regulation of the river system, followed by an assessment of high water yielding areas (water towers), groundwater recharge and base flow index. To understand the environmental patterns and processes that occur in the river... to hydrogeology, IAH Publ. 8, Verlag Heinz Heisse. Xu, Y. and Beekman, H.E. (Eds). 2003. Groundwater recharge estimation in southern Africa. UNESCO IHP Series No. 64. UNESCO Paris. Figure 1: The Zambezi River Basin and its 13 sub basins Figure 3: High water...

Hydrological forecast of maximal water level in Lepenica river basin and flood control measures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milanović Ana

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Lepenica river basin territory has became axis of economic and urban development of Šumadija district. However, considering Lepenica River with its tributaries, and their disordered river regime, there is insufficient of water for water supply and irrigation, while on the other hand, this area is suffering big flood and torrent damages (especially Kragujevac basin. The paper presents flood problems in the river basin, maximum water level forecasts, and flood control measures carried out until now. Some of the potential solutions, aiming to achieve the effective flood control, are suggested as well.

Nutrient mitigation in a temporary river basin.

Science.gov (United States)

Tzoraki, Ourania; Nikolaidis, Nikolaos P; Cooper, David; Kassotaki, Elissavet

2014-04-01

We estimate the nutrient budget in a temporary Mediterranean river basin. We use field monitoring and modelling tools to estimate nutrient sources and transfer in both high and low flow conditions. Inverse modelling by the help of PHREEQC model validated the hypothesis of a losing stream during the dry period. Soil and Water Assessment Tool model captured the water quality of the basin. The 'total daily maximum load' approach is used to estimate the nutrient flux status by flow class, indicating that almost 60% of the river network fails to meet nitrogen criteria and 50% phosphate criteria. We recommend that existing well-documented remediation measures such as reforestation of the riparian area or composting of food process biosolids should be implemented to achieve load reduction in close conjunction with social needs.

The Synergic Characteristics of Surface Water Pollution and Sediment Pollution with Heavy Metals in the Haihe River Basin, Northern China

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Peiru Kong

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Aquatic environmental deterioration is becoming a serious problem due to rapid urbanization and economic development, particularly in developing countries. As two important components of the aquatic environment, water quality and sediment pollution are widely considered to be concerns; however, they are considered separately in most cases. The relationship between water quality and sediment pollution with heavy metals has been little addressed. In this study, the Haihe River Basin (HRB, one of the most polluted areas in China, was used as a case study, and the eutrophication index (EI and the potential ecological risk index (RI were employed to evaluate water quality and sediment pollution of heavy metals, respectively. The results showed that generally in the HRB, the water quality was poor, while the risk of heavy metal pollution was relatively low. Surface water quality was mainly influenced by sewage discharges from human daily life, and heavy metal pollution was affected by industry structure, in that the areas with resource/energy consumption industries and high-pollution industries often have high risks of heavy metal pollution Synergic pollution from water eutrophication and sediment pollution with heavy metals was found, especially in the central areas of the HRB, and it was largely dependent on the type of human activities. In the places with intensive human activities, such as secondary industry, eutrophication occurred simultaneously with heavy metal pollution, other than in less human-affected areas. These findings are useful for planning aquatic environment protections and river ecosystem management.

Mass-movement deposits in the lacustrine Eocene Green River Formation, Piceance Basin, western Colorado

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Ronald C.; Birdwell, Justin E.; Brownfield, Michael E.; Mercier, Tracey J.

2015-01-01

The Eocene Green River Formation was deposited in two large Eocene saline lakes, Lake Uinta in the Uinta and Piceance Basins and Lake Gosiute in the Greater Green River Basin. Here we will discuss mass-movement deposits in just the Piceance Basin part of Lake Uinta.

Impacts of Rainfall and Land Use on Sediment Regime in a Semi-Arid Region: Case Study of the Wuqi Catchment in the Upper Beiluo River Basin, China

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zhu, J.; Gao, P.; Geissen, V.; Maroulis, J.; Ritsema, C.J.; Mu, X.; Zhao, G.

2015-01-01

The middle reaches of the Yellow River Basin transport the vast majority of sediment (>85% of the basin's total available sediment load), which has had profound effects on the characteristics of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. With recent land use and land cover change, the

Groundwater Depletion in the West Liaohe River Basin, China and Its Implications Revealed by GRACE and In Situ Measurements

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Yulong Zhong

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The West Liaohe River Basin (WLRB is one of the most sensitive areas to climate change in China and an important grain production base in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. Groundwater depletion in this region is becoming a critical issue. Here, we used the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE satellite data and in situ well observations to estimate groundwater storage (GWS variations and discussed the driving factors of GWS changes in the WLRB. GRACE detects a GWS decline rate of −0.92 ± 0.49 km3/yr in the WLRB during 2005–2011, consistent with the estimate from in situ observations (−0.96 ± 0.19 km3/yr. This long-term GWS depletion is attributed to reduced precipitation and extensive groundwater overexploitation in the 2000s. Long-term groundwater level observations and reconstructed total water storage variations since 1980 show favorable agreement with precipitation anomalies at interannual timescales, both of which are significantly influenced by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO. Generally, the WLRB receives more/less precipitation during the El Niño/La Niña periods. One of the strongest El Niño events on record in 1997–1998 and a subsequent strong La Niña drastically transform the climate of WLRB into a decade-long drought period, and accelerate the groundwater depletion in the WLRB after 1998. This study demonstrates the significance of integrating satellite observations, ground-based measurements, and climatological data for interpreting regional GWS changes from a long-term perspective.

Spatio-temporal variational characteristics analysis of heavy metals pollution in water of the typical northern rivers, China

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Hongwei; Yu, Sen

2018-04-01

The rapid urbanization and industrialization in developing countries have increased pollution by heavy metals, which is a concern for human health and the environment. In this study, according to the data obtained from the monitoring stations in the Songhua River basin, the multivariate statistical analysis methods are applied to the hydrological data of the Songhua River basin in order to examine the relation between human activities and the spatio-temporal change of heavy metals (Pb and Cu) in water. By comparing the concentrations at different flow periods, the minimum Pb concentrations are found to have occurred most frequently in low flow periods while the maximum values mostly appeared in average flow periods. Moreover, the minimum Cu concentration in the water frequently occurred in high flow periods. The results show there are low Pb and Cu concentrations in upstream and downstream sections and high concentrations in mid-stream sections, and high concentrations are most frequently measured in the sections of Ashihe' downstream and estuary. Moreover, we have predicted the future (during 2018-2025) trend of the change for the heavy metals pollution in the rivers. The results demonstrated intense human activities are the most important factor causing jump features of typical heavy metal pollution in the different periods for different sections of this study area. The research would provide decision-making and planning for the Songhua River basin during the period of China's 13th Five-Year Plan.

Basin of the river Oskil as a tourist-recreational area

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Валентина Клименко

2017-09-01

Full Text Available At the current stage of Ukraine’s economic development tourism is a priority sector of our country’s economy. Due to the fact that Ukraine has set a high priority goal - to join the European Union, we should pay attention to the conditions of various areas and sectors of our economy, in particular, the quality of tourism services, whether the recreational sector meets European standards. Many economically developed countries make tourism the most important among other sectors to fill the budget and closely monitor the quality of tourist services. Due to the rapid development of the tourism industry in our country the question has arisen as to conformity of recreational facilities conditions with international standards and finding new places of recreation, including water tourism. The aim of the study is to highlight the Oskil River Basin (within Kharkiv region as a tourist and recreational area and the use of the study materials in the learning process. The article deals with problems of insufficiently studied use of the river Oskil basin both as a tourist, and a recreational area. The hydrographic characteristics of the reservoir have been studied to illustrate the conformity of water objects with the standards and requirements of tourist and recreational activities; methods and techniques of water resources assessment have been analyzed for recreation; the river Oskil (within Ukraine and Chervono-Oskil reservoir have been assessed on the possibility of tourist-recreational use. The ways to use the study materials in education have been determined. Recreational potential of the river and the reservoir should not be underestimated. Thus, analyzing resources of the Oskil river basin and Chervono-Oskil reservoir in terms of recreation, we can conclude that the water of the river is not equally suitable for recreational purposes. The river basin can be used as an object of beach-bathing leisure, tourist boating and rafting, sport rafting

Climate-driven disturbances in the San Juan River sub-basin of the Colorado River

Science.gov (United States)

Bennett, Katrina E.; Bohn, Theodore J.; Solander, Kurt; McDowell, Nathan G.; Xu, Chonggang; Vivoni, Enrique; Middleton, Richard S.

2018-01-01

Accelerated climate change and associated forest disturbances in the southwestern USA are anticipated to have substantial impacts on regional water resources. Few studies have quantified the impact of both climate change and land cover disturbances on water balances on the basin scale, and none on the regional scale. In this work, we evaluate the impacts of forest disturbances and climate change on a headwater basin to the Colorado River, the San Juan River watershed, using a robustly calibrated (Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency 0.76) hydrologic model run with updated formulations that improve estimates of evapotranspiration for semi-arid regions. Our results show that future disturbances will have a substantial impact on streamflow with implications for water resource management. Our findings are in contradiction with conventional thinking that forest disturbances reduce evapotranspiration and increase streamflow. In this study, annual average regional streamflow under the coupled climate-disturbance scenarios is at least 6-11 % lower than those scenarios accounting for climate change alone; for forested zones of the San Juan River basin, streamflow is 15-21 % lower. The monthly signals of altered streamflow point to an emergent streamflow pattern related to changes in forests of the disturbed systems. Exacerbated reductions of mean and low flows under disturbance scenarios indicate a high risk of low water availability for forested headwater systems of the Colorado River basin. These findings also indicate that explicit representation of land cover disturbances is required in modeling efforts that consider the impact of climate change on water resources.

Quality of surface waters in the lower Columbia River Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Santos, John F.

1965-01-01

This report, made during 1959-60, provides reconnaissance data on the quality of waters in the lower Columbia River basin ; information on present and future water problems in the basin; and data that can be employed both in water-use studies and in planning future industrial, municipal, and agricultural expansion within this area. The lower Columbia River basin consists of approximately 46,000 square miles downstream from the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers The region can be divided into three geographic areas. The first is the heavily forested, sparsely populated mountain regions in which quality of water in general is related to geologic and climatological factors. The second is a semiarid plateau east of the Cascade Mountains; there differences in geology and precipitation, together with more intensive use of available water for irrigation, bring about marked differences in water quality. The third is the Willamette-Puget trough area in which are concentrated most of the industry and population and in which water quality is influenced by sewage and industrial waste disposal. The majority of the streams in the lower Columbia River basin are calcium magnesium bicarbonate waters. In general, the rivers rising in the. Coast Range and on the west slope of the Cascade Range contain less than 100 parts per million of dissolved solids, and hardness of the water is less than 50 parts per million. Headwater reaches of the streams on the east slope of the Cascade Range are similar to those on the west slope; but, downstream, irrigation return flows cause the dissolved-solids content and hardness to increase. Most of the waters, however, remain calcium magnesium bicarbonate in type. The highest observed dissolved-solids concentrations and also some changes in chemical composition occur in the streams draining the more arid parts of the area. In these parts, irrigation is chiefly responsible for increasing the dissolved-solids concentration and altering the

An environmental streamflow assessment for the Santiam River basin, Oregon

Science.gov (United States)

Risley, John C.; Wallick, J. Rose; Mangano, Joseph F.; Jones, Krista L.

2012-01-01

The Santiam River is a tributary of the Willamette River in northwestern Oregon and drains an area of 1,810 square miles. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) operates four dams in the basin, which are used primarily for flood control, hydropower production, recreation, and water-quality improvement. The Detroit and Big Cliff Dams were constructed in 1953 on the North Santiam River. The Green Peter and Foster Dams were completed in 1967 on the South Santiam River. The impacts of the structures have included a decrease in the frequency and magnitude of floods and an increase in low flows. For three North Santiam River reaches, the median of annual 1-day maximum streamflows decreased 42–50 percent because of regulated streamflow conditions. Likewise, for three reaches in the South Santiam River basin, the median of annual 1-day maximum streamflows decreased 39–52 percent because of regulation. In contrast to their effect on high flows, the dams increased low flows. The median of annual 7-day minimum flows in six of the seven study reaches increased under regulated streamflow conditions between 60 and 334 percent. On a seasonal basis, median monthly streamflows decreased from February to May and increased from September to January in all the reaches. However, the magnitude of these impacts usually decreased farther downstream from dams because of cumulative inflow from unregulated tributaries and groundwater entering the North, South, and main-stem Santiam Rivers below the dams. A Wilcox rank-sum test of monthly precipitation data from Salem, Oregon, and Waterloo, Oregon, found no significant difference between the pre-and post-dam periods, which suggests that the construction and operation of the dams since the 1950s and 1960s are a primary cause of alterations to the Santiam River basin streamflow regime. In addition to the streamflow analysis, this report provides a geomorphic characterization of the Santiam River basin and the associated conceptual

Relationship of Rainfall Distribution and Water Level on Major Flood 2014 in Pahang River Basin, Malaysia

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Nur Hishaam Sulaiman

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Climate change gives impact on extreme hydrological events especially in extreme rainfall. This article discusses about the relationship of rainfall distribution and water level on major flood 2014 in Pahang River Basin, Malaysia in helping decision makers to flood management system. Based on DID Malaysia rainfall station, 56 stations have being use as point in this research and it is including Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan and Perak. Data set for this study were analysed with GIS analysis using interpolation method to develop Isohyet map and XLstat statistical software for PCA and SPC analyses. The results that were obtained from the Isohyet Map for three months was mid-November, rainfall started to increase about in range of 800mm-1200mm and the intensity keep increased to 2200mm at mid-December 2014. The high rainfall intensity sense at highland that is upstream of Pahang River. The PCA and SPC analysis also indicates the high relationship between rainfall and water level of few places at Pahang River. The Sg. Yap station and Kg. Serambi station obtained the high relationship of rainfall and water level with factor loading value at 0.9330 and 0.9051 for each station. Hydrological pattern and trend are extremely affected by climate such as north east monsoon season that occurred in South China Sea and affected Pahang during November to March. The findings of this study are important to local authorities by providing basic data as guidelines to the integrated river management at Pahang River Basin.

Shifts in production of perfluoroalkyl acids affect emissions and concentrations in the environment of the Xiaoqing River Basin, China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Pei [State Key Lab of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085 (China); Lu, Yonglong, E-mail: yllu@rcees.ac.cn [State Key Lab of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085 (China); Wang, Tieyu [State Key Lab of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085 (China); Meng, Jing; Li, Qifeng; Zhu, Zhaoyun [State Key Lab of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085 (China); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China); Sun, Yajun [State Key Lab of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085 (China); College of Biological Sciences and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083 (China); Wang, Ruoshi [State Key Lab of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085 (China); University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China); Giesy, John P. [Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences and Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (Canada)

2016-04-15

Highlights: • Mass loads demonstrated a greater pattern of increasing PFAAs emissions. • High levels of PFOA were identified near a fluoropolymer facility. • Production activities that could generate PFOA emissions were analyzed. • Partitioning coefficients decreased with high levels of short-chain PFCAs in water. - Abstract: Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) have been widely used in surfactant applications, especially as processing acids for fluoropolymer production. This study provides an analysis of sources of certain PFAAs emitted from the intensive fluoropolymer facilities in the Xiaoqing River Basin of China. Concentrations of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) as great as 0.97 mg/L in surface water and 10.5 μg/g dry weight in surface sediment have been detected near the effluent of one facility (F1) that produces polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and other fluoropolymers with massive capacity. With the great emission of PFAAs to water in natural conditions, the log K{sub OC} values decreased for short-chain PFCAs. Mass loads of PFAAs indicated that emissions of PFAAs from other facilities or sources were much less than those from F1, which emitted 174 kg/d of PFAAs including 159 kg/d of PFOA to the rivers. Even though production and emissions of PFOA have been strictly controlled in other countries since 2006, production of PFOA as well as several other fluoropolymers that use PFOA as processing aids has been increasing at F1 in recent years. We recommended that production shift should be taken into consideration in PFOA elimination actions.

Shifts in production of perfluoroalkyl acids affect emissions and concentrations in the environment of the Xiaoqing River Basin, China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Pei; Lu, Yonglong; Wang, Tieyu; Meng, Jing; Li, Qifeng; Zhu, Zhaoyun; Sun, Yajun; Wang, Ruoshi; Giesy, John P.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Mass loads demonstrated a greater pattern of increasing PFAAs emissions. • High levels of PFOA were identified near a fluoropolymer facility. • Production activities that could generate PFOA emissions were analyzed. • Partitioning coefficients decreased with high levels of short-chain PFCAs in water. - Abstract: Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) have been widely used in surfactant applications, especially as processing acids for fluoropolymer production. This study provides an analysis of sources of certain PFAAs emitted from the intensive fluoropolymer facilities in the Xiaoqing River Basin of China. Concentrations of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) as great as 0.97 mg/L in surface water and 10.5 μg/g dry weight in surface sediment have been detected near the effluent of one facility (F1) that produces polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and other fluoropolymers with massive capacity. With the great emission of PFAAs to water in natural conditions, the log K_O_C values decreased for short-chain PFCAs. Mass loads of PFAAs indicated that emissions of PFAAs from other facilities or sources were much less than those from F1, which emitted 174 kg/d of PFAAs including 159 kg/d of PFOA to the rivers. Even though production and emissions of PFOA have been strictly controlled in other countries since 2006, production of PFOA as well as several other fluoropolymers that use PFOA as processing aids has been increasing at F1 in recent years. We recommended that production shift should be taken into consideration in PFOA elimination actions.

Fish, Corumbataí and Jacaré-Pepira river basins, São Paulo State, Brazil

OpenAIRE

Gomiero, Leandro; Braga, Francisco

2006-01-01

Fish were studied in two river basins (Corumbataí and Jacaré-Pepira) subjected to strong human pressure, in the interior of the State of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil. In the Corumbataí basin, four sites were sampled: Cabeça river, Lapa stream, Passa-Cinco river, and Corumbataí river; in the Jacaré-Pepira basin, three sites were sampled: Tamanduá stream, Jacaré-Pepira river, and Água Branca stream. A total of 4,050 specimens belonging to 48 species and 13 families were caught and analyzed....

Interlinking feasibility of five river basins of Rajasthan in India

OpenAIRE

Vyas, Sunil Kumar; Sharma, Gunwant; Mathur, Y.P.; Chandwani, Vinay

2016-01-01

The increasing population and large scale growth with the development of modern science and technology has indicated very high stress on water sector in Rajasthan in India. Availability of water and uniformity of rainfall distribution is changing day by day due to shifting of monsoon in Rajasthan. The spatial and temporal variations in the rainfall in different river basins in Rajasthan are drastic due to which flood situation arises in the tributaries of Chambal river basin every year. Simul...

Comparison of the abiotic preferences of macroinvertebrates in tropical river basins.

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Gert Everaert

Full Text Available We assessed and compared abiotic preferences of aquatic macroinvertebrates in three river basins located in Ecuador, Ethiopia and Vietnam. Upon using logistic regression models we analyzed the relationship between the probability of occurrence of five macroinvertebrate families, ranging from pollution tolerant to pollution sensitive, (Chironomidae, Baetidae, Hydroptilidae, Libellulidae and Leptophlebiidae and physical-chemical water quality conditions. Within the investigated physical-chemical ranges, nine out of twenty-five interaction effects were significant. Our analyses suggested river basin dependent associations between the macroinvertebrate families and the corresponding physical-chemical conditions. It was found that pollution tolerant families showed no clear abiotic preference and occurred at most sampling locations, i.e. Chironomidae were present in 91%, 84% and 93% of the samples taken in Ecuador, Ethiopia and Vietnam. Pollution sensitive families were strongly associated with dissolved oxygen and stream velocity, e.g. Leptophlebiidae were only present in 48%, 2% and 18% of the samples in Ecuador, Ethiopia and Vietnam. Despite some limitations in the study design, we concluded that associations between macroinvertebrates and abiotic conditions can be river basin-specific and hence are not automatically transferable across river basins in the tropics.

Contamination of Piracicaba river basin source by Zn, Cr and Co

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Favaro, P.C.; Ferraz, E.S.B.

1999-01-01

The growth of the industrialization, urbanization and modernization of the agricultural practices in the last decades, has been causing a great impact in the basin of the Piracicaba river, the second economic pole of the country, area that shelters important urban centers like Campinas and Piracicaba. there are 45 headquarters of municipal districts in area of 12.400 km 2 with more than 3,5 million inhabitants. The present work studies one of the source of the basin, the sub-basin of the high Atibaia river, one of the former of the river Piracicaba, in low impacted area due to low demographic density, absence of load industries and non significant agriculture. The objective is to establish parameters for comparison with other areas of the basin, intensely modified. Samples of bottom sediments on the former rivers and of soils of the area they were analyzed by neutronic activation for the identification of about 20 elements line. The results showed that the area already presents signs of preoccupying anthropic pollution because the contaminations with Zn, Cr and Co are already significant, probably due to the agricultural activity and to the urban sewer. (author)

Export of Nitrogen From the Yukon River Basin to the Bering Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Dornblaser, M. M.; Striegl, R. G.

2005-12-01

The US Geological Survey measured nitrogen export from the 831,400 km2 Yukon River basin during 2001-04 as part of a five year water quality study of the Yukon River and its major tributaries. Concentrations of NO2+NO3, NH4+DON, and particulate N were measured ~6 times annually during open water and once under ice cover at three locations on the Yukon River, and on the Porcupine and Tanana Rivers. Concentration and continuous flow data were used to generate daily and annual loads of N species. NH4 concentration was generally negligible when compared to DON concentration, allowing for comparison of the relative importance of DIN vs. DON export at various watershed scales. NO2 concentration was also small compared to NO3. At Pilot Station, the last site on the Yukon before it flows into the Yukon Delta and the Bering Sea, DIN, DON, and particulate N loads averaged 19.3 × 106 kg/yr, 52.6 × 106 kg/yr, and 39.1 × 106 kg/yr, respectively. Normalized for the watershed area at Pilot Station, corresponding N yields were 1.65, 4.52, and 3.35 mmol/m2/yr. DIN yield for the Yukon at Pilot Station is substantially less than the NO3 flux reported for tropical/temperate rivers such as the Amazon, the Yangtze, and the Mississippi. DIN yield in the upper Yukon River basin is similar to that of the Mackenzie and other arctic rivers, but increases substantially downstream. This is likely due to development around Fairbanks in the Tanana River basin. When compared to other headwater basins in the upper Yukon, the Tanana basin yields about four times more DIN and two times more particulate N, while DON yields are only slightly elevated.

New evidence for the catastrophic demise of a prehistoric settlement (the Lajia Ruins) in the Guanting Basin, upper Yellow River, NW China

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Hui; Huang, Chun Chang; Zheng, Zixing; Hu, Ying; Zhang, Yuzhu; Guo, Yongqiang; Zhou, Qiang

2017-09-01

The Lajia Ruins in the Guanting Basin, NW China, are a product of the prehistoric Qijia Culture. Like Pompeii, they are a rare example of an archaeological site preserved by a natural disaster and are therefore important in archaeology, anthropology and geology. However, the nature of the disaster(s) responsible for the destruction of the site remains controversial. Most studies have focused on an earthquake and a red clay layer directly overlying the site and a detailed stratigraphic study of the mid-Holocene sedimentary strata combined with other intervals of red clay deposition (hence possible disasters) is lacking. We identified a mid-Holocene paleosol sequence (the Shanglajia section) at the site which contains two layers of red clay, dated to 3950 a BP and 3500 a BP, intercalated within the mid-Holocene paleosol (S0). Subsequent multi-proxy analysis indicated that the characteristics of the two red clay layers resemble those of typical Tertiary red clay deposits and the modern gully deposit at the foot of the Great Red Hills, but are distinctly different from those of the slackwater deposits of the Yellow River and the mid-Holocene paleosol. Our results suggest that, at 3950 a BP and 3500 a BP, two large-scale rainstorm-induced mudflow events, originating from the gullies to the north, flooded the Lajia area on the second terrace of the Yellow River, devastating and burying the human settlements. We infer that the intensified erosion and mass wasting were caused by human activity; in addition, natural factors such as rainstorms and earthquakes, may also have played an important role in triggering catastrophic mudflow events in the Tertiary Red Clay deposits. Overall, our results provide further insights into prehistoric man-land relationships in this environmentally sensitive region which may have implications for modern land use in this region of China and elsewhere.

UV filters bioaccumulation in fish from Iberian river basins

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gago-Ferrero, Pablo [Dept. of Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA), Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Jordi Girona 18-26, E-08034 Barcelona (Spain); Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, 15771 Athens (Greece); Díaz-Cruz, M. Silvia, E-mail: sdcqam@cid.csic.es [Dept. of Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA), Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Jordi Girona 18-26, E-08034 Barcelona (Spain); Barceló, Damià [Dept. of Environmental Chemistry, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA), Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Jordi Girona 18-26, E-08034 Barcelona (Spain); Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), Parc Científic i Tecnològic de la Universitat de Girona, C/ Emili Grahit, 101 Edifici H2O, E-17003 Girona (Spain)

2015-06-15

The occurrence of eight organic UV filters (UV-Fs) was assessed in fish from four Iberian river basins. This group of compounds is extensively used in cosmetic products and other industrial goods to avoid the damaging effects of UV radiation, and has been found to be ubiquitous contaminants in the aquatic ecosystem. In particular, fish are considered by the scientific community to be the most feasible organism for contamination monitoring in aquatic ecosystems. Despite that, studies on the bioaccumulation of UV-F are scarce. In this study fish samples from four Iberian river basins under high anthropogenic pressure were analysed by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS/MS). Benzophenone-3 (BP3), ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate (EHMC), 4-methylbenzylidene camphor (4MBC) and octocrylene (OC) were the predominant pollutants in the fish samples, with concentrations in the range of ng/g dry weight (d.w.). The results indicated that most polluted area corresponded to Guadalquivir River basin, where maximum concentrations were found for EHMC (241.7 ng/g d.w.). Sediments from this river basin were also analysed. Lower values were observed in relation to fish for OC and EHMC, ranging from below the limits of detection to 23 ng/g d.w. Accumulation levels of UV-F in the fish were used to calculate biota-sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs). These values were always below 1, in the range of 0.04–0.3, indicating that the target UV-Fs are excreted by fish only to some extent. The fact that the highest concentrations were determined in predators suggests that biomagnification of UV-F may take place along the freshwater food web. - Highlights: • First evidence of UV filters in fish from Iberian rivers • Biota-sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) were always below 1. • Predator species presented higher UV-F concentrations suggesting trophic magnification.

UV filters bioaccumulation in fish from Iberian river basins

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gago-Ferrero, Pablo; Díaz-Cruz, M. Silvia; Barceló, Damià

2015-01-01

The occurrence of eight organic UV filters (UV-Fs) was assessed in fish from four Iberian river basins. This group of compounds is extensively used in cosmetic products and other industrial goods to avoid the damaging effects of UV radiation, and has been found to be ubiquitous contaminants in the aquatic ecosystem. In particular, fish are considered by the scientific community to be the most feasible organism for contamination monitoring in aquatic ecosystems. Despite that, studies on the bioaccumulation of UV-F are scarce. In this study fish samples from four Iberian river basins under high anthropogenic pressure were analysed by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS/MS). Benzophenone-3 (BP3), ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate (EHMC), 4-methylbenzylidene camphor (4MBC) and octocrylene (OC) were the predominant pollutants in the fish samples, with concentrations in the range of ng/g dry weight (d.w.). The results indicated that most polluted area corresponded to Guadalquivir River basin, where maximum concentrations were found for EHMC (241.7 ng/g d.w.). Sediments from this river basin were also analysed. Lower values were observed in relation to fish for OC and EHMC, ranging from below the limits of detection to 23 ng/g d.w. Accumulation levels of UV-F in the fish were used to calculate biota-sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs). These values were always below 1, in the range of 0.04–0.3, indicating that the target UV-Fs are excreted by fish only to some extent. The fact that the highest concentrations were determined in predators suggests that biomagnification of UV-F may take place along the freshwater food web. - Highlights: • First evidence of UV filters in fish from Iberian rivers • Biota-sediment accumulation factors (BSAFs) were always below 1. • Predator species presented higher UV-F concentrations suggesting trophic magnification

Analysis of Water Resources Supply and Demand and Security of Water Resources Development in Irrigation Regions of the Middle Reaches of the Heihe River Basin, Northwest China

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

JI Xi-bin; KANG Er-si; CHEN Ren-sheng; ZHAO Wen-zhi; XIAO Sheng-chun; JIN Bo-wen

2006-01-01

Based on the data for meteorology, hydrology, soil, planting, vegetation, and socio-economic development of the irrigation region in the middle reaches of the Heihe River basin, Northwest China, the model of balance of water supply and demand in the region was established, and the security of water resource was assessed, from which the results that the effects of unified management of water resources in the Heihe River basin between Gansu Province and Inner Mongolia on regional hydrology are significant with a decrease in water supply diverted from Heihe River and an increase in groundwater extracted. In addition, it was found that the groundwater level has been steadily decreasing due to over pumping and decrease in recharges. In present year (2003), the volume of potential groundwater in the irrigation districts is far small because of the groundwater overdraft; even in the particular regions, there is no availability of groundwater resources for use. By 2003, water supply is not sufficient to meet the water demand in the different irrigation districts, the sustainable development and utilization of water resources are not secured, and the water supply crisis occurs in Pingchuan irrigation district. Achieving water security for the sustainable development of society, agriculture, economy, industry, and livelihoods while maintaining or improving the abilities of the management and planning of water resources, determining of the reasonable percentage between water supply and groundwater utilization and water saving in agricultural irrigation are taken into account. If this does not occur, it is feared that the present performance of water development and planning may further aggravate the problem of scarcities of water resources and further damage the fragile ecological system.

Variation of Probable Maximum Precipitation in Brazos River Basin, TX

Science.gov (United States)

Bhatia, N.; Singh, V. P.

2017-12-01

The Brazos River basin, the second-largest river basin by area in Texas, generates the highest amount of flow volume of any river in a given year in Texas. With its headwaters located at the confluence of Double Mountain and Salt forks in Stonewall County, the third-longest flowline of the Brazos River traverses within narrow valleys in the area of rolling topography of west Texas, and flows through rugged terrains in mainly featureless plains of central Texas, before its confluence with Gulf of Mexico. Along its major flow network, the river basin covers six different climate regions characterized on the basis of similar attributes of vegetation, temperature, humidity, rainfall, and seasonal weather changes, by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Our previous research on Texas climatology illustrated intensified precipitation regimes, which tend to result in extreme flood events. Such events have caused huge losses of lives and infrastructure in the Brazos River basin. Therefore, a region-specific investigation is required for analyzing precipitation regimes along the geographically-diverse river network. Owing to the topographical and hydroclimatological variations along the flow network, 24-hour Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) was estimated for different hydrologic units along the river network, using the revised Hershfield's method devised by Lan et al. (2017). The method incorporates the use of a standardized variable describing the maximum deviation from the average of a sample scaled by the standard deviation of the sample. The hydrometeorological literature identifies this method as more reasonable and consistent with the frequency equation. With respect to the calculation of stable data size required for statistically reliable results, this study also quantified the respective uncertainty associated with PMP values in different hydrologic units. The corresponding range of return periods of PMPs in different hydrologic units was

Hydrological Process Simulation of Inland River Watershed: A Case Study of the Heihe River Basin with Multiple Hydrological Models

OpenAIRE

Lili Wang; Zhonggen Wang; Jingjie Yu; Yichi Zhang; Suzhen Dang

2018-01-01

Simulating the hydrological processes of an inland river basin can help provide the scientific guidance to the policies of water allocation among different subbasins and water resource management groups within the subbasins. However, it is difficult to simulate the hydrological processes of an inland river basin with hydrological models due to the non-consistent hydrological characteristics of the entire basin. This study presents a solution to this problem with a case study about the hydrolo...

Framework for Assessing Water Resource Sustainability in River Basins

Science.gov (United States)

Borden, J.; Goodwin, P.; Swanson, D.

2013-12-01

As the anthropogenic footprint increases on Earth, the wise use, maintenance, and protection of freshwater resources will be a key element in the sustainability of development. Borne from efforts to promote sustainable development of water resources is Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), which promotes efficiency of water resources, equity in water allocation across different social and economic groups, and environmental sustainability. Methodologies supporting IWRM implementation have largely focused on the overall process, but have had limited attention on the evaluation methods for ecologic, economic, and social conditions (the sustainability criterion). Thus, assessment frameworks are needed to support the analysis of water resources and evaluation of sustainable solutions in the IWRM process. To address this need, the River Basin Analysis Framework (RBAF) provides a structure for understanding water related issues and testing the sustainability of proposed solutions in river basins. The RBAF merges three approaches: the UN GEO 4 DPSIR approach, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment approach, and the principles of sustainable development. Merging these approaches enables users to understand the spatiotemporal interactions between the hydrologic and ecologic systems, evaluate the impacts of disturbances (drivers, pressures) on the ecosystem goods and services (EGS) and constituents of human well-being (HWB), and identify and employ analytical methods and indicators in the assessments. The RBAF is comprised of a conceptual component (RBAF-C) and an analytical component (RBAF-A). For each disturbance type, the RBAF-C shows the potential directional change in the hydrologic cycle (peak flows, seasonality, etc.), EGS (drinking water supply, water purification, recreational opportunities, etc.), and HWB (safety, health, access to a basic materials), thus allowing users insight into potential impacts as well as providing technical guidance on the methods and

The Basin Water Resources Management System and Its Innovation in China

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Xun; Pomponio

2008-01-01

Water provides the origin of human survival and prosperity,and the basic resource for the maintenance of terrestrial eco-systems,their biodiversity,productivity and ecological services.With China’s recent,rapid growth both in population and economic development,the water shortage has become one of the most constraints on its ecological restoration and socio-economic development,especially in the arid inland regions of northwest China.At first glance,this water shortage in China appears to be a resource crisis.But second,an in-depth analysis reveals that the water shortage crisis arises mainly resulting from the poor water management system and operating mechanism that cannot facilitate fair allocation and efficient utilization of water resources both regionally and nationally and thus is viewed as a crisis of water manage-ment.The solution of China’s water shortage and low-efficient utilization problem will,in particular,require a fundamen-tal and substantial reform or innovation of the existing water management system and operating mechanism.In this paper,we address explicitly the problems existed in the current water management system,explore the basic theory of water re-sources management and provide some insights into the way how to establish a river basin based integrated water re-sources management system in China.

A LAI inversion algorithm based on the unified model of canopy bidirectional reflectance distribution function for the Heihe River Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, B.; Li, J.; Fan, W.; Ren, H.; Xu, X.

2017-12-01

Leaf area index (LAI) is one of the important parameters of vegetation canopy structure, which can represent the growth condition of vegetation effectively. The accuracy, availability and timeliness of LAI data can be improved greatly, which is of great importance to vegetation-related research, such as the study of atmospheric, land surface and hydrological processes to obtain LAI by remote sensing method. Heihe River Basin is the inland river basin in northwest China. There are various types of vegetation and all kinds of terrain conditions in the basin, so it is helpful for testing the accuracy of the model under the complex surface and evaluating the correctness of the model to study LAI in this area. On the other hand, located in west arid area of China, the ecological environment of Heihe Basin is fragile, LAI is an important parameter to represent the vegetation growth condition, and can help us understand the status of vegetation in the Heihe River Basin. Different from the previous LAI inversion models, the BRDF (bidirectional reflectance distribution function) unified model can be applied for both continuous vegetation and discrete vegetation, it is appropriate to the complex vegetation distribution. LAI is the key input parameter of the model. We establish the inversion algorithm that can exactly retrieve LAI using remote sensing image based on the unified model. First, we determine the vegetation type through the vegetation classification map to obtain the corresponding G function, leaf and surface reflectivity. Then, we need to determine the leaf area index (LAI), the aggregation index (ζ) and the sky scattered light ratio (β) range and the value of the interval, entering all the parameters into the model to calculate the corresponding reflectivity ρ and establish the lookup table of different vegetation. Finally, we can invert LAI on the basis of the established lookup table. The principle of inversion is least squares method. We have produced 1 km

Floods of July 23-26, 2010, in the Little Maquoketa River and Maquoketa River Basins, Northeast Iowa

Science.gov (United States)

Eash, David A.

2012-01-01

Minor flooding occurred July 23, 2010, in the Little Maquoketa River Basin and major flooding occurred July 23–26, 2010, in the Maquoketa River Basin in northeast Iowa following severe thunderstorm activity over the region during July 22–24. A breach of the Lake Delhi Dam on July 24 aggravated flooding on the Maquoketa River. Rain gages at Manchester and Strawberry Point, Iowa, recorded 72-hour-rainfall amounts of 7.33 and 12.23 inches, respectively, on July 24. The majority of the rainfall occurred during a 48-hour period. Within the Little Maquoketa River Basin, a peak-discharge estimate of 19,000 cubic feet per second (annual flood-probability estimate of 4 to 10 percent) at the discontinued 05414500 Little Maquoketa River near Durango, Iowa streamgage on July 23 is the sixth largest flood on record. Within the Maquoketa River Basin, peak discharges of 26,600 cubic feet per second (annual flood-probability estimate of 0.2 to 1 percent) at the 05416900 Maquoketa River at Manchester, Iowa streamgage on July 24, and of 25,000 cubic feet per second (annual flood-probability estimate of 1 to 2 percent) at the 05418400 North Fork Maquoketa River near Fulton, Iowa streamgage on July 24 are the largest floods on record for these sites. A peak discharge affected by the Lake Delhi Dam breach on July 24 at the 05418500 Maquoketa River near Maquoketa, Iowa streamgage, located downstream of Lake Delhi, of 46,000 cubic feet per second on July 26 is the third highest on record. High-water marks were measured at five locations along the Little Maquoketa and North Fork Little Maquoketa Rivers between U.S. Highway 52 near Dubuque and County Road Y21 near Rickardsville, a distance of 19 river miles. Highwater marks were measured at 28 locations along the Maquoketa River between U.S. Highway 52 near Green Island and State Highway 187 near Arlington, a distance of 142 river miles. High-water marks were measured at 13 locations along the North Fork Maquoketa River between

Scaling issues in sustainable river basin management

Science.gov (United States)

Timmerman, Jos; Froebich, Jochen

2014-05-01

Sustainable river basin management implies considering the whole river basin when managing the water resources. Management measures target at dividing the water over different uses (nature, agriculture, industry, households) thereby avoiding calamities like having too much, too little or bad quality water. Water management measures are taken at the local level, usually considering the sub-national and sometimes national effects of such measures. A large part of the world's freshwater resources, however, is contained in river basins and groundwater systems that are shared by two or more countries. Sustainable river basin management consequently has to encompass local, regional, national and international scales. This requires coordination over and cooperation between these levels that is currently compressed into the term 'water governance' . Governance takes into account that a large number of stakeholders in different regimes (the principles, rules and procedures that steer management) contribute to policy and management of a resource. Governance includes the increasing importance of basically non-hierarchical modes of governing, where non-state actors (formal organizations like NGOs, private companies, consumer associations, etc.) participate in the formulation and implementation of public policy. Land use determines the run-off generation and use of irrigation water. Land use is increasingly determined by private sector initiatives at local scale. This is a complicating factor in the governance issue, as in comparison to former developments of large scale irrigation systems, planning institutions at state level have then less insight on actual water consumption. The water management regime of a basin consequently has to account for the different scales of water management and within these different scales with both state and non-state actors. The central elements of regimes include the policy setting (the policies and water management strategies), legal setting

Coalbed Methane Extraction and Soil Suitability Concerns in the Powder River Basin, Montana and Wyoming

Science.gov (United States)

,

2006-01-01

The Powder River Basin is located in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana. It is an area of approximately 55,000 square kilometers. Extraction of methane gas from the coal seams that underlie the Powder River Basin began in Wyoming in the late 1980s and in Montana in the late 1990s. About 100-200 barrels of co-produced water per day are being extracted from each active well in the Powder River Basin, which comes to over 1.5 million barrels of water per day for all the active coalbed methane wells in the Basin. Lab testing indicates that Powder River Basin co-produced water is potable but is high in sodium and other salts, especially in the western and northern parts of the Powder River Basin. Common water management strategies include discharge of co-produced water into drainages, stock ponds, evaporation ponds, or infiltration ponds; treatment to remove sodium; or application of the water directly on the land surface via irrigation equipment or atomizers. Problems may arise because much of the Powder River Basin contains soils with high amounts of swelling clays. As part of the USGS Rocky Mountain Geographic Science Center's hyperspectral research program, researchers are investigating whether hyperspectral remote sensing data can be beneficial in locating areas of swelling clays. Using detailed hyperspectral data collected over parts of the Powder River Basin and applying our knowledge of how the clays of interest reflect energy, we will attempt to identify and map areas of swelling clays. If successful, such information will be useful to resource and land managers.

Sediment budget in the Ucayali River basin, an Andean tributary of the Amazon River

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W. Santini

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Formation of mountain ranges results from complex coupling between lithospheric deformation, mechanisms linked to subduction and surface processes: weathering, erosion, and climate. Today, erosion of the eastern Andean cordillera and sub-Andean foothills supplies over 99% of the sediment load passing through the Amazon Basin. Denudation rates in the upper Ucayali basin are rapid, favoured by a marked seasonality in this region and extreme precipitation cells above sedimentary strata, uplifted during Neogene times by a still active sub-Andean tectonic thrust. Around 40% of those sediments are trapped in the Ucayali retro-foreland basin system. Recent advances in remote sensing for Amazonian large rivers now allow us to complete the ground hydrological data. In this work, we propose a first estimation of the erosion and sedimentation budget of the Ucayali River catchment, based on spatial and conventional HYBAM Observatory network.

Operational river discharge forecasting in poorly gauged basins: the Kavango River basin case study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bauer-Gottwein, Peter; Jensen, Iris Hedegaard; Guzinski, R.

2015-01-01

in Africa. We present an operational probabilistic forecasting approach which uses public-domain climate forcing data and a hydrologic-hydrodynamic model which is entirely based on open-source software. Data assimilation techniques are used to inform the forecasts with the latest available observations......Operational probabilistic forecasts of river discharge are essential for effective water resources management. Many studies have addressed this topic using different approaches ranging from purely statistical black-box approaches to physically based and distributed modeling schemes employing data...... assimilation techniques. However, few studies have attempted to develop operational probabilistic forecasting approaches for large and poorly gauged river basins. The objective of this study is to develop open-source software tools to support hydrologic forecasting and integrated water resources management...

Emergence, concept, and understanding of Pan-River-Basin (PRB

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ning Liu

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In this study, the concept of Pan-River-Basin (PRB for water resource management is proposed with a discussion on the emergence, concept, and application of PRB. The formation and application of PRB is also discussed, including perspectives on the river contribution rates, harmonious levels of watershed systems, and water resource availability in PRB system. Understanding PRB is helpful for reconsidering river development and categorizing river studies by the influences from human projects. The sustainable development of water resources and the harmonization between humans and rivers also requires PRB.

Holocene provenance shift of suspended particulate matter in the Amazon River basin

Science.gov (United States)

Höppner, Natalie; Lucassen, Friedrich; Chiessi, Cristiano M.; Sawakuchi, André O.; Kasemann, Simone A.

2018-06-01

The strontium (Sr), neodymium (Nd) and lead (Pb) isotope signatures of suspended particulate matter (SPM) in rivers reflect the radiogenic isotope signatures of the rivers' drainage basin. These signatures are not significantly affected by weathering, transport or depositional cycles, but document the sedimentary contributions of the respective sources. We report new Sr, Nd and Pb isotope ratios and element concentrations of modern SPM from the Brazilian Amazon River basin and document the past evolution of the basin by analyzing radiogenic isotopes of a marine sediment core from the slope off French Guiana archiving the last 40 kyr of Amazon River SPM, and the Holocene section of sediment cores raised between the Amazon River mouth and the slope off French Guiana. The composition of modern SPM confirms two main source areas, the Andes and the cratonic Shield. In the marine sediment core notable changes occurred during the second phase of Heinrich Stadial 1 (i.e. increased proportion of Shield rivers SPM) and during the last deglaciation (i.e. increased proportion of Madeira River SPM) together with elsewhere constant source contributions. Furthermore, we report a prominent offset in Sr and Nd isotopic composition between the average core value (εNd: -11.7 ± 0.9 (2SD), 87Sr/86Sr: 0.7229 ± 0.0016 (2SD)) and the average modern Amazon River SPM signal (εNd: -10.5 ± 0.5 (2SD), 87Sr/86Sr: 0.7213 ± 0.0036 (2SD)). We suggest that a permanent change in the Amazon River basin sediment supply during the late Holocene to a more Andean dominated SPM was responsible for the offset.

Water resource management model for a river basin

OpenAIRE

Jelisejevienė, Emilija

2005-01-01

The objective is to develop river basin management model that ensures integrated analysis of existing water resource problems and promotes implementation of sustainable development principles in water resources management.

Hazardous materials in aquatic environments of the Mississippi River Basin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-01-01

Tulane and Xavier Universities have singled out the environment as a major strategic focus for research and training for now and by the year 2000. In December, 1992, the Tulane/Xavier CBR was awarded a five year grant to study pollution in the Mississippi River system. The ''Hazardous Materials in Aquatic Environments of the Mississippi River Basin'' project is a broad research and education program aimed at elucidating the nature and magnitude of toxic materials that contaminate aquatic environments of the Mississippi River Basin. Studies include defining the complex interactions that occur during the transport of contaminants, the actual and potential impact on ecological systems and health, and the mechanisms through which these impacts might be remediated. The Mississippi River Basin represents a model system for analyzing and solving contamination problems that are found in aquatic systems world-wide. These research and education projects are particularly relevant to the US Department of Energy's programs aimed at addressing aquatic pollution problems associated with DOE National Laboratories. First year funding supported seven collaborative cluster projects and twelve initiation projects. This report summarizes research results for period December 1992--December 1993

Heavy metal transport in large river systems: heavy metal emissions and loads in the Rhine and Elbe river basins

Science.gov (United States)

Vink, Rona; Behrendt, Horst

2002-11-01

Pollutant transport and management in the Rhine and Elbe basins is still of international concern, since certain target levels set by the international committees for protection of both rivers have not been reached. The analysis of the chain of emissions of point and diffuse sources to river loads will provide policy makers with a tool for effective management of river basins. The analysis of large river basins such as the Elbe and Rhine requires information on the spatial and temporal characteristics of both emissions and physical information of the entire river basin. In this paper, an analysis has been made of heavy metal emissions from various point and diffuse sources in the Rhine and Elbe drainage areas. Different point and diffuse pathways are considered in the model, such as inputs from industry, wastewater treatment plants, urban areas, erosion, groundwater, atmospheric deposition, tile drainage, and runoff. In most cases the measured heavy metal loads at monitoring stations are lower than the sum of the heavy metal emissions. This behaviour in large river systems can largely be explained by retention processes (e.g. sedimentation) and is dependent on the specific runoff of a catchment. Independent of the method used to estimate emissions, the source apportionment analysis of observed loads was used to determine the share of point and diffuse sources in the heavy metal load at a monitoring station by establishing a discharge dependency. The results from both the emission analysis and the source apportionment analysis of observed loads were compared and gave similar results. Between 51% (for Hg) and 74% (for Pb) of the total transport in the Elbe basin is supplied by inputs from diffuse sources. In the Rhine basin diffuse source inputs dominate the total transport and deliver more than 70% of the total transport. The diffuse hydrological pathways with the highest share are erosion and urban areas.

Tectonic implications of Mesozoic magmatism to initiation of Cenozoic basin development within the passive South China Sea margin

Science.gov (United States)

Mai, Hue Anh; Chan, Yu Lu; Yeh, Meng Wan; Lee, Tung Yi

2018-04-01

The South China Sea (SCS) is one of the classical example of a non-volcanic passive margin situated within three tectonic plates of the Eurasian, Indo-Australian and Philippine Sea plate. The development of SCS resulted from interaction of various types of plate boundaries, and complex tectonic assemblage of micro blocks and accretionary prisms. Numerous models were proposed for the formation of SCS, yet none can fully satisfy different aspects of tectonic forces. Temporal and geographical reconstruction of Cretaceous and Cenozoic magmatism with the isochrones of major basins was conducted. Our reconstruction indicated the SE margin of Asia had gone through two crustal thinning events. The sites for rifting development are controlled by localized thermal weakening of magmatism. NW-SE extension setting during Late Cretaceous revealed by magmatism distribution and sedimentary basins allow us to allocate the retreated subduction of Pacific plate to the cause of first crustal thinning event. A magmatic gap between 75 and 65 Ma prior to the initiation of first basin rifting suggested a significant modification of geodynamic setting occurred. The Tainan basin, Pearl River Mouth basin, and Liyue basins started to develop since 65 Ma where the youngest Late Cretaceous magmatism concentrated. Sporadic bimodal volcanism between 65 and 40 Ma indicates further continental extension prior to the opening of SCS. The E-W extension of Malay basin and West Natuna began since late Eocene followed by N-S rifting of SCS as Neotethys subducted. The SCS ridge developed between Pearl River Mouth basin and Liyue basin where 40 Ma volcanic activities concentrated. The interaction of two continental stretching events by Pacific followed by Neotethys subduction with localized magmatic thermal weakening is the cause for the non-volcanic nature of SCS.

Hydrological response to climate change: The Pearl River, China under different RCP scenarios

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dan Yan

2015-09-01

New hydrological insights for the region: Previous studies focussed on annual discharge and extreme flood events in the basin. However it is also important to assess variations in low flow across the basin, because it is suffering from water shortage and salt water intrusion in the dry season. Results indicate a reduction in average low flow under the five climate models. The reduction varies across the basin and is between 6 and 48% for RCP4.5. River discharge in the dry season is projected to decrease throughout the basin. In the wet season, river discharge tends to increase in the middle and lower reaches and decrease in the upper reach of the Pearl River basin. The variation of river discharge is likely to aggravate water stress. Especially the reduction of low flow is problematic as already now the basin experiences temporary water shortages in the delta.

Temporal variations of reference evapotranspiration and its sensitivity to meteorological factors in Heihe River Basin, China

OpenAIRE

Zhao, Jie; Xu, Zong-xue; Zuo, De-peng; Wang, Xu-ming