Yellow River, The: Water And Life

by Tetsuya Kusuda (Editor)

Overview

The Yellow River basin, located in the semi-arid and arid climate zones in northern China, is confronted with serious problems of water deficit as well as water pollution. Due to increasing population, rising living standards, increasing pressure of expanding irrigation areas and developing industries in the basin, efficient water resource allocation has become a pressing issue. On the surface this problem appears domestic, but in reality it is of international proportions — it may impact other countries through trade. As such, development in the basin is severely curtailed.In order to understand and provide a way of thinking about the issues pertaining to the current state of water resources in the basin, The Yellow River systematically explains the methods of modeling and the mechanism of water circulation on each element, while introducing several new-age technologies for water-saving. This book also presents the cutting-edge research results of a five-year project that improved the sustainability in utilizing and controlling water in the Yellow River basin.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789814280952
Publisher:	World Scientific Publishing Company, Incorporated
Publication date:	10/29/2009
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

Table of Contents

Preface v

List of Contributors xi

List of Images xiii

1 Introduction Tetsuya Kusuda 1

2 Profile of the Yellow River Basin Dawen Yang Hiroshi Ishidaira 5

2.1 Characteristics of the Nature 5

2.1.1 Morphology 5

2.1.2 Geology 7

2.1.3 Climate 8

2.2 Human Activities 10

2.2.1 Population distribution 10

2.2.2 Land use 12

2.2.3 Urban and rural lives 14

2.2.4 Agriculture 16

2.2.5 Industry 16

2.2.6 Production and economics 17

2.3 Socio-Economic States 17

2.3.1 Strategic situation of the Yellow River in history 17

2.3.2 Socio-economic conditions in the basin 19

2.3.3 Policy of development in the basin 20

2.3.4 Administration in the basin 21

2.3.5 Social problems on water in the basin 21

References 23

3 Water Resources and Use Dawen Yang Kyoichi Otsuki Tetsuo Kobayashi Daisuke Yasutake Hiroyuki Cho Masaharu Kitano Makito Mori Tugihiro Watanabe Kuniyoshi Takeuchi Hiroshi Ishidaira Changrong Yan 25

3.1 Water Resources Availability 25

3.1.1 Precipitation/snow melting 26

3.1.2 Potential evaporation 29

3.1.3 Runoff and river flow 30

3.1.4 Water storage 35

3.1.5 Groundwater resources 37

3.2 Water-Use 39

3.2.1 Forest 39

3.2.2 Irrigation 46

3.2.3 Industrial use 63

3.2.4 Consumption of water in urban areas 66

References 69

4 Water Quality and River Ecology Tetsuya Kusuda Osamu Higashi 73

4.1 Water Quality in the Yellow River Basin 73

4.2 Water Quality in the Wei River Basin 73

4.2.1 Sources of pollutants 77

4.2.2 Pollutant unit loads and loading rates 79

4.3 Water Quality in the Wei River 84

4.3.1 Observational results 84

4.4 Simulation with an Integrated Model on Water Quality and Quantity 87

4.4.1 Integrated model of water quantity and quality 87

4.4.2 Computational results 94

4.4.3 Toward future 96

4.5 River Environment in Xi'an 97

4.5.1 Urban areas 98

4.5.2 Effects of reservoirs 102

References 103

5 Sediment Yield and Transport in the Middle Yellow River Basin Haruyuki Hashimoto Hiroki Takaoka Takahito Ueno Byungdug Jun 165

5.1 Sediment Yield 105

5.2 Fluvial Geomorphology 107

5.2.1 Analytical framework 107

5.2.2 Analysis of geographic information and satellite images 107

5.2.3 Comparison of the eight tributaries in the middle reach of the Yellow River 108

5.3 Field Measurements of Flood Flows 109

5.3.1 Rainfall-runoff relationships 109

5.3.2 Sediment particle size in flood flows and on riverbeds 114

5.3.3 Relationship between discharge and sediment transport rate 115

5.3.4 Flow resistance 117

5.4 Formula for Flow Resistance and Sediment Transport 118

5.5 Comparison among Theoretically Calculated, Experimental and Observed Results 120

5.6 Analysis of Flood and Sediment Runoff 122

5.6.1 Rainfall-runoff analysis 122

5.6.2 Riverbed variation analysis 122

References 124

6 Modeling and Simulation on Water in the Yellow River Dawen Yang 127

6.1 Hydrological Model and Simulation 127

6.1.1 Introduction 127

6.1.2 Data 128

6.1.3 Description of the hydrological model 131

6.1.4 Model calibration and validation 136

6.2 Analysis of Water Resources in the Last Half Century 138

6.2.1 Spatial and seasonal distributions of water resources for a long-term mean 138

6.2.2 Decadal variation of water resources 142

6.2.3 Inter-annual variability of water resources 144

6.2.4 Reason for the drying-up in the main river along the lower reach over the last 30 years 145

References 148

7 Projection of Water Supply and Demand with Economy and Food Supply in the Yellow River Basin Hidefumi Imura Hiroaki Shirakawa Akio Onishi 151

7.1 Analysis of Current Water-Use Using the Water Resource Supply-Demand Model 153

7.1.1 Overview of the model 153

7.1.2 Structural changes in water resource supply and demand (1997-2000) 155

7.2 Impacts of Economic Growth and Urbanization on Water Resource Supply-Demand Balance 159

7.2.1 Regional economic growth scenarios 159

7.2.2 Water supply-demand gaps in the Yellow River basin 162

7.2.3 Analysis by watershed 163

7.3 Impacts of Changes in Food Demand on Water Resources 169

7.4 Toward the Future 170

References 172

Index 173