Barriers to sustainable water-quality management

Huang, Guohe; Xia, Junshi

doi:10.1006/jema.2000.0394

Cited by 139 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 169 publications

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“…Many countries of the world have been faced with increasing problems in managing their water resources for decades (WMO-UNESCO, 1988;Plate, 1993;Simonovic, 1996;Falkenmark, 1997;Loucks, 1997;Kundzewicz, 1997;World Bank, 1997;Huang and Xia, 2001). The imperative of sustainable economic development demands sound water management and more research on hydrological processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water problems and hydrological research in the Yellow River and the Huai and Hai River basins of China

Liu

Xia

2004

Hydrological Processes

212

129

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Abstract:This paper deals with hydrological research in regard to the water resources crisis in the vulnerable areas found in the northern part of China. This area includes three main river basins, namely the basins of the Yellow (Huang) River, the Hai River and the Huai River. Several water problems are becoming very severe. Among them, two are the most critical: the Yellow River has been drained dry in the main course of its lower reaches and along its major tributaries, and the groundwater table has rapidly declined in the floodplains of the three rivers' downstream areas.To counter the problems, particularly the critical issues mentioned above, hydrological research, which serves as the basis of water development and management, has been carried out in the last two decades. This paper addresses three basic scientific problems in North China, namely: (a) water consumption and the capacity for saving water; (b) the changes in hydrological processes and water resources caused by natural change and human activities; and (c) the ability to supply water resources and water safety in terms of both quantity and quality within a changing environment. However, opportunities and challenges for ameliorating the problems exist, and new ideas and methodology to solve the problems have been proposed, such as the interface process study on the interactions in the soil-root interface, the plant-atmosphere interface, the soil-atmosphere interface, and the interface of soil water and groundwater. In order to manage water resources in a sustainable manner, the study of water resources' renewal ability as affected by natural change and human activity is addressed from the viewpoint of both water quantity and quality, and their integration. To reduce the vulnerability of water resources in regional water management, a paradigm of sustainable water resources utilization is also proposed, using water-heat balance, water-salt balance, water-sediment balance, and water supply-demand balance. This approach may help reveal the basic problems and point to possible approaches to solving the water problems in North China in the 21st century.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water problems and hydrological research in the Yellow River and the Huai and Hai River basins of China

Liu

Xia

2004

Hydrological Processes

212

129

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“…Tetsuya et al [10] constructed and implemented a comprehensive model of water quantity and quality for the Weihe River Basin. Xia et al [11][12][13] summarized the comprehensive management method for water quantity and quality and corresponding obstacles and developed an integrated assessment method to investigate surface water inflow and consumption. Gabriel et al [14,15] combined the water resource allocation and impact analysis of water quality to construct decision support tools for integrated water quantity and quality management.…”

Section: The Background Of Integrated Simulation Of Water Quantity Anmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated simulation and assessment of water quantity and quality for a river under changing environmental conditions

et al. 2013

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The water cycle and water resources within river basins under changing environmental conditions undergo profound changes, which have significant effects on the water environment of the river. Owing to the water resources demanded for economic and social development, water quantity and quality are becoming the core constraints of water resources development and utilization. In this paper, the dual attributes of water resources, progress into research regarding water quantity and quality joint assessment and simulation and the shortcomings associated with these techniques are summarized and described with respect to water quantity and quality. The results indicated that under the current environmental conditions, the method used for traditional water quality assessment of single water bodies cannot meet the requirements for water resources management. Moreover, a coupled hydrodynamic and water quality numerical model for river networks and lakes that applies to the river water environment system was developed for the river network flow and pollutant migration and transformation process and validated. This validation revealed that the error between the simulated values calculated by the model and the monitored values was small, meeting the application requirements and realizing the integrated and dynamic simulation of water quantity and quality of the river water environmental system. On this basis, the integrated simulation model was applied to the Luanhe River Basin. The demand for water is continually increasing in many regions of the world owing to the growing population, which is leading to increased pressure on global water resources as a result of consumption, land use changes, urbanization and climatic changes [1]. These factors all exert individual and synergistic effects on global water resources and are gradually changing the global environment. All of the aforementioned pressures contribute to the quality and quantity of water resources, and the results of many studies have predicted that climatic changes can influence the supply of water and the corresponding quantity and quality [2][3][4]. In addition, pressure brought by anthropogenic activities such as land use, urbanization, population growth, energy utilization and economic growth can have a greater impact on the global water cycle than that of recent or the expected climatic changes [5]. Because of the interdependent nature of water resources under global climatic changes and the uncertainty of global pressures, the main target of river water resource management is meeting the demands of water quantity, water quality and protection of the ecological environment [6]. In this study, a coupled model of hydrodynamics and water quality for river networks and lakes that applies to the river water environment system was developed based on the evolving nature of the water cycle of river basins under climatic changes [7][8][9] and the migration and conversion process of river networks flow and pollutants. The developed model was then applied in the Luanhe...

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“…The magnitude of water resources renewability depends on hydrological cycle processes, in which the renewability is expressed as the capacity to recover lost water from precipitation or other sources (Wigmosat et al, 1994;Mou, 1996;Slutsky and Yen, 1997;Xia, 1997;Xia and Chen, 2001;Huang and Xia, 2001). Thus, the renewability has a direct linkage with storage characteristics, cyclicity of the hydrological process, the rate of water supply, and so on.…”

Section: An Indicator To Represent Renewability Of Water Resourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The renewability of water resources and its quantification in the Yellow River basin, China

Xia

Wang

et al. 2004

Hydrological Processes

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Abstract:The drying-up events in the lower reaches of the Yellow River during the 1990s, which were the most serious problem of water resources issues in China, initiated this study of the concept of water resources renewability in the Yellow River basin. The problem of renewability linked with hydrological process impacted by climate change and human activity is addressed. A quantitative method was developed to analyse causes and propose countermeasures to improve renewability of water resources. The magnitude of renewability change in time and space within the river system can be represented using this method. According to the analysis using an observation data set, it is shown that the renewability of water resources of the Yellow Rive basin has had a significant declining trend since the 1950s. In particular, the renewability indicator in the downstream reaches was reduced to 0Ð2 during a bad situation during the 1990s. Using the renewability assessment, feasible strategies can be analysed and suggested.

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Barriers to sustainable water-quality management

Cited by 139 publications

References 169 publications

Water problems and hydrological research in the Yellow River and the Huai and Hai River basins of China

Water problems and hydrological research in the Yellow River and the Huai and Hai River basins of China

Integrated simulation and assessment of water quantity and quality for a river under changing environmental conditions

The renewability of water resources and its quantification in the Yellow River basin, China

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