Evaluation of Economic and Hydrologic Impacts of Unified Water Flow Regulation in the Yellow River Basin

Abstract

Unified water flow regulation has been implemented in the Yellow River, Hei River and Tarim River in China since 1999 as a result of institutional reforms. It has been one of the most important water resources management practices in China during recent years and has generated significant impacts. Based on the data of such an experiment in the Yellow River during 1999 to 2004, a "with-without" scenario analysis method is employed in the paper to evaluate the economic and hydrological impacts of regulation through a holistic model coupling economic water use and hydrologic cycle applied to the study basin. The results show that about 2.5% of GDP was increased every year and the Flow Cutoff Events were avoided as a result of the unified water flow regulation.

Water Market Development in the Yellow River Basin: Challenges and Opportunities

“…In 2006, the State Council issued China's first administrative regulation on basin water allocation management, known as the "Ordinance of Water Dispatching of the Yellow River". The regulations aimed to further strengthen the unified regulation of water resources in the YRB [19]. In 2008, the State Council issued the "Ordinance of Administration of Water Abstraction Licensing", which clarified the standards for the application, approval, and issuance of water withdrawal permits and promoted the improvement of water rights clarity [20].…”

“…Figure 2 shows the evolution of water resource management in the YRB, highlighting legislative and institutional milestones summarized based on the literature [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

Modeling the Impacts of Urbanization and Industrial Transformation on Water Resources in China: An Integrated Hydro-Economic CGE Analysis

“…Largely due to data limitation and model constraint, most modeling studies analyzing water issues in China focus on particular regions (e.g., [23][24][25]). On the contrary, studies about water issues in China at the national scale are scarce.…”

Policies and instruments affecting water use for bioenergy production

“…Results showed that the UWFR increased GDP by about 2.5% GDP every year while flow cut‐off events were avoided. Besides, using this approach, the impacts on economic sectors could be evaluated 67…”