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Analysis of Temporal and Spatial Differences in Eco-environmental Carrying Capacity Related to Water in the Haihe River Basins, China

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Abstract

With overly-rapid socio-economic development and population increases, water abstraction for agricultural, industrial and municipal use increases rapidly, while the water left for ecological maintenance decreases greatly. At the same time, large amounts of polluted water are discharged into rivers because purification plants are inadequate or not built in time, causing serious eco-environmental problems in the Haihe river basins which make regional development unsustainable. Estimating eco-environmental carrying capacity related to water is a key to curbing overuse of water and resolving eco-environmental problems. Because of different trends in water resources development and resultant eco-environmental problems in different sub-basins of the Haihe river, there are different water-related eco-environmental carrying capacities (EECCs) in these sub-basins. Time-series and multi-objective optimization methods are used to determine the EECC in various eco-environmental regions of the Haihe river basins, China. The results show that the entirety of the Haihe river basins will not reach a stable, sustainable state until about 2033, through gradual amelioration of eco-environmental problems. The various eco-regions of the sub-basins will need different lengths of time to reach their own stable states because of different available water resources, eco-environmental problems and social and economic development.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, College of Water Resources and Environment, Hohai Univesity, Naijing, 210098, China

    Yonghua Zhu & Haishen Lü

  2. Arizona Remote Sensing Center, Office of Arid Lands Studies, University of Arizona, 1955E. 6th Street, Tucson, AZ, 85719, USA

    Sam Drake

  3. Department of Applied Mathematics, Hohai University, Naijing, 210098, China

    Haishen Lü

  4. Key Laboratory of Water Cycle & Relative Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Jun Xia

Authors
  1. Yonghua Zhu
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  2. Sam Drake
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  3. Haishen Lü
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  4. Jun Xia
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Correspondence to Yonghua Zhu.

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Zhu, Y., Drake, S., Lü, H. et al. Analysis of Temporal and Spatial Differences in Eco-environmental Carrying Capacity Related to Water in the Haihe River Basins, China. Water Resour Manage 24, 1089–1105 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-009-9487-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-009-9487-1

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