Dualistic water cycle pattern and its evolution in Haihe River basin

Abstract

The Haihe River basin is widely recognized as an area in China which is most severely affected by human activities. The water resources utilization and recycling in the basin is very complex, and the characteristic of the dualistic water cycle is becoming more and more prominent. The ever-growing demand of water for modern industry and domestic life nearly dries up all the natural runoff. Meanwhile, industrial, agricultural and domestic wastewater discharges cause severe deterioration in water quality. Consequently, many of water courses are either dried out or being heavily polluted. Modern water resources management can no longer rely on the "monitoring-rehabilitation" model which was originally developed based on the natural water cycle. This paper analyzes the critical characteristics, water balance, and evolution of water flux process based on the theory of dualistic water cycle. Referring to the water cycle in the Haihe River basin, a schematic diagram was drawn to describe the dualistic water cycle pattern. Ten different parameters affecting mainly the evolution of water flux in the "dualistic water cycle" are closely examined using the newly-collected data. As a result, this paper proposes several water management and control strategies to achieve healthy water status for the Haihe River basin. dualistic water cycle, water resources, social water cycle flux, human activities, Haihe River Citation: Liu J H, Qin D Y, Wang H, et al. Dualistic water cycle pattern and its evolution in Haihe River basin.The water cycle in natural river basins is becoming increasingly complex with the ever expanding human activities in modern society. Natural water cycle traditionally relies on solar radiation and the Earth's gravity as the main driver. This has been changed to a dual-power driven, "naturalartificial" system. Water quality cannot be simply defined by relatively simple components of the natural organic compounds, minerals and sediment; there are thousands of chemical components added in water, including fertilizers, pesticides, industrial detergents, persistent organic compounds, medical antibiotics, hormones and many others. Thus, characteristics and signatures of "dualistic" water cycle in river basins are presented in both quantity and quality of water flux. In 1997, Raskin et al.[1] developed one of the earliest global assessment models of freshwater resources. Their model did not consider the influence of human activities. Subsequently, another model, Water global assessment and prognosis (Water GAP) tool (Döll [2,3]) was developed to make up for the shortage. Water GAP consists of two modules: the world's water consumption module and the world's hydrological module; and it can be regarded as the first global "dualistic" water cycle model. In addition, the SWAT model [4,5] operates at a regional scale; Imbe's model [6] which simulates evaluation and rehabilitation of urban water cycle, operates at the city level.In China, Wang et al. [7] proposed the theory of "dualistic water cycle" and developed the WEP-L...

Sources and mass fluxes of the main contaminants in a heavily polluted and modified river of the North China Plain

“…The region's semiarid climate has an average precipitation of about 50 cm per year, 80 % of which occurs between June and September (Wang and Shan 2012). Because water is scarce, nearly all natural streamflow in the Ziya River Basin has been diverted for human use (Liu et al 2010); this water is held in reservoirs for industrial, municipal, and agricultural use, including for use by the cities in the plain (Fig. 2).…”

“…2). Meantime, groundwater has also been withdrawn for human use in the region with a resulting dramatic drop in the water table (Liu et al 2010). Rivers flowing through the cities are mainly recharged by unconventional water sources.…”

“…First, almost all available clean water in the upstream region of this watershed has been withdrawn and converted for human use (Liu et al 2010), while the heavily modified downstream water is mainly recharged by wastewater and regulated by floodgates, making the flow of the rivers very unsteady . Second, the pollution sources and patterns have become complex because the rivers flow through the prosperous cities and poor rural areas.…”

Multi-dimensional overall regulatory modes and threshold values for water cycle of the Haihe River Basin

“…This method includes optimal allocation of water resources, water resource carrying capacity analysis, reservoir scheduling, water sand joint scheduling, water resources management, water ecological regulation and water pollution prevention and regulation and has obtained a good application effect [3][4][5][6]. In foreign countries, the multi-objective method is currently primarily used for handling problems that are relatively clear in water resource competitive relationships; therefore, it puts more emphasis on basic theory research in specific application processes.…”

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

“…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 River Basin.…”