Water Recycling and Water Management

In: Water Recycling and Water Management ISBN: 978-1-61761-305-0
Editor: Daniel M. Carrey 2011 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Chapter 7
REVIEW ON WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN

THE YELLOW RIVER BASIN
Liu Ke1,2, Xu Zongxue2,and Ramasamy Jayakumar1

1
Natural Sciences Sector, UNESCO Beijing Office, Beijing, 100600, China
2
College of Water Science, Beijing Normal University,
Key Laboratory for Water and Sediment Sciences, Ministry of Education,
Beijing, 100875, China
ABSTRACT
As is often called the mother river of China, the Yellow River, with a catchment area
of 795,000 km2, accommodates 12% of the Chinese population. It flows across nine
provinces in the arid and semi-arid areas of China. In recent years, the basin has
experienced accelerated economic development, led by factors such as industrialization
and urbanization. Nevertheless, as being celebrated as reasons for economic success,
Copyright 2011. Nova Science Publishers, Inc.. All rights reserved.
urbanization, industrialization, have brought challenges to water resources in the Yellow

River Basin from both quantity and quality perspectives. The amount of untreated
industrial sewage dumped in the Yellow River has been doubled since the 1980s to 4.2
billion m3 per year, consequently, only 60% of the river course is fit for drinking
purposes. Moreover, climate variabilities increased probabilities of extreme event such as
droughts and floods. Plus, it has brought a general trend of reduction in terms of water
provision in the basin. For instance, multi-year average runoff in the Yellow River has
been reduced by 8% from 1956 to 2000, while average yearly temperature has been
increased by 0.6 Celsius in the same period. Contrary to the reduced water supply,
demands for water have been increasing from 10 billion m3 in 1949 to 37.5 billion m3 in
2006. All such challenges call for sustainable water resources management, as one of the
solutions to balance the dwindled water supply with increased demands, and ensure water
security and sustainability in the Yellow River basin. This paper is aimed to investigate
water resources management in the Yellow River basin, examining its development
course, current regime, identify the gaps and provide improvement recommendations.
Carrey, Daniel M.. Water Recycling and Water Management, edited by Daniel M. Carrey, Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2011. ProQuest Ebook
Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bibliouan-ebooks/detail.action?docID=3019802.
Created from bibliouan-ebooks on 2017-04-06 08:42:38.
146 Liu Ke, Xu Zongxue,and Ramasamy Jayakumar
INTRODUCTION
Water resources management in the Yellow River basin has been a hot topic.
Consequences of the management are often catalyst for development, or trigger of disastrous
effects. Since its foundation in 1949, Government of the Peoples Republic of China has paid
consistent efforts to management of the Yellow River basin. Several phases have emerged
through the long course of management with various focuses on flood control and prevention,
ensuring access to free water, water allocation among the riparian provinces, and endeavors
for sustainable river basin management. In general, water resources management in the
Yellow River basin has been successful. Infrastructure such as dams and dikes has been
extensively built, and the river flow has been well monitored across the entire basin. As a
result, flood risks have been significantly reduced with access to safe and clean water
improved. Moreover, through a basin-scaled water allocation mechanism, firstly set up in
1987 and subsequently refined in 1998, the problem of river interruption has been effectively
addressed. After the 226-day interruption emerged in 1997, the Yellow River maintains its
flows to the sea afterwards even through severe drought years such as 2000.
Given the success achieved, it needs to be recognized that there are still points that need
to be tackled if water management in the Yellow River basin would continue to grow to the
sustainability direction.
In this background, this paper first gives a review on the development of policies and
plans for water resources management in the Yellow River basin, from foundation of the
Peoples Republic of China to the time being. It presents different focuses of the management
regime in different phases, and elaborates their reasons behind. Afterwards, the paper
analyzes problems that need to be addressed in the current management modality, including
fragmented authoritarianism, low efficiencies of water consumption, inflexibilities in terms of
water allocation between the wet and dry years, along with the hardship that hinders basin
scaled water pollution control and prevention. Based on the analysis, several
recommendations are given in the final part as ways to improve sustainable water resources
management in the Yellow River basin.
Due to time and data constraints, investigation in this paper is only focused on
management of surface water in the Yellow River basin. Management of groundwater is not
discussed but needs to be recognized as an important component for the strengthening of
sustainable water resources management in the Yellow River basin. In addition, timeframe of
this investigation starts from foundation of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949.
BACKGROUND
Yellow River, the second largest river in China, originates from the Tibetan plateau,
wanders through nine provinces in the arid and semi-arid northern part of China. It passes the
loess plateau, the China northern plains and flows into the Bo Hai sea. The main course of the
river is about 5,000 km far and creates a discharge area of 753,000 km2. About 100 million
people live in the Yellow River Basin, which counts for 12% of the Chinese population.
Review on Water Resources Management in the Yellow River Basin 147
Figure 1. Yellow River basin and its location in China.
Table 1. Natural Runoff Fluctuations of Yellow River from 1997 to 2006 (unit: in 108 m3)
Year 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Annual 378.8 447.97 452.18 349.87 323.33 300.30 575.42 396.70 555.47 400.41
runoff
Data source: the Yellow River Conservancy Commission.
Figure 2. Correlation between precipitation and runoff in the Yellow River basin.
The multi-year average annual runoff in the yellow river is about 58,000 million cubic
meters, counting for 2% of the total natural river runoff in China. In history, inter-year
fluctuations of the runoff have been often, and the 1990s witnessed those relatively drastic.
In 1997, 226 days of none flow emerged, and the Yellow River failed to reach the sea. (Ma,
2004). Runoff fluctuations have seriously threatened water security and sustainability in the
Yellow River basin.
In addition to runoff fluctuations, climate change has begun to take effect in the Yellow
River basin. From 1961 to 2000, temperature in the Yellow River basin has been increased by
0.6 C (Qiu, 2007), and the amount of precipitation has been reduced in the same period. But
the reduction varied between the upstream, mid-stream and downstream areas (YRCC, 2008).
It is estimated that runoff in the Yellow River basin has been decreased from 58,000 million
m3 to 53,200 million m3, which is a reduction of almost 8% from 1956 to 2000 (YRCC,
2008). Moreover, due to increment of irrigation areas in the past four decades, actual amount
of evaporation has been increased in the Yellow River basin (LIU, 2004; XU2005),
exerting another cut to the availability of surface water resources.
The reduction of runoff led to reduced amount of water provision. Nevertheless, in
contrary to the dwindled supply, water demands have been increasing due to industrial and
agricultural development, along with accelerated urbanization in the Yellow River basin.
When it comes to 2000, 26.4% of the basin has become urbanized and an industrialization
process is underway in the vast rural areas. Both have led to increased demands for water
(Chen et al, 1997).
In addition to challenges derived from the quantity side, agricultural and industrial
development, coupled with enhanced amount of domestic water consumption, has given rise
to significant amount of water pollution. This has posed another challenge from the quality
perspective, and reduced again freshwater availability. (Chen and others 2000; Wang and
Ongley 2004). For instance, due to water pollution, only about 60% of the river course is fit
for drinking purposes. (WWDR III, 2009).
In the past 50 years, human demands for water are likely to be the most important driver
for challenges of water resources in the basin. (Yang et al 2004; Chen et al 1997). Due to
increased effects of human activities, freshwater discharged into the Yellow River has been
decreased by 72% between 1960s and 1990s (LIU et al, 2002). To maintain the health and
sustainable development of a riparian ecosystem, water management in the Yellow River
basin, at the same time of meet the human demands, can not ignore requests of environmental
flow demanded by the river itself. Environmental Flow Requirement (EFR) is defined by
King as the amount of water that is purposefully left in an aquatic ecosystem to maintain its
direct and indirect use values (King et al, 2003). Nevertheless, based on relevant
investigations, water extracted from the Yellow River for human uses had reached 53% of its
multi-year average runoff (Tang, 2004). This figure could have been risen already given
population growth, industrial, agricultural development, and urbanization taken place after
2004. The percentage indicates more than half of the Yellow River runoff has been used to
satisfy human demands, while leaving increasingly less for the health and sustainability of the
Yellow River.
When the dwindled water supply is faced with increasing demands derived from
industrial and agricultural development, urbanization, along with the ecological requirements,
sustainable water resources management is needed, more than ever, to tip balance between
the supply and demand sides, supporting sustainable development of the basin, while
maintaining the river in its healthy status.
DEVELOPMENT OF WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN THE

YELLOW RIVER BASIN
After foundation of the Peoples Republic of China, water resources management in the
Yellow River evolves through three phases, from 1950s to 1970s, from 1988 to 1997, and
from 1998 to present. Different focuses could be found in the three phases. In the first phase,
major focus is the prevention and reduction of flood risks, provision of irrigation facilities and
hydro-power exploitation. Extensive infrastructure construction has been conducted in this
period, and it remains to be a focus of the Chinese government in its policies and plans for
water resources management. Since 1950s, there have been investments of more than 100
billion US dollars in infrastructure construction, leading to the built of extensive networks of
dams, dikes, and water provision facilities in the Yellow River basin. (Wang, 2000) Principle
that guides water resources management in this period is free water for all (Shao et al,
2009; Zhang and Ma, 2008). Water resource management in this period has successfully
ensured equal access to water resources. Nevertheless, although equity is well addressed, the
factor of efficiency has not been duly considered. Such deficiency has given rise to inefficient
water consumption afterwards.
Focus of water resources management in the Yellow River basin began to change since
1970s. River interruption taken place in 1972, which aroused wide spread attention on the
Yellow River, accelerated the change. To tackle the interruption, in 1987, the Water
Resources Allocation Plan of the Yellow River was released by the central government. The
plan was often referred as the 1987 Water Allocation Plan afterwards. It stipulated specific
amount of water allocated from main trunk of the Yellow River to each of the nine provinces
the river flows through.
Table 2. Amount of water allocated to the nine provinces along the Yellow River
according to the 1987 Water Allocation Plan (unit:108 m3)
Provinces Amount of water withdrawn Percentage of the total basin

allocated runoff
Qinghai 14.1 3.81
Sichuan 0.4 0.11
Gansu 30.4 8.22
Ningxia 40.00 10.81
Inner Mongolia 58.60 15.84
Shaanxi 38.00 10.27
Shanxi 43.10 11.65
Henan 55.40 14.97
Shandong 70.00 18.92
Hebei 20.00 5.41
Data source: (Zhang and Ma, 2008).
In total, the 1987 plan has allocated 37,000 million m3 from annual runoff of the Yellow
River. The initial amount of water allocated to each of the provinces is calculated based on an
evaluation of provincial macro agricultural and industrial development status, along with
amount of domestic water consumption (Peng and Hu, 2006). In addition, the plan has left
21,000 million m3 water to maintain sustainability of the Yellow River ecosystem.
Nevertheless, it needs to be recognized that quotas given in the 1987 plan was based on
macro multi-year average value, which is not always in accordant with the actual situation of
local water demands. (Zhang and Ma, 2008). Moreover, the quota is not always strictly
monitored, nor has it been exactly abided by the provinces. In realities, extra amount of water
are often taken from the main trunk by water diversion projects set up by provinces
individually (Peng and Hu, 2006). This has led to a scenario of upstream priority. Upstream
provinces are endowed with natural priorities in taking and utilizing water at their best
capacity, leaving water of less amount or lower quality to downstream provinces.
Unfortunately, it is the downstream provinces, such as Shandong, Hebei, Shanxi, and Henan
that have been going through the largest scaled agricultural, industrial development, and
urbanization processes in the basin. As a result, the gap between water supply and demands
began to be ever more manifest in the downstream provinces. To solve the problem, the
downstream provinces often resort to groundwater as complementary solution. But this has
led to problems including groundwater depletion and pollution, land subsidence and seawater
intrusion. For instance, depth of shallow groundwater in western part of the China Northern
plain, covering the Hebei and Henan provinces, has been declined from 3 to 4 meters in 1950s
to 20 meters in 1980s and to 30 meters in 1990s. (Liu and Xia, 2004).
The drawbacks of the 1987 water allocation plan call for another turn of change. A
226-day flow interruption emerged in 1997 alarmed the problem. As a result, starting from
1998, an adjusted annual operational plan for water allocation was given by the central
government, and the Yellow River Conservancy Commission (YRCC) was appointed as
leading agency to coordinate and monitor its implementation. The new water allocation plan
adjusted quota given in the 1987 allocation plan, in reference to the actual amount of water
consumption for the nine provinces from 1988 to 1996. This has turned quota given in the
1998 plan more relevant to local water demands. In addition to inter-year adjustment, the new
plan has also considered inner-year variations of water demands. (Wang et al 2007). Also in
this period, YRCC was conferred with enhanced financial and technical resources. Its
capacity for coordinating and monitoring implementation of the plan has been significantly
improved. As a result, drying up of the Yellow River has been much alleviated. The river has
kept continuous flow to the sea after 1998 even in drought years such as 2000.
Also starting from 1998, more researches have been carried out to understand
hydrological processes in the Yellow River basin including studies on linear programming
(Devi et al, 2005) dynamic programming (Shangguan et al 2002), stochastic process
(Maqsood et al 2005) priority-based maximal multi-period network flow (Wang et al 2007),
and various of decision support systems for water supply, flood risk management and
prevention (Xu et al 1998). Recommendations given by some of the studies have been
adopted in the water resources management of the Yellow River (Feng et al 2007; Xu et al
2003). However, hydrological processes and physical characteristics of the Yellow River,
particularly in the context of climate variabiltiies, are far from thoroughly understood (Liu
and Xia 2004). Moreover, much less attention has been paid on policy dimension of water
problems in the Yellow River basin. Few investigations have been made about how people,
groups and institutions contribute to and are affected by water resources issues, and how
theyve responded to such changes in the Yellow River basin (Barnett et al 2006).
ANALYSIS: PENDING ON WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN THE

YELLOW RIVER BASIN
Water problems in the Yellow River basin are microcosm of the worlds water problem.
Measures, experiences, and lessons learnt to tackle the problems would be relevant to other
places. For the time being, as was identified below, there are several challenges for
sustainable water resources management in the Yellow River basin. It needs to be recognized
that solutions to the problems, along with growth of water resources management in the
Yellow River basin is embedded in strategic choices of the future Chinese development
trajectories.
Fragmented Authoritarianism Hinders Sustainable Water Resources

Management
There are many actors involved in water resources management in China. This includes
Ministry of Water Resources (MWR) that manages water from the quantity side. In the
Yellow River basin, MWR delegates its authorities to the Yellow River Conservancy
Commission (YRCC), and subsequently to irrigation districts and Provincial Water Resources
Bureaus (Lohmar et al, 2003). At the sub-provincial levels, there are insubordinate water
management stations set up on the prefecture, county and township levels, and water
management committees set on the lowest village level. (Nyberg and Rozelle 1999). Starting
from MWR on the top to water management committees on the village level, the vertical
hierarchy constitutes what is often called tiao in the Chinese practices of authoritarianism.
It is in this hierarchy the operational plans were mainly implemented and monitored by
YRCC along with agencies on insubordinate levels.
It needs to be noticed that only quantity allocation for surface water falls in this vertical
hierarchy. Policies and plans for other aspects, such as water pollution prevention and control,
groundwater management and utilization, are put in other vertical hierarchies (tiaos) led by
other ministries. For instance, authorities for groundwater management and utilization are led
by the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR), and those for water pollution control and
prevention are led by Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP). These ministries in turn
delegate their authorities to insubordinate agencies in the Yellow River basin, which are
separate to the hierarchy that YRCC belongs to. In total, there are nine of such paralleled
vertical hierarchies extended in the Yellow River basin. Their leading ministries and
respective authorities are illustrated in the table below.
To improve sustainable water resources management, it is important to promote
coordination of the authorities and agencies involved in the different tiaos. Unfortunately,
such coordination is hard to take place. (Lohmar 2003; UNDP 2002; Varis and Vakkilainen
2001; Wang 2003). In addition, even in the same hierarchy, cooperation is not easy between
insubordinate agencies of different provinces, prefectures and counties. For instance,
activities such as data sharing, joint design and monitor for pollution control are not frequent
between environmental protection bureaus between different provinces. Compared to the
vertical tiaos, authorities division between entities on the horizontal administrative levels is
referred as kuang in Chinese. The tiaos and kuangs constitute dichotomy of power and
authorities in water resources management in the Yellow River basin, which has constituted a
system of fragmented authoritarianism in the management regime (Lieberthal 1992).
Table 3. Ministries involved in water resources management
Ministry of Water Management and plan of water quantities, issue water permits, propose
Resources reformative measures for water price
Ministry of Land and Management of groundwater utilization
Resources
Ministry of Implement laws and regulations related to water pollution control and
Environmental Protection prevention, monitor water quality, propose plans for water pollution
control and reduction in major rivers and lakes
Ministry of Agriculture Management of water in rural areas, and agriculture sector, control non-
point pollution derived from the rural side
Ministry of Housing, Management of water provision in cities, control and treatment of urban
Urban-Rural water pollution
Development
National Development Set the rate of water pollution charges, set the rate of water price, set
and Reform Commission sectoral policies and plans for water pollution control and prevention
State Forestry Protect and manage water resources in the forests
Administration
Ministry of Finance Management of water pollution charges collected, set the rate of water
resources fees
Ministry of Prevent and reduce water pollution derived from marine transportation
Transportation
The fragmented authoritarianism has turned into an obstacle for sustainable water
resources management in the Yellow River basin. It divides management authorities for
aspects that need to be integrated. Moreover, the fragmented authoritarianism restricts
authorities of YRCC, so is water resources management that it is leading, only in the field of
quantity management.
Water Pollution Calls for Basin Scaled Planning and Management
In recent years, amount of pollutants discharged into the Yellow River has been increased
from 2 billion ton per year in the 1980s to more than 4 billion ton per year in 2005. Measured
by the Chinese water quality standards, nearly 40% of water in the Yellow River was
chartered category V or worse category V, which means the water is almost with no
beneficial functions. As a result, the Yellow River has been the third most polluted river in
China. The serious water pollution is threatening sustainability of the Yellow River, and the
well beings of people living along the river.
To tackle the challenge, water resources management in the Yellow River basin needs to
go beyond its current limits and include an integrated basin-scaled plan to control and prevent
water pollution. However, the fragmented authoritarianism with its inherent vertical and
horizontal hierarchies, (the tiao and the kuangs) is hindering the process. YRCC, as the
leading agency for water resources management in the Yellow River basin, belongs to the
tiao led by Ministry of Water Resources. Meanwhile, authorities for water pollution control
and prevention lies in the tiao led by Ministry of Environmental Protection. Given this
dichotomy, cooperation between Ministry of Water Resources and Ministry of Environmental
Protection is needed if a pollution control and prevention plan would be incorporated into
water resources management. Nevertheless, even if importance of such cooperation has been
long advocated, it remains a process of twists and turns.
In addition to difficulties of inter-Ministry cooperation, cooperation for water pollution
control and prevention between upstream and downstream provinces has been difficult as
well. This is often embodied as less communication, and deficiency of mutual accountability
between upstream, midstream and downstream provinces. The scenario has given rise to
trans-jurisdictional pollution of enhanced frequency and magnitude in the basin. A case in
point is the pollution incident of the Wanjiazhai Reservoir in 1999 where pollutants flown
from upstream Inner-Mongolia prefecture and the Shaanxi province enter the reservoir,
threaten drinking water source of Taiyuan, capital of the downstream Shanxi province- a city
of more than 4 million people. (Wang and Ongley, 2004)
To realize sustainable water resources management in the Yellow River basin, water
pollution is the challenge that has to be dealt with. However, the current governance structure
with its inherent fragmented authoritarianism makes it hard to incorporate a basin-scaled
pollution prevention and control plan in water resources management. Reform and
innovations are in high need.
Low Efficiency of Water Consumption Calls for Improvement of Water

Saving Incentives and Actions
From a quantity perspective, water resources management in the Yellow River basin has
helped improve water allocation among the riparian provinces. Nevertheless, the management
regime achieved relatively less in regard to efficiency. For instance, there are investigations
indicating water efficiencies for agriculture sector in the Yellow River basin is as low as 50%,
or even lower as 40% (Wang et al, 2005; Fang, 2000). Similar low value could also be found
in the industrial sector and among the urban water users. To generate products of $ 1,000
value, it needs 240 to 400 m3 of water in the Yellow River basin. This figure is much higher
than the national average level of 140 m3, and is 7 times more than the average level of
developed nations. Moreover, in cities of the Yellow River basin, water recycling rate is
between 20 to 30 percent. This means a large part of water withdrawn for urban domestic
consumption would not be reused but dumped into the river after their first round utilization,
leading to pollution that restricts availability of freshwater.
Given the low efficiency value, water resources management needs to give measures
helping improve incentives for water saving actions. There have been researches giving a
number of choices in this regard. For instance, Dovers gave a list of 13 instruments for
incentive promotion including education and training, consultation, meditation and
negotiations, agreement and conventions, regulation by the state, self-regulation by users,
community involvement in the management, removal of adjustment of distorting policies
(Dovers, 1995). Despite the diverse choices, the Chinese policymakers, especially those on
the higher-level, are prone to market based measures, particularly, rising water prices.
(Rosegrant and Cai, 2002). Similarly, among recent researches addressing water efficiency
improvement, much weight has been given to reforms of water pricing and the creation of a
water market, particularly for agriculture sector. (Liu and Zhang 2002; Lohmar et al 2003;
UNDP 2002; Yang et al 2003; Zhen and Routray 2002).
In one hand, it needs to be admitted that water price in the Yellow River remains low
indeed. Price for water consumed by the industrial sector is 0.039 yuan/m3, and that for
agricultural sector is even lower at 0.01 yuan/m3. As a result of heavy government subsidies,
such low price level could not reflect the full cost for collecting and transporting water from
the Yellow River to agricultural fields and factories. The low water price has given rise to a
series of problems, including budget constraints to introduce advance water-saving
technologies, limited funds to operate and maintain water provision networks. More
importantly, it has dampened incentives of water saving, because people tend not to save
water to their best if it costs only a small part of their budget.
From this perspective, it is useful to rise water price in the Yellow River basin as means
to improve efficiency. Nevertheless, given the complex implications of water, specifically
those in social regards, repercussions that the rising may incur need to be well considered. For
instance, faced with increased water price, the slow-paying small-scaled farming households
may not be able to ensure their access to sufficient water, while the large-scaled farming
enterprises may receive more than they need because of their sufficient funding. (Wang et al,
2005) In this context, at the same time of admitting the positive role of water price rising in
regard to efficiency improvement, its other impacts need to be considered as well. Setting
different percentage of increase for different users could be considered, based on the users
tolerance to price rising. Moreover, rising of water price, as only one kind of the incentive
improveement measures, could be combined with others during application.
Flexibilities Need to Be Improved for Water Allocation between Wet and Dry
Years
In addition to adjusted quota of water allocation, the 1998 operational plan stipulated
increment and reduction of the allocation in response to runoff fluctuations. It is based on
reasonable considerations but faced with challenges of implementation because the plan gave
same amount of increment and reduction for provinces and sectors during the drought and wet
years. It is easier to operate when the same amount of increment is applied in wet years,
however, it would be hard to act if all the provinces and sectors are faced with the same
amount of reduction during the drought years. This is because their tolerance to water scarcity
tends to be different. Table 4 illustrates the actual maximum and minimum amount of water
consumed by eight of the nine provinces from 1988 to 2006, along with variations from quota
given in the 1987 water allocation plan.
In the investigation of Shao and others, the minimum amount of water supply in a dry
year to the normal amount of water requirement is defined as the flexible water use limit to
water shortage. Reduction of water supply during the dry years could not exceed the limit,
otherwise, water security would be threatened. (Shao et al, 2009).
Given the 1987 quotas as water requirement in normal years, from table 3, it could be
found that flexible water use limit to water shortage is 70% for Qinhai and Shandong
province, 58% for Gansu province, 76% for Ningxia province, almost 90% for Inner-
Mongolia prefecture and 50% for Shaanxi and Henan province. In this context, amount of
water reduction for the provinces in dry years needs to be adjusted in reference to the flexible
water use limit.
Table 4. Actual water consumption of provinces along the Yellow Rive (108 m3)
Provinces Qinghai Gansu Ningxia Inner- Shanxi Shaanxi Hennan Shandong

Mongolia
Allocation 14.1 30.4 40.0 58.6 43.1 38.0 55.4 70.0

quota in
1987
Maximum 15.9 30.05 42.5 71.55 14.4 26.84 50.82 134.8
water
consumption
Minimum 9.83 17.56 30.37 50.46 9.04 17.30 26.07 49.57

water
consumption
Mean of 12.01 25.90 36.88 62.22 11.24 21.84 33.98 77.45

actual water
consumption
Variation of 69.7~ 57.8~ 75.9~ 86.1~ 21.0~3 45.5~70 47.1~ 70.8~

the actual 112.8 98.8 106.3 122.1 3.4 .6 91.7 192.6
water
consumption
from 1988 to
2006
compared to
the quota in
1987(%)
Similar flexible water use limit has also been calculated for agriculture, industrial and
domestic water users in the Yellow River basin. Flexible water use limit for agriculture,
industrial, domestic urban and rural users are 90%, 50%, 85% and 75% respectively. (Shao et
al, 2009) The agriculture sector is of the least flexibility. This means room of water cut for
agriculture in dry years could not exceed 10% of what it needs in normal years. On the
contrary, the industrial sector is most flexible due to advanced techniques the sector might
adopt to deal with water scarcity.
The flexible water use limit needs to be noticed by water resources management in the
Yellow River Basin. It could be used as a good way to improve adaptation of water resources
to enhanced runoff fluctuations given rise by climate variabilities.
SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

In view of the previous analysis, it could be found that after its evolution for three phases
since 1970s, water resources management in the Yellow River basin has stayed largely in
quantity management. By devising allocation plans between provinces, it has been useful to
help the reconnection of Yellow River with the sea. Nevertheless, to realize sustainable water
resources management, the current regime still needs to be strengthened in several regards
including reform and innovation of governance structure, selection of appropriate instruments
for incentive promotion, and enhanced flexibilities to cope with challenges such as climate
variabilities.
Reform and Innovation of Governance Structure
There have been many studies giving reform of governance structure in the Yellow River
basin as a critical way to deal with the basins problems (Economy, 2004; Wang and Ongley
2004; UNDP 2002). Barnett and others explain governance as the mechanism through which
people and groups express their concerns, and ensure fulfillment of their rights. (Barnett et al
2006). From this perspective, governance includes not only what the government does, but
also entails people and their regular practices, rules, laws and behavioral norms, all of which
are influenced by institutions. Given the complexity of actors involved in the management of
the Yellow River basin, the current governance structure could be considered to change into
nested, cross scaled institutions in which responsibilities for policy design, implementation
and monitoring rests upon the appropriate level. Folke and others refer such governance
structure as nested system of governance(Folke 1998), and Ostrom refers to the same as
polycentric governance system (Ostrom 2001)
To build such nested and polycentric system of governance in the Yellow River basin,
there could be two entry points. The first is to set up a basin scaled management authority that
is responsible for the design, implement and monitoring of basin scaled management policies.
Its authorities would go beyond provincial borders, and across various vertical and horizontal
hierarchies. Such management regime is helpful to integrate crucial aspects for sustainable
water resources management from both quantity and quality perspectives. Given importance
of water resources in the Yellow River basin, position and responsibilities of the basin
management authority could be stipulated in the Chinese Water Law, and it could be
accountable directly to the central government. Nevertheless, it needs to be pointed out that
such type of reform has long been advocated, but actual progress remains minimal.
Commitment of the central government could be one of the keys to make it happen.
In addition to setup a brand new basin scaled management authority, it needs to be
recognized that there have been a number of stakeholders in the Yellow River basin. Often,
they hold different perceptions to water problems in the basin, to which water resources
management needs to address. In this connections, before taking any reformative measures, a
fundamental question that needs to be answered first is what are the problems? in the eyes
and interests of the stakeholders. m. To find answers, analysis about stakeholders perceptions
is a starting point. Nevertheless, for the time being, it has not been fully developed. The
absence may turn any intended reforms irrelevance or even unacceptable during
implementation. In this circumstance, measures such as public hearings and stakeholder
consultancy meetings are needed. These are important to find a clear target first before any
governance reforms take place.
Selection of Appropriate Instruments
In view of the low efficiencies, it is reasonable to consider instruments that would

promote incentives leading to water saving actions. Selection of instruments is often based on
biases of agencies and advocates, and would consider factors such as equity, efficiency,
political and institutional feasibilities. (Dovers, Gullett, 1999)
In light of this, an inclusive evaluation that considers not only efficiency but also equity
needs to be applied when policy instruments are selected. Given its effective role in efficiency
promotion, price rising could be one of but not the only choice. Moreover, to address equity,
the percentage of price rising needs be tuned with different situations of various water users.
Among the water price rising taken place in several Chinese cities, a gradual rather than
abrupt approach has been applied. Different increasing percentage is applied to different
sectors. For instance, in the water price rising of Beijing in 2009, domestic water price rose
by 0.3 yuan/per m3, while the figure for non-domestic consumption is 0.4 yuan/per m3. Water
price for hotel, business and entertainment centers has seen the highest increase from 61.5
yuan/per m3 to 81.68 yuan/per m3, rising by 32%. The differentiated price rising has worked
to promote water saving among the large scaled water users, while maintain the price within
acceptable range of individual households. Lessons and experiences learnt could be well
referred for water resources management in the Yellow River basin.
In addition to price rising, capacity building, education and awareness rising could also
be effective to improve motives and lead to self-initiated water saving activities among the
general public. Nevertheless, capacity building programs, educational and training activities
held in the Yellow River basin are often with short-term duration, and cover limited
participants.
Enhanced Flexibilities for Water Allocation

The 1998 operational plan stipulates the same amount of increment and reduction of
water between wet and dry years. This may hinder its implementation as tolerance of different
sectors and provinces to water scarcity is different in the Yellow River basin, particularly
during the dry years. Flexibilities are thus recommended to adjust amount of the increment
and reduction in reference to water use limits of the sectors and provinces.
Flexibilities are needed as well when calculating the quota of water allocation For the
time being, this figure is largely summed up from requests reported from the provinces, which
is derived from a water order system. Given an irrigation district for example, its water
demands are added up from the water orders received from insubordinate water
management committees, individual farming households. The district water management
authority would then total the individual orders and send the summed up amount to water
management bureaus on the province level. Before the orders are sent to their upper levels,
water management authorities on any levels require submission of water orders at least three
days in advance from its immediate insubordinate level. Those who changed the amount
ordered would have to pay 20% penalties based on the instant water price and amount
ordered. Such arrangement often left water users on the lowest level less time to tune amount
of the order with their actual needs. Moreover, the penalties generate unwillingness to refine
the ordered amount, even if it is in great odds to actual demands. As a result, water requests
reported from the nine provinces do not always meet the actual needs, and thus affects
accuracy of the annual water allocation quota. In this context, flexibilities are needed to refine
water allocation not only between the wet and dry years, but also for its calculation. It could
be particularly relevant given climate variablities have turned runoff and precipitation
increasingly unpredictable.
Finally, as climate change is taking effects in the Yellow River basin, a basin-scaled
assessment is necessary to investigate vulnerabilities of water resources to climate change,
and provide accordant recommendations for adaptation. This assessment would address water
resources and their implications for industrial and agriculture development, urbanization and
the requests for ecological flows. In addition, impacts of climate change and population
growth on the availability of freshwater would also be considered.
REFERENCES
Barnett et al. (2006). Ten key questions about the management of water in the Yellow River
basin. Environment Management, 38, pp179-pp188.
Chen, Y., T. Wang, and X. Qiao (eds.). 1997. A forecast for urban water demand and supply
in Yellow River basin. Huang He Shui Li Press, Zhengzhou.
Devi S, Scrivastava DK, Mohan C. (2005). Optimal water allocation for the transboundary
Subernarekha River, India. Journal of Water Resource Plan and Management ,131,
pp253pp269
Dovers, S. (1995). Information, sustainability and policy. Australian Journal of
Environmental Management, 2, pp142pp156.
E.D. Ongley., Wang, XJ. (2004). Transjurisdictional Water Pollution Disputes And
Measures Of Resolution: The Example of the Yellow River Basin, China. Water
International,29, pp270pp281.
Economy, E. (2004). The river runs black: The environmental challenge to Chinas future.
Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY.
Fang, S. (2000). Combined with allocating and controlling local water resources to save
water. Journal of China Water Resources,439, pp38pp39.
Feng S, Li L, Duan Z, Zhang J. (2007). Assessing the impacts of South-to-North water
transfer project with decision support systems. Decision Support System, 42, pp1989
pp2003.
Incentives in Water Management Reform : assessing the effect on water use, production and
poverty in the Yellow River Basin, Environment and Development Economics 10: 769
799 C _ 2005 Cambridge University Press.
King J, Brown C. Environmental flows: striking the balance between development and
resource protection. Ecology and Society 2006;11(2):26. Available from:
http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss2/art26/ [online].
Lieberthal, K. G. 1992. Introduction: The Fragmented Authoritarianism Model and Its
Limitations. Pages 130 in K. G. L. Lieberthal and D. M. Berkeley (eds.) Bureaucracy,
Politics and Decision-Making in Post-Mao China. University of California Press,

Berkeley, CA.
Liu CM, Xia J. (2004). Water problems and hydrological research in the Yellow River and
the Huan and Hai river basins of China. Hydrological Process 18, pp2197pp2210.
Liu CM, Zhang SF. (2002). Drying up of the Yellow River: its impacts and counter-measures.
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 7, pp203pp214.
Liu CM. (2004). Research on water cycling evolution in the Yellow River basin, Advances in
Water Science, 15, pp608--pp614.
Lohmar, B., J. Wang, S. Rozelle, J. Huang, and D. Dawe. (2003). Chinas agricultural water
policy reforms. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC.
Ma Jun. (2004). Chinas Water Crisis. Eastbridge Books, Norwalk.
Ma, W.Q .(2000). The basis of the development of irrigation water management strategies.
China Rural Water Engineering and Hydropower, 3 pp 8 pp 9.
Ma, Z. (2001), Deepening reform of farmer managed irrigation system: promoting
sustainable development of irrigation district, in L. Nian (eds), Participatory Irrigation
Management: Innovation and Development of Irrigation System, Beijing, China:
ChinaWater Resources and Hydropower Publishing House.
Maqsood I, Huang G, Yeomans JS.(2005). An interval-parameter fuzzy two-stage stochastic
program for water resources management under uncertainty. European Journal of
Operational Research, 167, pp208pp225.
Nyberg, A, S. Rozelle. (1999). Accelerating Chinas rural transformation. The World Bank,
Washington, DC.
Ostrom, E. (2001). Vulnerability and polycentric governance systems. IHDP Update, 3, pp1
pp4.
Peng X, Hu H. (2006). System evaluation of the allocation plan of available water of the
Yellow River. Yellow River, 28, pp41pp43 (In Chinese).
Qu Jinhua, Assessment on the impacts of climate change on surface water resources in
northeastern China, Master paper, 2007.
Rosegrant, M, X. Cai .(2002). Rice and water: an examination from China to the world,
Paper Presented in the First International Rice Congress, Held by International Rice
Research Institute, 1620 September 2002, Beijing, China.
Shangguan Z, Shao M, Horton R, Lei T, Qin L,Ma J. (2002). A model for regional optimal
allocation of irrigation water resources under deficit irrigation and its applications.
Agriculture Water Management, 52, pp139pp154.
Shao WW, Yangm DW, Hu HP. (2009). Water Resources Allocation Considering the Water
Use Flexible Limit to Water Shortage A case sutdy in the Yellow River basin. Water
Resources Management, 29, pp869pp880.
UNDP. (2002). China Human Development Report 2002: Making Green Development a
Choice. Oxford University Press, New York.
UNESCO.(2009). World Water Development Report III. Earthscan, London.
Varis, O., P. Vakkilainen.(2001). Chinas 8 challenges to water resource management in the
first quarter of the 21st century. Geomorphology, 41, pp93pp 104.
Wang J, Xu ZG, Huang JK, Rozelle .(2005) .Incentives in water management reform:
assessing the effects on water use, production, poverty in the Yellow River basin.
Environmental and Development Economics, pp 769-pp799.
Wang L, Fang L, Hipel KW .(2007). Mathematical programming approaches for modeling

water rights allocation. Journal of Water Resources Plan Management, 133, pp50pp59.
Xu Z, Kawamura A, Jinno K, Ito K .(1996). Decision support system for water-supply risk
management. Proc. Int. Conf. on Ind. and Eng. Appl. of Artif. Intel. and Exp. Syst.
Fukuoka, Japan, pp 234240.
Xu Z, Takeuchi K, Ishidaira H, Yang Z (2003) Risk analysis for water resources system by
using system dynamics technique: case study in Yellow River basin. IAHS General
Assembly, Sapporo, Japan.
Yang D, Li C, Hu H, Lei Z, Yang S, Kusuda T, Koike T, Musiake K (2004) Analysis of water
resources variability in the Yellow River of China during the last half century using
historical data. Water Resour Res 40:W06502. doi:10.1029/2003WR002763.
Yang, H., X. Zhang, and A. Zehnder. (2003). Water scarcity, pricing mechanisms and
institutional reform in Northern China irrigated agriculture. Agricultural Water
Management, 61,pp143pp161.
YRCC (Yellow River Conservancy Commission). (2008). Assessment Report of Climate
Change Impact and Water Resources of the Yellow River Basin. YRCC, Zhengzhou.
Zhang ZW., Ma JW. (2008). Investigations on water resources allocation for sustainability in
the Yellow River basin. Water Resources and Power,6, pp28-pp31.(in Chinese).
Zhen, L., and J. Routray. (2002). Groundwater resource use practices and implications for
sustainable agricultural development in the North China Plain: a case study in Ningjin
County of Shandong Province, PR China. Water Resources Development,18, pp581
pp593.

Water Recycling and Water Management

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Water Recycling and Water Management

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

In: Water Recycling and Water Management ISBN: 978-1-61761-305-0

Editor: Daniel M. Carrey 2011 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

REVIEW ON WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN

Liu Ke1,2, Xu Zongxue2,and Ramasamy Jayakumar1

urbanization, industrialization, have brought challenges to water resources in the Yellow

Figure 1. Yellow River basin and its location in China.

DEVELOPMENT OF WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN THE

Provinces Amount of water withdrawn Percentage of the total basin

ANALYSIS: PENDING ON WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN THE

Fragmented Authoritarianism Hinders Sustainable Water Resources

Table 3. Ministries involved in water resources management

Water Pollution Calls for Basin Scaled Planning and Management

Low Efficiency of Water Consumption Calls for Improvement of Water

Provinces Qinghai Gansu Ningxia Inner- Shanxi Shaanxi Hennan Shandong

Allocation 14.1 30.4 40.0 58.6 43.1 38.0 55.4 70.0

Minimum 9.83 17.56 30.37 50.46 9.04 17.30 26.07 49.57

Mean of 12.01 25.90 36.88 62.22 11.24 21.84 33.98 77.45

Variation of 69.7~ 57.8~ 75.9~ 86.1~ 21.0~3 45.5~70 47.1~ 70.8~

SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Reform and Innovation of Governance Structure

Selection of Appropriate Instruments

In view of the low efficiencies, it is reasonable to consider instruments that would

Enhanced Flexibilities for Water Allocation

Politics and Decision-Making in Post-Mao China. University of California Press,

Wang L, Fang L, Hipel KW .(2007). Mathematical programming approaches for modeling

You might also like