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The new concept of water resources management in China: ensuring water

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Article  in  Environment Development and Sustainability · March 2017

DOI: 10.1007/s10668-017-9918-8

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Environ Dev Sustain
DOI 10.1007/s10668-017-9918-8

The new concept of water resources management

in China: ensuring water security in changing
environment

Xiao-jun Wang1,2,3 • Jian-yun Zhang1,2 • Juan Gao4,5 •

Shamsuddin Shahid6 • Xing-hui Xia3 • Zhi Geng7 •

Li Tang8

Received: 29 March 2016 / Accepted: 27 January 2017

 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2017

Abstract The Chinese government has planned to adopt the strictest water resource
management (SWRM) system as a new concept to tackle the increasing water shortages the
country facing with economic development and population growth. In this paper, the
present status of China’s water resources including low availability of per capita water
resources, uneven temporal and spatial distributions, inconsistency in spatial distributions
and productivity, and fragile water ecology and environment has been discussed. The
challenges in water resources due to population growth, economic development and cli-
mate change have also been analyzed. The essence of the new policy of SWRM to promote
coordination between supporting capacity of water resources and socioeconomic devel-
opment, harmonious interactions between human and nature, and changes in traditional
lifestyles and activities is discussed. Finally, the measures taken to implement the new
system and achievements toward the target have been discussed. Study reveals that SWRM
is a promising concept which has the potential to control total amount of water use,
increase water use efficiency and reduce water pollution.

& Xiao-jun Wang

xjwang@nhri.cn
1
State Key Laboratory of Hydrology-Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering, Nanjing
Hydraulic Research Institute, Nanjing 210029, China
2
Research Center for Climate Change, Ministry of Water Resources, Nanjing 210029, China
3
State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal
University, Beijing 100875, China
4
Department of Water Resources, Ministry of Water Resources, Beijing 100053, China
5
Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
6
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Malaysia
7
Water Management Center, Ministry of Water Resources, Beijing 100053, China
8
Taihu Basin Authority, Ministry of Water Resources, Shanghai 200434, China

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 X.-J. Wang et al.

Keywords Water resources management
Water demand management
Pollution

control
Environmental changes
China

1 Introduction

Complex topography and diverse climate have made water resources of China unevenly
distributed. Droughts and floods are common phenomena in China due to wide spatial and
temporal variability of water resources (Gleick 2008). Therefore, water resources man-
agement is considered as the major development challenge (Zhang 2005; Blanke et al.
2007; Brown 1995; Cosier and Shen 2009; Liao et al. 2008; Qian et al. 2009; Jiang et al.
2010). Historically, the importance of water resources management was always well
recognized and considered as a priority issue at the highest levels of administration (World
Bank 2002; Liang 2005; Giordano 2007; Zhang et al. 2013). The flood harnessing in
Yellow River, embankments along the Yellow River, the grand cannel connecting Beijing
and Hangzhou, no-dam irrigation system in Dujiangyan, etc., are the few examples that
show the importance given to water resources management from ancient time (Liang
2005). However, Chinese water resources development has often become stagnated in the
past due to political conflicts (Giordano 2007). After foundation of People’s Republic of
China, hydraulic structures were constructed on an unprecedented scale (Zhang et al.
2013). The rapid expansion of hydraulic structures such as dams and diversions contributed
a lot to economic development. However, they caused negative impacts on ecology in
many cases and therefore considered unsustainable (Peter 2003; Butler and Memon 2006;
Jiang et al. 2010).
Over the last few decades, concern on impending water scarcity in China has increased
(Zhang 2005). One of the concerns of the ability of China to produce enough food for a
huge, continuously growing population was raised by Brown and Halweil (1998). They
remarked that China has already developed all of its suitable land and the country does not
have sufficient water to enhance food production using available land. This will make
China a huge food importer, which will affect global food price (Brown 1995).
Many studies have been conducted to identify the causes of water scarcity in China.
Jenerette et al. (2006) examined production and consumption patterns of freshwater for
selected cities. Varis and Pertti (2001) surveyed water resource management status and its
challenges for the decades. Hubacek and Sun (2007) assessed water resources in the major
watersheds by considering the socioeconomic activities in the major economic-adminis-
trative regions. Cai (2008) assessed the causes of water stress in northern China. Chen et al.
(2005) investigated the water supply and demand situation in the Heihe River Basin. All
the studies showed that population growth, economic development and technical shifts are
the major factors of water consumption in China.
A number of studies have also been conducted to propose sustainable management of
water resources in China (Zuo and Liu 2015; Zhang 2005; Blanke et al. 2007; Wang et al.
2010; Liu and Speed 2009). Piao et al. (2010) remarked that the current understanding is
not enough for reliable assessment of the impact of anthropogenic climate change on
China’s water resources and agriculture and therefore China’s ability to feed its people.
Chen (2005) proposed shifting from traditional management system to a public and
market-oriented mixed water management system to achieve sustainability in water
resources. Zhang et al. (2009) discussed the possible impacts of global warming on water

123
The new concept of water resources management in China:…

security with respect to flood control, water supply, aquatic environment and water con-
servancy engineering. Xiong et al. (2010) reported that higher non-agricultural water uses
will put pressure on agricultural water supply and consequently affect agricultural pro-
duction in coming years. All the studies emphasized the needs for efficient management of
water resources (Jiang 2009).
The Chinese government has adopted SWRM policy in 2009 to adapt with the
increasing water stress (Zuo et al. 2014). The major objective of SWRM is to comply with
three redlines, or limits namely, to reduce the total amount of water use, to enhance water
use efficiencies and to control water pollution. A number of recent government circulars
and policy documents have been released for implementation of SWRM.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the measures adopted for implementation of the
SWRM in the background of existing condition and future challenges in water resources.
The paper is organized as follows. The SWRM strategy is discussed first. The current
situation of water use and future challenges in water management in China are discussed
next. This follows the section where measures taken for implementation of SWRM system
are discussed. Finally, the achievements of SWRM against the target are evaluated.

2 The SWRM system

Freshwater is a limited resource, and therefore, many countries across the world are
experiencing water scarcity due to increase in water demand. National and regional water
management plans have been devised in many countries to tackle increasing water crisis.
For example, Water Framework Directive (WFD 2000) was proposed by European Union
to integrate an ecosystem approach with water resources management, which underlined
the values of freshwater in human life and the actions to deal with Europe’s vulnerability to
water crises. The National Water Resource Strategy of South Africa (NWRS 2013) was
proposed to manage the limited national water resources in order to ensure basic water
services to all, while meeting the needs of economic growth without threatening the
environmental integrity of water. Kiem (2013) reviewed historical and existing water
policies in Australia and reported that water trading has potential as a water resources
management strategy under climate change scenarios. Hung et al. (2014) proposed dis-
tributed locational water rights to meet the status quo of water use.
The experiences of successes and failures in water resources management in different
river basins in past few decades encouraged Chinese government to adopt the new concept
of SWRM in 2010 for ensuring water security under the scenarios of rapid economic
development, population growing, urbanization and climate change (Wang 2011; Liu et al.

Table 1 Targets of SWRM

Redlines Target Year

2015 2020 2030

Water use Limit for total amount of water use 635 billion m3 670 billion m3 700 billion m3
Water use Limit for water use per CNY10,000 of 30% below 20% below
efficiency industrial added value 2010 value 2010 value
Minimum irrigation efficiency 0.53 0.55
Water Water bodies having standard water 60% 80% 95%
pollution quality

123
 X.-J. Wang et al.

2013; Global Water Partnership 2015). The SWRM concentrates on three redlines to cap
total water demand, improve water use efficiencies and control water pollution up to years
2015, 2020 and 2030 as given in Table 1. The limits are calculated according to the
national integrated water resources management (IWRM) plan issued in 2010.
Proposed water resources management plan has been implemented through coordina-
tion of the various government departments and establishment of monitoring system (CDP
2016).

3 Present status and future challenges for water resources management

in China

3.1 Characteristics of water resources in China

(1) Low level of water resources per capita

Availability of 2812.4 km3 of mean annual volume of water resources has made China the
sixth most plentiful country in the world in water resources. However, annual availability
of water per person is 2100 m3, which is nearly one-quarter of global average. The per
capita amount of available water also varies widely among river basins. For example, the
per capita volume of available water in Haihe River basin is only 325 m3. On the other
hand, it is more than 20,000 m3 in southwest basin. With the increase in water demand due
to population growth and economic development and reduction in water supply due to
climate change, many river basins of China are gradually facing water stress (Liao et al.
2008; Jiang et al. 2010).
(2) Uneven temporal and spatial distributions of water resources
Geopolitical zones of China are shown in Fig. 1. The geopolitical regions, northwest,
north and the northeast, are considered as north China, while the southwest, south-central
and the east as south China. The northern region covers the major parts of northwest river:
Yellow River, Huai River, Haihe River, Liaohe River and Inland River basins. On the other
hand, southern part is covered by southwest river: Yangtze River, Pearl River and southeast
river basins. Influenced by complex climate and topography, the regional distribution of
water resources in China is highly heterogeneous. The annual average rainfall depth is
284 mm, but it widely varies from north to south. The river basins in the southeast and the
southwest receive more than 500 mm of annual rainfall. On the other hand, average annual
rainfall in the northern river basins is less than 150 mm, with Huai River basin the highest
225 mm and the Inland River basin the lowest 32 mm. Inter-annual variability of rainfall is
very high in the northwestern China compared to that in the southern and southwestern
regions. The annual rainfall in wet years can be eight times more that of dry years in
northwestern region. Therefore, annual variability in river flow is also very high in northwest
China. Rainfall is also very seasonal, about 60–80% of the annual rainfall occurs during
monsoon. Consecutive wet or dry periods for several years are also often noticed in China.
(3) Disparity in spatial distribution of water demand and availability
There is a large inconsistency in spatial distributions of water availability and water
demand in China. The northern river basins house 46% of total population of China,
contribute 45% of the national gross domestic product (GDP) and cover 60% of total
farmland, but have less than 19% of total water resources (Fig. 2). The per capita amount

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The new concept of water resources management in China:…

Fig. 1 Map showing the geopolitical zones of China

Fig. 2 Spatial distributions of water resources, population, catchment areas and farmlands in China

of available water in northern river basins is only one-third of that in the southern river
basins.
(4) Fragile water ecology and environment
Nearly one-third of China is facing the problem of soil erosion to various extents.
Economic losses resulting from soil erosion share approximately 3.5% of the national
GDP. The low forest coverage, limited natural wetland, degradation, desertification and
salinization of grasslands, and low average environmental flows in inland river basins, etc.,
have damaged the water resources in many river basins of the country to a varying extent.

123
 X.-J. Wang et al.

It has been reported that groundwater has been seriously polluted in urban areas of China.
Deterioration of water quality due to pollution has restricted water use in different sectors
and made water shortage more serious. Furthermore, groundwater overdraft to meet the
growing demands has created 72 depression cones covering total area of approximately
61,000 km2 and hence caused ground subsidence as well as other geological hazards and
environmental problems.

3.2 Water resource management in China

(1) Continuous increase in water supply

Changes in population, gross domestic product (GDP) and water use in China over three
decades (1980–2010) are summarized in Table 2. China possesses 7% of global arable land
to grow grains for 1.35 billion or 18.7% of the total world population. Therefore, irriga-
tion-based agriculture has expanded rapidly in last 50 years to feed the growing popula-
tion. However, the irrigation water demand has reduced by 38.1 billion m3 in last three
decades due to increase in water productivity. Population growth, urbanization and life-
style changes due to socioeconomic development with the growth of national economy
have caused an increase in residential water demand by ten times and consequently, total
water demand in China by 146 billion m3 between 1980 and 2010. The water supply
capacity of China was also increased continuously to follow the increasing demand in
order to ensure the industrial and agricultural development and improvement in people’s
livelihoods. Numerous dams were constructed, boreholes were drilled, and water transfer
projects were implemented to augment water supply in order to meet the growing demand
(Gleick 2012). In 2005, the total water use in China was 554.1 billion m3,of which surface
water contribution was 452.7 billion m3 or 81.2% of the total supply,groundwater was
101.4 billion m3 or 18.2%,and other water sources were together 0.6% or 3.37 billion m3
(MWR 2015).
(2) Significant improvement in water use efficiency
Water productivity in China has increased many folds in three decades (Table 2).
However, it is still about one-fifth of the high-income (G20) countries (42.9 U$/m3). Water
productivity in agriculture, which shares 65% of total water use in China, is the lowest
among all sectors. Water productivity in China ranges from 1.0 yuan/m3 in paddy irri-
gation to 12.3 yuan/m3 in vegetable, which are almost half of the developed countries.
Water productivity in manufacturing sector is 21.3 yuan/m3 which is also very low.
Inefficient water allocation system is considered as the major cause of low water

Table 2 Changes in population,

Item 1980 2010
economy and water use in China
during 1980–2010
Population (million) 987.1 1340.9
Urban population (%) 0.194 0.521
GDP (U$) 302.3 9012.9
Total water demand (billion m3) 444 590
Agricultural water demand (billion m3) 330.9 369
Industrial water demand (billion m3) 45.7 145
Residential water demand (billion m3) 6.8 77
Water productivity (U$/m3) 0.55 8.7

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The new concept of water resources management in China:…

productivity in China. Only 45% of water withdrawals for agriculture are actually used by
farmers on their crops. However, water productivity is gradually increasing in all water-
using sectors of China in recent years (MWR 2015).
About 68% of total water in China is used for agriculture, and 90.3% of agricultural
water is used for irrigation. However, the recent trend shows that water use in agricultural
irrigation has declined, while industrial and domestic water uses have increased rapidly
(Table 2). This has also contributed to increasing total water productivity in China.
However, despite the decrease in agricultural land, China was successful to grow sufficient
food to feed increasing population and develop its huge economy with only 6% of global
available water and 9% of global farmland.
(3) Intensified water resources protection and water environment rehabilitation
A number of measures have been taken in recent decades to control soil erosion and
rehabilitation of water environmental including implementation of the systems for water
abstraction permit, prepaid card for water use, water function zone planning. Besides that,
new water resources management system has been established by combining river basin
and regional administration, and the National Comprehensive Water Resources Plan has
been devised. However, achievement in this regard is still not visible. Furthermore, some
damaging activities that coexist with remedy efforts have worsened the condition in some
cases.

3.3 Challenges in water resources management under changing environment

China achieved some successes in development and utilization of water resources and
control water-related hazards, which helped to reduce life and property losses and achieve
stability in socioeconomic development. However, development and utilization of water
resources are still a problem in China. The country may face number of future challenges
in water resources as described below.
Population growth: Ever-growing population is the main factor of increasing water
consumption. According to twelfth five-year plan, the population of China will increase
until 2040 (Hays 2008). Water demand will increase continuously with the growth of
population and put more pressure on finite fresh water resources. It will be the prime
challenge to meet the increased domestic water demand (Vörösmarty et al. 2002; Zhang
et al. 2009; Wang et al. 2010).
Economic development: Economic development is another major factor responsible for
increasing water demand during the past few decades. China has set a target to maintain the
GDP growth rate of at least 7%, which will certainly increase water demand in industry
and agriculture in future. Irrigation will remain the predominant user, and therefore,
pressure on supplies for irrigation may cause shortfall in food production (Jia et al. 2010;
Wang et al. 2010).
Climate change: Mean annual temperature of China has increased by 1.2 C over the
past five decades, which is more than global temperature rise. The largest warming is found
in northeast China by 0.36 C per decade and the smallest over southwest by 0.15 C per
decade. Annual precipitation is found to decrease in the northeast and increase northwest
and southeast (Piao et al. 2010). If these trends continue, the north part of China will be
drier and the disparity in spatial distributions of water availability will increase more.
Number of studies also suggested that climate change will increase water demand in China
(Vörösmarty et al. 2002; Zhang 2005; UNESCO 2010; Wang et al. 2015a; IPCC 2007).

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 X.-J. Wang et al.

Decreasing rainfall and increasing water demand will aggravate the situation of water
stress, particularly in the northern part.
Water pollution: Majority of fresh water resources in China are already polluted to a
varying extent due to increasing discharge of residential, industrial and agricultural wastes
(Zhang et al. 2015; Wang et al. 2015b). Industrialization and urbanization will continue to
pollute the water resources at greater rate and destroy freshwater resources, if proper
actions are not taken.
Water scarcity: Gradual destruction of freshwater resources and increasing water
demand have increased the imbalance in water supply and demand in China in recent years
(Zhao et al. 2015). In some regions like the lower reaches of the Yellow, Huaihe and Haihe
river basins, the annual water shortage has increased up to 18 billion m3. This has made
these areas as the most serious water-shortage regions in China (Wang et al. 2013). Many
of the rivers in northwest China are already under stress due to high degree of exploitation.
It can be anticipated that the pressures on water resources will increase. However, both
opportunities and challenges will exist in future in the water sector of China to achieve the
national demand of sustainable development (Wang et al. 2012). Water resources will
remain an important issue in the society and economics, just as it was in the past.

4 The SWRM in China

4.1 Working measures

A number of measures have been implemented by the Ministry of Water Resources

(MWR) of China to achieve the targets defined in SWRM. Details of those measures
obtained in the literature (MWR 2013; Doczi et al. 2014; Global Water Partnership 2015;
CDP 2016) are summarized and listed below:
(1) Strengthening legislation
The Water Law of 2002 instructed merging river basin administration with adminis-
trative division administration for water management. The law also provided guidelines for
water resources planning, development, allocation, monitoring, control and management.
New legislations on water saving, groundwater management, water resources justification,
and supervision and management of water function zones have also been made for
implementation of SWRM.
(2) Promote institution and mechanism innovation
Chinese government has taken number of measures to reduce fragmentation in water
resources management system in order to strengthen the system. The river basin man-
agement and administrative division management are systematically merged for the
implementation of IWRM system. River basin authority has already been formed for most
of the large basins. The department of water administration has been given responsibility
for monitoring river basin authorities. Innovative mechanism for water management and
assessment system has been promoted for establishment of SWRM system.
(3) Strengthen the support of science and technology
Research and development institutes are strengthened to solve the basic and practical
issues arise during implementation of SWRM including technical standards for the

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The new concept of water resources management in China:…

development, utilization, conservation and protection of water resources, optimize the

layout of existing hydrological gauging network, increase the capacity of hydrological
monitoring, warning and forecasting system. Besides that, steps have been taken for
intensification of evaluation system and establishment of national groundwater monitoring
network to strengthen the integrated water resources management in river basins.
(4) Intensify the capacity for allocation and control of water resources
A number of key water resource projects have been implemented based on national
water resources plan such as south–north water transfer project and other river linking
systems. Water resources utilization rate is relatively high in some of the northwest rivers,
and therefore, the water resources allocation plans have been made for major rivers through
setup of layered indicator system in order to control the total water consumption,
strengthen water resources exploitation and abstraction licensing mechanism, regulate
surface water and groundwater abstraction, promote groundwater management and protect
sustainable utilization of water resources.
(5) Improve water use efficiency and develop a water conservation society
To develop a water conservative society, MWR has taken number of demonstrative
pilot projects in water-shortage and polluted regions. The projects were later implemented
in some provincial river basins as a showcase of water conservative society to promote
water conservation in the basin. Furthermore, the mandatory standards of water saving,
technological standards for wastewater treatment and reuse, sea water desalinization and
comprehensive utilization of rainwater, flood water and brackish water have been set up in
order to increase water use efficiency and strengthen water resources management system.
(6) Strengthen the water protection and realization of the water ecological civilization
Chinese government has paid more attention in ecological conservation in recent years.
More water has been allocated in some water-scarce river basins where ecology has
deteriorated. In order to improve water ecosystem, the scientific definition of the pollutant
absorption capacity of water bodies has been given, the total amount of pollutants dis-
charged to rivers and lakes has been regulated, and water environment in severely polluted
rivers and lakes has been restored.

4.2 Achievements

MWR sets up a working group comprising of ten organizations to evaluate the imple-
mentation and progress of SWRM in 31 provinces and autonomous regions of China. The
working group released the report of achievement of SWRM until the end of 2014 (MWR
2015; Global Water Partnership 2015). The results showed that Jiangsu, Shandong and
Zhejiang provinces, and Tianjin and Shanghai cities performed excellent, and the rest of
the cities and provinces reached satisfactory status. The targets of SWRM up to 2015 and
the achievements in the end of 2014 are presented in Table 3. It was found that control
targets were met for all the three redlines of SWRM. The annual water demand was
83.7 billion m3 less than the targeted redline; water use per CNY10,000 industrial added
value was less than 31.9% of 2010 value; effective utilization coefficient of irrigation water
increased to 53.1%; and the proportion of standard water function zones of major rivers
and lakes rose to 67.5%. The result indicates the progress achieved in water resources
management in China through the implementation of SWRM system (MWR 2015).

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 X.-J. Wang et al.

In spite of significance progress in water management, problems still exist in some parts
of China. Low water use efficiency has been observed in some areas. The working group
suggested the improvement in the evaluation index system and the assessment of orga-
nizational procedures with strict accountability in order to achieve the targets of SWRM.
Water demand reduction or water supply augmentation strategy alone is not adequate
for adaptation to environmental changes (Wang et al. 2016). Exploitation of new water
sources along with strict measures for demand control is required to meet the challenge of
growing water stress (Global Water Partner 2012). The limits of total water use in SWRM
were fixed based on possible supply augmentations using conventional and non-conven-
tional sources up to years 2015, 2020 and 2030, and water demand management measures
to restrict water use. The progress achieved using SWRM suggests that a combination of
water supply management and water demand management strategies is required to achieve
sustainability in water resources in the background of population growth, economic
development and urbanization.
It should be noted that the targets of SWRM were made based on stationarity
assumption. The uncertainties in climate and other environmental changes were not
accounted in designing SWRM. A sustainable water management system would have the
flexibility to evolve constantly in order to adapt with changing environment (He 2016). The
SWRM system continuously monitors the changes and improves the strategies and mea-
sures by learning from the outcomes of previously used measures. This, to some extent, has
made SWRM adaptive to environmental changes and different water-related issues arising
from time to time such as water inequity and conflicts. However, the SWRM should be
revised to account for environmental changes and associated uncertainty. Furthermore,
mechanisms for handling risk and uncertainty should be devised to improve the ability of
SWRM to manage future challenges.

5 Conclusion and discussion

China recently implemented SWRM to grapple with growing water shortages. Series of
measures has been adopted to realize the new concept in practice. Through the analysis of
the characteristics of China’s water resources and considering future challenges, the
measures taken for implementation of SWRM in China have been discussed in this article.
Evaluation of results suggests that SWRM helped to achieve progress in controlling water
demand, improvement in water use efficiency and the quality of water bodies function area.
This indicates that SWRM can help China to attain sustainability in water resources in the

Table 3 Achievement in SWRM in the end of 2014

Target achieved Differences

Limit for total amount of water use 635 billion m3 551.3 billion m3 83.7 billion m3
Limit for water use per CNY10,000 of 30% below 2010 31.9% below 2010 1.9%
industrial added value value value
Minimum irrigation efficiency 0.53 0.531 0.001
Water bodies having suggested water quality 60% 67.5% 7.5%
standard

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The new concept of water resources management in China:…

long run. Coordinated monitoring and management of water resources in an integrated way
by merging the river basin administration with the administrative division administration
have helped in implementation of SWRM.
The progress achieved using SWRM suggests that it could be a potential strategy for
water resources management in the regions or countries facing water scarcity. Strategies
for controlling water demand along with augmentation of water supply are necessary for
sustainable management of water resources. However, the appropriate mix of supply and
demand management should be carefully defined based on availability of water resources,
the scale of development, institutional capacity and level of water scarcity. A target-based
but flexible SWRM can be helpful to reduce conflict among water users and adapt with
climate change.
Although progress is being made in some issues, SWRM still faces some challenges.
First, the uncertainty in climate change and its impacts on water resources should be
addressed properly in SWRM. The redlines were calculated according to the national
integrated water resources plan issued in 2010, without considering the uncertainties in
climate change impacts appropriately. Second, some of the suggestions for legislation and
implementation by law are difficult in China. Therefore, the legislative process should be
implemented gradually. For example, the legislation on water resources assessment, water
saving, groundwater management can be taken into practice first as more and more
problems on these issues have already appeared. Third, clarification of the responsibility
and new innovative methods for assessment of water resources management should be
given emphasis in order to intensify supervision and successful implementation of new
management system.

Acknowledgements We are grateful to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51309155,
41330854), National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2010CB951104 and 2010CB951103), Strategic
Consulting Projects of Chinese Academy of Engineering (NO: 2016-ZD-08-05-02) and Open Research Fund
of State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin China Institute of
Water Resources and Hydropower Research) (NO: IWHR-SKL-201515) for providing financial support for
this research. We are also thankful to anonymous reviewers and editors for their helpful comments and
suggestions.

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