Modeling demand/supply of water resources in the arid region of northwestern China during the late 1980s to 2010

Water demand increases continuously with an increasing population and economic development. As a result, the difference between water supply and demand becomes a sig- nificant issue, especially in arid regions. To figure out the utilization of water resources in the arid region of northwestern China...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of geographical sciences 2015-05, Vol.25 (5), p.573-591
Main Authors: Liu, Xingran, Shen, Yanjun, Guo, Ying, Li, Shuo, Guo, Bin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arid zones
Domestic water
Earth and Environmental Science
Economic development
Geographical Information Systems/Cartography
Geography
Irrigation water
Mountains
Nature Conservation
Physical Geography
Population growth
Remote Sensing/Photogrammetry
River basins
Rivers
Supply & demand
Water consumption
Water demand
Water resources
Water stress
Water supply
Water use
中国西北
供给
后期
年代
水资源
河流流域
西北干旱地区
造型
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Summary:Water demand increases continuously with an increasing population and economic development. As a result, the difference between water supply and demand becomes a sig- nificant issue, especially in arid regions. To figure out the utilization of water resources in the arid region of northwestern China （ARNWC）, and also to provide methodologies to predict the water use in future, three models were established in this study to calculate agricultural irri- gation, industrial and domestic water use in the ARNWC from the late 1980s to 2010. Based on river discharges in the region, the supply and demand of water resources at the river basin level were analyzed. The results indicated that agricultural irrigation demand occupies more than 90% of the total water use in the ARNWC. Total water demand increased from 31.97 km3 in the late 1980s to 48.19 km3 in 2010. Most river basins in this arid region were under me- dium and high water stress. Severe-risk river basins, such as the Shiyang river basin and the eastern part of the northern piedmont of the Tianshan Mountains, were found in this region. It was revealed that the water supply became critical from April to May, which was the season of the lowest water supply as determined by comparing monthly water consumption.
ISSN:1009-637X
1861-9568
DOI:10.1007/s11442-015-1188-5