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Critical Environmental Flows to Support Integrated Ecological Objectives for the Yellow River Estuary, China

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  • T. Sun
  • Z. Yang
  • B. Cui

Abstract

The volume of inflowing water needed to meet multiple demands in the Yellow River Estuary of China was examined and quantified. Pressure on available environmental flows comes from varied ecological objectives, including maintenance of freshwater habitat for hundreds of plant and animal species, salinity balance, sediment transport and general equilibrium of the hydrologic cycle. Temporal fluctuations of flow input and output were considered and the amount of water needed for both consumptive and non-consumptive uses was evaluated. The rule of summation was used to calculate consumptive water requirements and the rule of compatibility (i.e., maximum principle) was adapted to estimate the non-consumptive ones. It was determined that the minimum, medium and high levels of annual environmental flows are 134.22 × 10 8 , 162.73 × 10 8 and 274.9 × 10 8 m 3 , respectively, in the Yellow River Estuary, which represent 23.7, 28.7 and 48.5% of the natural river discharge. Water requirements differ across months. The months of May through June, August and October were identified as the most critical periods for maintaining the environmental flows. The basic purpose of water entering the system is to compensate for water losses due to evaporation and to maintain an acceptable level of salinity in the estuary. Sediment transport into and through the estuary area are likely to be directly impacted by variations in river discharge. Improved efficiency in the sediment transport regime of the Yellow River could potentially reduce environmental flow requirements of the estuary, thus freeing water resources for other beneficial uses. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008

Suggested Citation

  • T. Sun & Z. Yang & B. Cui, 2008. "Critical Environmental Flows to Support Integrated Ecological Objectives for the Yellow River Estuary, China," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 22(8), pages 973-989, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:22:y:2008:i:8:p:973-989
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-007-9205-9
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Xinghui Xia & Zhifeng Yang & Yuxiang Wu, 2009. "Incorporating Eco-environmental Water Requirements in Integrated Evaluation of Water Quality and Quantity—A Study for the Yellow River," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 23(6), pages 1067-1079, April.
    2. Aiping Pang & Fen Zhao & Chunhui Li & Yujun Yi, 2021. "Rethinking Environmental Flows for the Yellow River Estuary by Trading Off Crop Yield and Ecological Benefits," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-16, February.
    3. Yin, X.A. & Yang, Z.F., 2013. "A reservoir operating model for directing water supply to humans, wetlands, and cones of depression," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 252(C), pages 114-120.
    4. Yang, Wei & Yang, Zhifeng & Qin, Yan, 2011. "An optimization approach for sustainable release of e-flows for lake restoration and preservation: Model development and a case study of Baiyangdian Lake, China," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(14), pages 2448-2455.
    5. Wenrui Huang & Xiaohai Liu & Xinjian Chen & Michael Flannery, 2011. "Critical Flow for Water Management in a Shallow Tidal River Based on Estuarine Residence Time," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(10), pages 2367-2385, August.
    6. Wei Yang & Zhifeng Yang, 2010. "An Interactive Fuzzy Satisfying Approach for Sustainable Water Management in the Yellow River Delta, China," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(7), pages 1273-1284, May.
    7. Ahmad KhazaiPoul & Ali Moridi & Jafar Yazdi, 2019. "Multi-Objective Optimization for Interactive Reservoir-Irrigation Planning Considering Environmental Issues by Using Parallel Processes Technique," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 33(15), pages 5137-5151, December.
    8. Yang, Wei, 2011. "A multi-objective optimization approach to allocate environmental flows to the artificially restored wetlands of China's Yellow River Delta," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(2), pages 261-267.

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