Countermeasures of water resources utilization and ecological protection of Shiyang River Basin

Shiyang River Basin is one of important river basins in northwest China.It support s the human living and warefare of relevant four cities and nine counties.However,with the over-utilization of water resources and irrational water allocation,the ecological issues are very serious,in particular serious vegetation degradation and desertification in the lower reaches.Especially,the Minqin Oasis,a fertile desert oasis lying at the arid lower reach of Shiyang River Basin in Northwest China for more than two thousand years,is now facing the challenge of disappearance due to the encroachment of surrounding deserts.This paper explores the essential relationships among human water utilization,falling groundwater table,soil salinization,vegetation degradation,and land desertification in the basin.Based on an analysis of the interactions between human activity,water resources utilization and the eco-environment,this paper puts forward recommendations for achieving rational water utilization and forestalling the eco-environmental deterioration in this area.These recommendations include mainly eco-environmental water allocation,setting up critical groundwater depth as an indicator for sustainability of eco-environment,and water demand management approaches including integrated development of surface and ground waters,improvement in water use efficiency and economic tools in regulating water consumption and enforcing water saving activities.