Vulnerability of water discharge of large Chinese rivers to environmental changes: an overview

Abstract

In an era of rapid environmental change, China is facing increasing problems in the management of its large rivers and water resources. The disastrous 1998 Yangtze floods and the emerging water shortages in north China raised further concerns about the potential impact of environmental change on extreme hydrological events such as floods and droughts. Over the past few decades, increasing water consumption by the domestic, industrial and agricultural sectors, as well as a number of human activities such as deforestation, agricultural land expansion, wetland reclamation, construction of reservoirs and roads, water diversion, and sand/stone excavation significantly affect hydro-geomorphic processes such as water discharge and sediment flux throughout China. This paper aims to provide an overview of recent research on the water discharge changes occurring in major Chinese rivers and their vulnerability to environmental change. Most of the rivers, notably in north China, have experienced significant changes in water discharge over the last few decades, indicating that they are vulnerable to climatic variations and human activities. In contrast to north China, the rivers in south China have experienced less change, but some of the detected changes displayed similar trends to those in north China, though at a slower pace. These profound changes, in addition to the on-going projects such as the Three Gorges Dam Project and the South-North Water Transfer Project, will completely alter China’s waterscape.