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Environmental flow assessment for improvement of ecological integrity in the Haihe River Basin, China

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Abstract

The Haihe River Basin is a semiarid water resources area of China. River ecosystem was degraded for high population density and intensive water resources development activities. To assist in the improvement of the ecological integrity of this river ecosystem, an environmental flow assessment model was developed that consider both spatial structure and dominant eco-function parameters. River ecosystem was divided into three sub-ecosystems which including river reach, wetland and estuary based on the spatial structure of river ecosystem. River reach was divided into three types which including habitat restoration type (HR), water quality restoration type (WQR) and vegetation restoration substitute water quantity restoration type (VRSWQR) according to their dominant eco-function. The spatio-temporal distribution of environmental flow (EF) for the river ecosystem in the Haihe River Basin was assessed based on the model. The results indicate that the EF for the river reach, wetland, and estuary are 2.267, 1.532, and 0.972 billion m3, respectively. The EF for HR type of river reach, the WQR type of river reach and VRSWQR type of river reach are 1.140, 1.138, and 0.154 billion m3, which are equal to 4.320, 4.312, and 0.584 % of the average annual flow of 26.39 billion m3, respectively. EF for river ecosystem in wet period (June–September), normal period (October–January) and dry period (February–May) are 2.999, 0.951, and 0.821 billion m3, respectively. Annual EF for river ecosystem of the Basin are 4.771 billion m3, which accounts for 18 % of the average annual flows of 26.39 billion m3.

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Acknowledgments

The present study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41271496) and the National Water Pollution Control Major Project of China (No. 2012ZX07203-006).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control & School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Tao Yang, Jingling Liu, Qiuying Chen, Jing Zhang & Yi Yang

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  1. Tao Yang
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  2. Jingling Liu
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  3. Qiuying Chen
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Correspondence to Jingling Liu.

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Yang, T., Liu, J., Chen, Q. et al. Environmental flow assessment for improvement of ecological integrity in the Haihe River Basin, China. Ecotoxicology 23, 506–517 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-014-1219-5

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