Dualistic water cycle pattern and its evolution in Haihe River basin

Abstract

The Haihe River basin is widely recognized as an area in China which is most severely affected by human activities. The water resources utilization and recycling in the basin is very complex, and the characteristic of the dualistic water cycle is becoming more and more prominent. The ever-growing demand of water for modern industry and domestic life nearly dries up all the natural runoff. Meanwhile, industrial, agricultural and domestic wastewater discharges cause severe deterioration in water quality. Consequently, many of water courses are either dried out or being heavily polluted. Modern water resources management can no longer rely on the “monitoring-rehabilitation” model which was originally developed based on the natural water cycle. This paper analyzes the critical characteristics, water balance, and evolution of water flux process based on the theory of dualistic water cycle. Referring to the water cycle in the Haihe River basin, a schematic diagram was drawn to describe the dualistic water cycle pattern. Ten different parameters affecting mainly the evolution of water flux in the “dualistic water cycle” are closely examined using the newly-collected data. As a result, this paper proposes several water management and control strategies to achieve healthy water status for the Haihe River basin.