Abstract
Analysis of basic eco-environmental water requirements (BEEWRs) along inland rivers characterized by extreme aridity can provide a theoretical basis for sustaining riverine ecosystems stressed by increasingly dry conditions and human activity. In the past, analyzing the ecological base flow as determined by the Tennant method was the predominant method used to calculate the BEEWR of a river. However, some parameter values within this method are determined subjectively, increasing uncertainty in the estimated values. In this paper, quantitative methods for these subjectively determined parameters are proposed and used to analyze the BEEWR of the Yarkand River, Xinjiang, China. The results demonstrate that: (1) the flood and non-flood seasons of a river can be delineated by analyzing the increase rate of monthly runoff as compared to the monthly runoff of the previous month; (2) the ecological base flow standard in the Tennant method can be more quantitatively determined by comparing the BEEWR for each ecological base flow standard to the annual average river loss, where the BEEWR must exceed the annual average river loss; and (3) BEEWRs of other up- and downstream river reaches can be obtained using the formula “BEEWR in the next downstream section equals the BEEWR in the last section minus the river loss between these two sections”.
Highlights
The UN sustainability goals [1] emphasize the need to ensure that all people have access to fresh water and that water needs to be obtained through better management of freshwater ecosystems
Basic environmental water requirements (EEWRs) (BEEWR) refers to the minimum amount of water that needs to be retained in the river to maintain the eco-environmental function of the river as a whole [5]
Targeted EEWR (TEEWR) refers to the amount of water that needs to be retained in the river to ensure the normal performance of eco-environmental functions that correspond to specific eco-environmental protection goals
Summary
The UN sustainability goals [1] emphasize the need to ensure that all people have access to fresh water and that water needs to be obtained through better management of freshwater ecosystems. Ecological and environmental water requirements (EEWRs) describe the flows necessary to ensure the basic functional health of ecosystems [2]. The EEWR can be regarded as the total amount of water resources required to prevent deterioration of the ecological environment. Basic EEWR (BEEWR) refers to the minimum amount of water that needs to be retained in the river to maintain the eco-environmental function of the river as a whole [5]. Targeted EEWR (TEEWR) refers to the amount of water that needs to be retained in the river to ensure the normal performance of eco-environmental functions that correspond to specific eco-environmental protection goals
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