Reconstruction of the water cycle process reveals the 600-year evolution of the human-water relationship in Tunpu, China

Abstract

The human-water relationship (HWR) has shifted from the simple utilization of water resources to a complex spatial redistribution process through powerful human activities, such as water conservancy projects and policies. Water conservancy projects have changed the HWR; however, it is still unclear how related policies, such as the ecological civilization policy recently advocated by the Chinese government, affect the HWR. Here, a nearly 600-year typical Tunpu village named Baojia Tun was taken as the study area. Based on an improved water balance formula and a new technology known as remote sensing hydrological station (RSHS), the water cycle process over nearly 600 years in the typical Tunpu village named Baojia Tun and its basin was reconstructed, and the long-term evolution of the HWR over different space and time spans was revealed. The results show that (1) the HWR developed from an initial resource-rich balanced stage to an extensive-development unbalanced stage and finally transformed into a rebalancing stage; the four stages of the HWR are predevelopment, take-off, acceleration, and rebalancing. (2) At the village scale, due to the suitable geographical conditions and cultural value, the composition of water use units in the water cycle process of Baojia Tun has generally remained stable from the Ming Dynasty to modern times. (3) At the basin scale, due to the increased runoff caused by land use/cover change being more significant than the decreased runoff caused by irrigation water intake, the trend of runoff shifted from slowly decreasing to accelerated increases, with the change rate of runoff increasing from −6.21 × 104 m3·a-1 in the Ming Dynasty (1470–1636) to 48.78 × 104 m3·a-1 in the China stage (1949–2020). (4) The synchronous promotion of socioeconomic development and the ecological civilization policy has realized the unity of socioeconomic and ecological benefits, making the HWR exhibit a good sign of rebalancing. This research reveals that the positive effect of ecological civilization policy on the HWR can eliminate the unfavourable factors in the previous development model and adjust it to a sustainable development model, providing significant enlightenment for long-term planning and policy formulation for sustainable high-quality development in other countries or regions.