Researchers Analyze Ecological Water Rights and Water-Resource Exploitation in the Three Headwaters of the Tarim River

The Tarim River is the largest inland river of China and is also one of the most famous inland rivers in the world. The Tarim River Basin is a generic term for a total of 114 rivers in nine river systems around the Tarim Basin, and the Yarkand River Basin, Aksu River Basin, Hotan River Basin, Kaikong River Basin, and the mainstream area are referred to as the ‘four source streams to one mainstream’.

In recent decades, the Tarim River Basin exhibits a fragile ecological environment and substantial agricultural water consumption. The situation of over-harvesting ecological water is becoming more serious. In order to understand whether the water amount of its main stream is adequate or not entirely depends on the amount of incoming water from the source areas, YE Zhaoxia et al. from Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences used the data of the annual water volume, water usage and area of vegetation distribution of three basins of Aksu River, Yarkand River and Hotan River, and analyzed in detail the current situation of water-resource exploitation and the proportion of different types of water use in the three headwaters of the Tarim River.

The results of the analyses show that farmland irrigation consumes the most water, and industrial, urban public, living, and ecological water use together account for less than 6% of the total water consumption in the three basins. The changes in the water supply and demand for the basin in 2002-2007 show that the total water resource is decreasing, while the water consumption is constantly increasing, which means that the situation of water deficiency in the Tarim River Basin is getting worse and the conflict between water supply and demand is raising. The results of the calculation and comparison for ecological water use and ecological water demand demonstrated that the total water deficiency in the three headwater basins reaches 27.221×10⁸ m³.

This finding of the research indicates that for solving the conflict between water-resource supply and demand and providing ecological water to the mainstream area, it is very urgent to establish ecological water rights. The finding can provide a reference for the ecological protection of the mainstream of the Tarim River and the economic development of the entire Tarim River Basin, and was published in Quaternary International in June 2014.