The Heihe River Basin (HRB) is located in the northwest of China with a minor portion in Mongolia (Fig.
1). The core drainage area click here is approximately 130,000 km2 with a mainstream length of 821 km. Its geographical range extends from 37°41′ to 42°42′ N and 96°42′ to 102°00′ E. The HRB includes three sections from south to north: upstream from the Qilian Mountains to the Yingluoxia Canyon (outlets of the mountains), midstream running from the Yingluoxia Canyon to Zhengyixia Canyon, and downstream terminating in the Juyan Lakes (east and west branches, respectively). This region is characterized by a continental climate. Depending on the location, the average annual air temperature is 2–3 °C in the upper HRB, 6–8 °C in the middle HRB, and 8–10 °C in the lower HRB. The average annual precipitation is 200–500 mm, 120–200 mm and less than 50 mm in the upstream, midstream and most downstream regions, respectively (Qi and Luo, 2005). From southern mountain region to the northern Gobi desert, potential evapotranspiration ranges
from 500–4000 mm per year. The HRB has a distinct landscape, ecological and climate gradient from the upstream to downstream. The upstream is characterized by the mountainous terrains from Qilian Mountains to Yingluoxia Canyon. Most of the streamflow in the Heihe River and its tributaries are generated from rainfall and ice-snow melting in the upstream mountainous area (Wang et al., 2010). The midstream, from buy ABT-888 Yingluoxia Canyon to Zhengyixia Canyon, is characterized by oases with irrigated agriculture. It is the major zone of water consumption by human and agriculture. The downstream is characterized by a vast Gobi desert where the runoff is greatly reduced or disappears through evapotranspiration and river leakage. Over the past half century, with the rapid population growth, socioeconomic development
and climate change, ecological and environment problems associated with unimpeded water resource exploitation have continued to worsen from year to year. In the upstream, the quality of grassland resources has declined sharply due to over-grazing; the glaciers and snowpack have been shrinking because of climate warming. Pushed by the traditional economic planting structure and development model that emphasizes GDP growth over eco-environmental not quality, the water demand and consumption in the midstream areas have steadily increased, leaving less and less water for the downstream. Consequently, in the lower HRB, due to water shortage, the extent of oasis has shrunk and health of the groundwater dependent ecosystem has deteriorated. The terminal lakes were dried up until 2002, two years after the EWDP was implemented by the government. It is clear that a sound policy for allocation of precious water resources based on hydrological, ecological, socioeconomic, and sociopolitical realities are urgently needed for the HRB.
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