Water quantity-quality combined evaluation method for rivers’ water requirements of the instream environment in dualistic water cycle:A case study of Liaohe River Basin

In this article the meaning of the quantity and quality of environmental flows of river in dualistic water cycle is discussed,and compared with the meaning of unitary water cycle. Based on the analysis of the relationship between environmental flows of river re-quirements,the efficiency of water resource usage,the consumption coefficient,and the concentration of waste water elimination,the water quantity and water quality calculation method of the environmental flows of river requirements in dualistic water cycle is developed,and the criteria for environmental flows of river requirements are established,and therefore the water quantity-quality combined evaluation of natural river flows requirements are realized. Taking the Liaohe River as a model,the environmental flows of river requirements for Xiliao River,Dongliao River,mainstream Liaohe River,Huntai River and northeast rivers along the coasts of the Yellow and Bohai seas in unitary water cycle are calculated,each taking up 39.3%,63.0%,43.9%,43.3% and 43.5% of runoff respectively. Evaluated according to Tennant recommended flow,the results show that: except Xiliao River is "median",the rest are all upon "good",the Dongliao River is even "very good". The corresponding results in dualistic water cycle are that,the proportion of natural flows for each river is 57.5%,74.1%,60.8%,60.3% and 60.4%; while the combined evaluation results show that: considering "quantity",except Xiliao River,the rest rivers can all achieve the "quantity" criteria of the en-vironmental flows of river requirements,but if considering the aspect of "quality",only Dongliao River can reach the "quality" standard. By water quantity-quality combined evalua-tion method,only Dongliao River can achieve the criteria. So the water quality is the main factor that determines whether the environmental flows can meet the river ecosystem de-mands.