The Primary Research on the Ecological Water requirements of the Yellow River Estuary

The ecological water demand of the Yellow River estuary is dynamic and will change-with the changing of protected target and its scale and the request of people. Based an the analysis of form and characteristics of ecological water demand, and according to the main ecological units of the Yellow River estuary and their function requirements, the ecological water demands in current protection levels are calculated with ecological methods, and are allocated in different time of a year. The results show the minimum and suitable ecological water demand of the Yellow River estuary is 4.703 billion m(3) and 6.816 billion m(3) respectively. For keep the biodiversity of estuary wetland and guarantee its eco - hydrological function,. the minimum ecological flow: 75 m(3)/s and 415 m(3)/s should be fulfilled from November to March and from April to June separately, and the average minimum ecological flow in non - flood period is 200 m(3)/s.