Sustainable water use of the Yellow River

The Yellow River Basin (YRB) is in the semi-arid and and regions. In the upstream, midstream and downstream, each has distinguished characteristics on water and sediment. Scarceness of water in the midstream and downstream regions has been condemning residents to use water efficiently. Water pollution and abundance of sediments are as well. These are environmental concerns to be solved in the YRB. Integrated water management is thought to. be a tool to do so. The final targets of the management are affluence, evenness, employment, and social stability in the region. A five year project on the sustainable water use in the YRB, especially in the Weihe Basin, has been executing in corporation with Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology. The Weihe and several tributaries are heavily polluted with organic substances, nitrogen, heavy metals, etc. Integrated water management for sustainability in the basin needs analytical and systematic considerations. The items related to the integrated water management are climate change, water resources including groundwater, sediment generation, allocation of water resources for agriculture, industry, daily lives, and ecosystem upstream-downstream conflicts, conflicts on export of industrial products, self-sufficiency of food, employment, mobility of labour power, etc. Although external restrictions have not been considered yet for water management, future plans on water management need to include these items. For sustainable development of the basin including the downstream, not only water resources allocation, wiser water use, and better water reuse and recycling, but also more appropriate wastewater treatment are needed, Technology development for it is also needed.