Feasibility Study of Coastal Reservoirs in the Zhoushan Islands, China

With continuing economic and social development, tourism and ocean-related industries are rapidly growing such that the shortage of fresh water is becoming a severe problem in the Zhoushan Islands, Zhejiang, China. It was assumed that this occurred because the city is lacking freshwater resources. Driven by this assumption, a project of water diversion from the mainland has been completed for two stages, and a third stage has been planned. However, 26-28% of rain water of 4.6-4.9 billion m(3) has been discharged into the sea. This is much more than that obtained from the water-diversion project. Based on an analysis of the precipitation pattern in the region, the possibility of constructing coastal reservoirs in the Zhoushan Islands are discussed, which will play a significant role in solving the freshwater shortage of islands such as Zhoushan.