Abstract
A multitude of economic activities in the Yellow River basin in China depend on the finite water resources supplied within that watershed. Meanwhile rapid economic growth, particularly in recent years, has led to chronic water shortages in the middle and lower reaches of the river. To properly manage the water resources in a river basin that faces such conditions, it is essential to consider various issues. For example, how can one best balance the basin's overall supply of and demand for water resources? How can one maintain a good grasp of changes in water supply and demand of each sub-region and sector (agriculture, industry, and domestic)? How can water be allocated efficiently (in both the physical and economic sense) to each sub-region and sector, while considering equity between them. This study proposes a water resource management analysis framework to help ascertain and analyze the water resource supply and demand in the overall basin, by presenting a spatial diagram of the supply and demand balance of the region's water resources, from upstream to downstream, using counties and cities as the basic units of the model. In addition, using the proposed framework, this study analyzes the supply and demand structure of water resources of the entire basin, using data on the flow stoppages that were observed in 1997, but not observed in 2000.
