Heihe River Basin

10.4% of the world’s land area is covered by inland basins. As many of them are lying in arid climates they have to cope with persisting conflicts over water use between the necessity of growing economic development and ecosystem demand.

The Heihe River Basin is the second largest inland river basin of China. It is situated in the arid Northwest of China, extending over the provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Inner Mongolia. This study focuses on the middle reach of the Heihe River Basin, an artificial irrigation oasis located in the prefecture of Zhangye. The elongated plain of the middle reach lies in the Hexi Corridor and is surrounded by the Qilian Mountains in the South and the Longshuanshan Mountains in the North (followed by the Badain Jaran Desert). It extends over an area of approximately 1.2 10⁴ km².

The region features an alluvial aquifer with severe over-pumping problems in only few irrigation districts, such as Luotuocheng District. The core technical elements of a well metering system with an IC card and the possibility for wireless data transfer have been applied in the region. Currently a all pumping wells are being equipped with IC-card systems in public-private partnership.It is therefore feasible to implement a real-time monitoring/ modelling/controlling system in relatively short time as a fast test and later transfer the technology and lessons learned to North China Plain, where water scarcity and over-pumping are most severe.

The Heihe Basin was chosen as pilot-research area for the current project as it is a typical inland river basin representative for many others of its kind. Knowledge acquired from the Heihe River Basin may therefore be applied to many other inland basins. The Heihe Basin is also particularly suited for the current investigation as it has been subject to integrated watershed research, particularly by the Cold and Arid Regions Environmental Institute (CAREERI) in Lanzhou over an extensive period of time. The long relations and frequent exchanges between ETH and CAREERI offer a solid base for a fruitful collaboration.