Study On Water Saving Potential And Water Consumption In Yellow River Irrigation Districts In Ningxia And Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regions

Based on domestic and abroad literature study, the water saving potential of Yellow River Irrigation districts in Ningxia and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (YRIDNM) was researched from three aspects like water conveyance system, field system and management system and the water consumption composing and characteristics of YRIDNM were analyzed according to different type of water consumption by the combined method of theoretical analysis and case application.Two approaches for calculating water saving potential were researched according to the concept of water saving potential and research idea, which are partial calculation method and integral calculation method. For the partial calculation method, water saving potential of the irrigation district was subdivided into two parts: water conveyance system and field system. For water conveyance system, a new calculation method, which is called equivalent canal system method, was put forward based on the analysis of the existing calculation methods and their advantages and shortcomings. For field system, four water saving measures such as the adjustment of crop pattern, the implementation of water saving irrigation schedule, the conjunctive use of well and ditch irrigation were mainly analyzed and the corresponding calculation methods were proposed. The integral calculation method was used to water saving potential by the difference between the demand of irrigation water under water saving condition and the current irrigation water consumption. Finally, the comparison of the results by the two calculation methods was carried out and it shows that the calculation results are in accordance with each other. And we can concluded that there is a relative larger water saving potential in YRIDNM.Six types of water consumption were classified according to the characteristics of agro-ecological system and the existing situation of water consumption of YRIDNM, which are agriculture irrigation, industrial use, urban domestic use, rural domestic use, artificial and natural environment use. The amount of water consumption of YRIDNM was brought forward through typical investigation of every consumption category and water balance analysis. And the results show that irrigation consumption is the largest, the second one is natural environment consumption and the smallest one is urban and rural domestic use. The main water sources and their consumption amount of different water consumption types were analyzed according to the structure of water resources of YRIDNM, and their conversion characteristics and water consumption characteristics of the main water consumption types. The conclusion is that YRIDNM belongs to a larger water user which mainly consumes Yellow River water.The research results lay a scientific foundation for sustainable development and water saving improvement of YRIDNM.