Yellow RiverBasin
Beijing
Xian
Shanghai
Hong Kong
YELLOW RIVER CONSERVANCY COMMISSION
What is river health?Theconceptof“riverhealth”incorporatesecological
andhumanvalues.A“healthy”riverisonewhichhas
retaineditsecosystemintegrity.Thehealthofariver
dependsonitsabilitytomaintainitsstructureand
function,torecoverafterdisturbance,tosupport
localbiota(includinghumancommunities),andto
maintainkeyprocesses,likesedimenttransport,
nutrientcyclingandenergyexchange.
Riverhealthisimportant.Healthyriversprovidewaterfor
drinking,agriculture,andindustry;fishandotherproduce
forconsumption;theassimilationofwasteproducts;
buffersagainstflooding;andrecreationalopportunities.
Asriversbecomeunhealthy,theylosetheircapacityto
providethesevaluablegoodsandservices.
Assessing river health Maintainingandimprovingriverhealthrequiresan
accurateassessmentofthecurrentecologicalstateof
riverecosystems.Thisprocesscan:• Identifypartsofriversystemsthatareinpoorhealth,oratrisk
• Identifythelikelycausesofpoorhealth• Helpprioritisefundingforriverrestoration,andguideeffectivemanagementactions
• Assesstheeffectivenessofmanagementactions• Allowforreportingonriverhealth
Background to this documentThisdocumenthasbeenpreparedaspartofthe
RiverHealthandEnvironmentalFlowinChinaProject.
TheworkdescribedwasfundedbyAusAIDaspart
oftheAustralia-ChinaEnvironmentDevelopment
Partnership.Theprojectinvolvedpilotstudiesinthe
Pearl,LiaoandYellowRiverBasins.Thisdocument
summarisestheresultsofapilotriverhealthand
environmentalflowstudyinthelowerYellowRiver.
The study areaThestudyfocussedonthelowerpartoftheYellow
River:areachstretchingaround800kmfrom
XiaolangdiReservoirdowntotheriver’sdelta
whereitmeetsthesea.ThelowerYellowRiverhas
arelativelysmallcatchmentareaandisboundby
flooddykesfornearlyitsentirelength.Demandsfor
waterforagriculture,urban,andindustrialacross
thebasinareextremelyhigh.Therivertransports
anenormousannualsedimentloadandvarious
factorshaveresultedinaperchedriverbed,upto10
metresabovethesurroundingfloodplain.Asaresult,
managingthetransportofsedimentisahighpriority
ofthewatermanagers.Thestudyareaincludesa
numberofinternationallysignificantwetlandsandis
animportantstopoverpointformigratorybirds.
Catchment factsDrainage: 794,712 km2
River length: 5,464km
Annual rainfall: 368-670mm
Mean annual runoff: ~58 billion m3
(before a natural reduction that occurred around 1990)
Population: 110 million in the basin, plus ~55 million in areas outside the basin but irrigated by the Yellow River (data from 2000)
2011
Yellow Riverriver health report card Environmental flows
ThisdocumenthasbeenpreparedaspartofajointprojectbetweentheAustralianandChineseGovernments,fundedbytheAustralianAgencyforInternationalDevelopmentaspartoftheAustralia-ChinaEnvironmentDevelopmentPartnership.
Findings and recommendations• ThecombinedenvironmentalriverhealthindexscoressuggestedthathydrologywasnotthemainlimitingfactortoecologicalhealthofthelowerYellowRiver.Itappearsmorelikelythatwaterqualitylimitstheecologicalhealth.
• ThehealthoftheYellowRiverDeltaisatriskoflowsedimentsupply(alotofsedimentisneededtocontinuallyexpandthedelta)andencroachmentoffarmlandintowetlands,althoughartificialwateringhasledtoexpansionofareasofopenwaterandreed.
• Theresultsshowenormousimprovementsinwaterqualityandhydrologysincethelate-1990s.Itmaytakesometimefortheseimprovementstobereflectedinimprovedbiotichealthscores
• Theapproachesdevelopedforwaterquality,hydrology,andbioticindicatorsshouldbebroadlyapplicabletootherregionsinChina,althoughriver-specificreferencevalueswillneedtobedevelopedandrefined.
• Theworkonsocialindicatorswasnovel,andwhiletheresultsshouldberegardedaspreliminary,itsuggestedwaysofquantifyingsomeoftheimportantsocialvaluesprovidedbytheriver.Theindicatorsshowedaoverallhighlevelofsocialvalueprovidedbytheriver.
MethodologyThestudyaimedtoestablishamethodforselecting
suitableindicatorsofriverhealth,andtomakean
initialassessmentofriverhealthinthelowerYellow
River,includingthedelta.
Thehealthoftheriverwasassessedagainst
thepolicygoaloftheYellowRiverConservancy
Commissionof‘KeepingtheYellowRiverHealthy’.
Thispolicyusesfivekey“HealthyIndicatorsofthe
YellowRiver”:1.Flowcontinuity2.Channelconfigurationforwaterandsedimenttransportation
3.Waterqualitystandard4.Riverecosystem5.Watersupplycapacity
Basedontheseindicatorgroups,thestudy
consideredindicatorsrelatedtohydrology,water
quality,physicalform,ecology,andsocialand
economicfactors.Foreachindicator,referencevalues
weresetasabenchmarkagainstwhichindividual
sitescouldbeassessed.Thesedefinedwhatwould
beconsidereda“good”score–thevalueexpected
inahealthyriver,andwhatwouldamounttoapoor
score.Thestudyusedmostlyexistingdata,plusdata
fromanecologicalsurveyoftheriver,incalculating
scoresforvariousriverhealthindicators,aswellas
aggregatedscoresfortheprimaryindicatorgroups.
Acombinedenvironmentalriverhealthindexwas
developedforeachofthefouridentifiedreaches
fromtheindicatorsfor:
• Ecologyofthechannel–combinedfish,macroinvertebratesandriparianplants
• Hydrology–compliancewithenvironmentalflowrecommendations
• Waterquality–annualaquatichealthscore
Further informationFurtherinformationontheproject,including
detailedtechnicalreportsontheYellowriverhealth
assessment,isavailableat:
http://www.watercentre.org/research/applied-research/acedp
Summary
Environmentalflowisthepatternofriverflow,or
flowregime,whichleadstoahealthyecosystem.
Peoplebenefitfromenvironmentalflowsbecausea
healthyriverecosystemprovidessafedrinkingwater,
adequatewaterforcities,industryandagriculture,
favourableconditionsforcertainanimalsandplants
thatpeoplehighlyvalue,andriversthatareattractive
forrecreationandtourism.Environmentalflowneeds
areassessedusingascientificmethodthatrelatesthe
flowregimetothelevelofriverhealththatcanbe
achieved.
Anasset-based,holisticenvironmentalflows
assessmentwasmadeforthelowerYellowRiver,
whichidentifiedmultipleobjectivesforawiderange
ofassets.Themainstepsintheprocesswere:
• Step1:Definereachesandidentifykeyriverassetsandprocesses.ThelowerYellowRiverwasdividedintofourreaches,basedonphysicalandecologicalcharacteristics.Variouswetlands,togetherwiththedeltaandtheriverchannel,wereidentifiedaskeyassetstobeprotected.ThemapbelowshowsthelowerYellowRiver’sfourreachesanditskeyecologicalassets.
• Step2:Setmanagementobjectivesforeachasset/process.Afieldinspectionoftheriverthatincludedconsultationwithlocalexpertsandrivermanagers,wasfollowedbyaworkshopinvolvingAustralianandChineseexperts.Here,ecologicalandhydrologicalobjectiveswereidentifiedforeachassetorprocess,andwithineachriverreach.Flowsrelatedtogeomorphologic,vegetation,macrovinvertebrate,fish,waterbird,andwaterqualityobjectiveswerespecified.
• Step3:Develophydraulicmodelsofrepresentativesections.Riversurveyswereconductedand1-Dand2-Dmodelsusedtodeterminetheflowrequiredtoachievecertainhydraulicobjectives,suchaswateringimportantwetlandsandprovidingfishhabitat.
• Step4:Developpreferredhydrological(environmentalflow)rules.Flowrulesweresetbasedonachievingthemanagementobjectives.Twoenvironmentalflowoptionsweredeveloped:onewouldpresentalow-risktoachievementofgoodriverhealth,andtheotheramedium-risk.
Foreachofthefourreaches,recommendedflows
werespecified,includingdetailontherequiredflow
magnitude,meanannualfrequencyandduration,
inter-annualfrequency,maximumratesofriseand
fall,andtimeoftheyear.Theflowoptionswere
constrainedbycertainoperationalrequirements,
includingtheneedtokeepflowwithintheconfinesof
themainchannel,duetotherisktohumanlifeand
socio-economicvaluesthatfloodswouldpresent.
river health report card Environmental flows
Hydrology as an indicator of river healthTheenvironmentalflowassessmentprovidesboth
recommendationsforfutureoperationsoftheriver
system,aswellasabasisforassessingriverhealth,
relativetohydrology.Tothisend,theextentto
whichtherecommendedenvironmentalflowswere
achievedannuallywasassessedusingflowdatafor
theperiod1950-2008.Theresultsofthishavebeen
incorporatedintotheoverallriverhealthindex.
Trees bordering Dongping Lake
Xiaolangdi
Ecological survey site (2008)Water quality stationHydrology station
Yellow RiverDelta NationalNature Reserve
River channel
Kaifeng LiuyuankouNature Reserve
ZhengzhouHuanghe Wetland
Nature ReserveMengjin Huanghe
Nature Reserve
XiaolangdiDamSanmenxia
Dam
Reach
3 (M
eandering)
Reach 2 (T
ransit
ional)
Reach 1 (Braided)
LIJIN
JINAN
AISHAN
GAOCUN
KAIFENGZHENGZHOU
Qin River
Yiluo River
Dongping Lake
Flood dike
Dawen River
Reach 4 (Estuarine)
Bohai
0 50 100 150 20025
Kilometers
LIJIN
JINAN
KAIFENG
XIAN
BAOTOU
LANZHOU
Lowerreach
Middlereach
Upperreach
ZHENGZHOU
0 10
drought risk
waterconsumption
water quality
hydropower
navigation
combined index score
flood risk
poor
fair
good
very
good
critic
al
Report Card ResultsSocio-economic indicators
Scores for socio-economic indicators for the lower Yellow River in 2008
Water quality
Ecological survey site (2008)Water quality stationHydrology station
Yellow RiverDelta NationalNature Reserve
River channel
Kaifeng LiuyuankouNature Reserve
ZhengzhouHuanghe Wetland
Nature ReserveMengjin Huanghe
Nature Reserve
XiaolangdiDamSanmenxia
Dam
Reach
3 (M
eandering)
Reach 2 (T
ransit
ional)
Reach 1 (Braided)
LIJIN
JINAN
AISHAN
GAOCUN
KAIFENGZHENGZHOU
Qin River
Yiluo River
Dongping Lake
Flood dike
Dawen River
Reach 4 (Estuarine)
Bohai
0 50 100 150 20025
Kilometers
LIJIN
JINAN
KAIFENG
XIAN
BAOTOU
LANZHOU
Lowerreach
Middlereach
Upperreach
ZHENGZHOU
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
1994 1996 1998 2000 20021995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Del
ta p
hysic
al fo
rm in
dex
and
delta
gro
wth
rate
inde
x
delta
phy
sical
form
inde
xdelta growth index
0
1997
2002
2006
1984
poor
fair
good
very
good
critic
al
0
199719981999
200220032004
20012000
2005200620072008
pre 1969poo
rfai
rgoo
dve
ry goo
d
critic
al
poor
fair
good
very
good
critic
al
0
poor
fair
good
very
good
critic
al
0
poor
fair
good
very
good
critic
al
Reach 1 (Braided) Reach 2 (Transitional) Reach 3 (Meandering) Reach 4 (Estuarine)
Ecological and hydrological indicatorsReport Card ResultsDelta physical form index
Growth rate index is based on measured area of the Delta. Physical form index based on sediment concentration and load delivered to the Delta.
Scores for the delta based on vegetation composition calculated using remote sensing technology, using 1984 as the reference condition.
Delta vegetation composition index
Hydrological indicatorsDegree of compliance with environmental flow recommendation made in this project
Ecological survey site (2008)Water quality stationHydrology station
Yellow RiverDelta NationalNature Reserve
River channel
Kaifeng LiuyuankouNature Reserve
ZhengzhouHuanghe Wetland
Nature ReserveMengjin Huanghe
Nature Reserve
XiaolangdiDamSanmenxia
Dam
Reach
3 (M
eandering)
Reach 2 (T
ransit
ional)
Reach 1 (Braided)
LIJIN
JINAN
AISHAN
GAOCUN
KAIFENGZHENGZHOU
Qin River
Yiluo River
Dongping Lake
Flood dike
Dawen River
Reach 4 (Estuarine)
Bohai
0 50 100 150 20025
Kilometers
LIJIN
JINAN
KAIFENG
XIAN
BAOTOU
LANZHOU
Lowerreach
Middlereach
Upperreach
ZHENGZHOUvery good good fair poor critical
0
Grade II score
Grade III score
poor
fair
good
very
good
critic
alReach 1 (Braided)
0
Grade II score
Grade III score
poor
fair
good
very
good
critic
alReach 2 (Transitional)
0
Grade II score
Grade III score
poor
fair
good
very
good
critic
alReach 3 (Meandering)
0
Grade II score
Grade III score
poor
fair
good
very
good
critic
alReach 4 (Estuarine)
Waterqualitywasassessedagainstthestandards
fortwodifferentgradesofriverundertheChinese
nationalwaterqualitystandards(GB3838-2002):
• AGradeIIIriver:ThisistheofficialtargetforwaterqualityinthelowerYellowRiver.Itistheminimumgraderequiredforadrinkingwatersourceandassuchappropriateforassessingriverhealthasitrelatestohumanwateruse.
• AGradeIIriver:Thissetsahigherstandard,suchasforriversorriverreachesthatprovidenaturalhabitatforsensitiveandrareaquaticspecies,orfishandcrustaceanspawningareas.Thisgradewasconsideredmoreappropriateforachievinggoodecologicalhealth.
Datawasanalysedforthefourreachesinthe
lowerYellowRiverfortheperiod1994–2009.
Thenationalstandardscover24parameters,
whichincludephysicalparameters(temperature),
bacterialparameters(faecalcoliform),andchemical
parameters(pH,metalandnon-metaltoxicants,
nutrients,andmeasuresofoxygenbalance).Some
parameterswerenotconsideredinthestudy,notably
totalnitrogenandtotalphosphorus,wherethe
standardswereconsideredinappropriategiventhe
naturalcharacteristicsoftheYellowRiver.
Byassessingmonthlydata,theextenttowhichthe
targetgradewasachievedforeachparameter–
duringthewetanddryseasonsaswellasforthe
wholeyear–wascalculated.
Theresultsshowthatthetargetwaterqualityforthe
river(GradeIII)iscurrentlymetmostofthetime.
Howeverdespiteamassiveimprovementsince
thelate1990s,thewaterqualitystandardcurrently
achievedisprobablystilltoolowtoallowahighlevel
ofriverhealth.Thismeansthatforwaterquality,the
socialexpectationsaremet,buttheecosystemhealth
valueswouldbenefitfromanimprovementinwater
quality.
Scores for water quality indicators for the lower Yellow River in 2008.
Water quality
Ecological survey site (2008)Water quality stationHydrology station
Yellow RiverDelta NationalNature Reserve
River channel
Kaifeng LiuyuankouNature Reserve
ZhengzhouHuanghe Wetland
Nature ReserveMengjin Huanghe
Nature Reserve
XiaolangdiDamSanmenxia
Dam
Reach
3 (M
eandering)
Reach 2 (T
ransit
ional)
Reach 1 (Braided)
LIJIN
JINAN
AISHAN
GAOCUN
KAIFENGZHENGZHOU
Qin River
Yiluo River
Dongping Lake
Flood dike
Dawen River
Reach 4 (Estuarine)
Bohai
0 50 100 150 20025
Kilometers
LIJIN
JINAN
KAIFENG
XIAN
BAOTOU
LANZHOU
Lowerreach
Middlereach
Upperreach
ZHENGZHOU
riparianplantsmacro
invertebrates
fish
Legend
Indicator scoreOverall reach score
very goodgoodfairpoorcritical
0 10
macroinvertebrates
fish
riparian plants
poor
fair
good
very
good
critic
alReach 1 (Braided)
0 10
macroinvertebrates
fish
riparian plants
poor
fair
good
very
good
critic
alReach 2 (Transitional)
0 10
macroinvertebrates
fish
riparian plants
poor
fair
good
very
good
critic
alReach 3 (Meandering)
0 10
macroinvertebrates
fish
riparian plants
poor
fair
good
very
good
critic
alReach 4 (Estuarine)
Ecological and hydrological indicators
Ecological indicatorsFish,macroinvertebrate,andriparianvegetation
indicatorswereusedtoassessecologicalhealth
withintheriverchannel.Thedatausedwascollected
in2008aspartofariversurveybytheChinese
AcademyofSciencesthatincludedthefourreaches
ofthelowerYellowRiver.Reach-specificreference
valueswerederivedfromhistoricaldata,literature
review,andexpertopinion,toprovideascoreon
ecologicalcondition.Atotalofnineindicatorswere
selectedforinclusioninthereportcard.Scoreswere
assignedbasedontheobserved/expectedratio,
andwithdifferentindicatorsweightedbasedonthe
importanceoftheindicatorandthequalityofrelated
data.
Ecological indices selected for inclusion in the Yellow River health assessment
Fish Macroinvertebrates Riparian plants
Totalspecies Totalspecies Totalspecies
Piscivorespecies Numberoffunctionalfeedinggroups
Migratoryspecies Totaldensity
Freshwaterspecies(Reach4only)
Nativespecies
Hydrological indicatorsThecurrentenvironmentalflowpracticeintheYellowRiverissimilartothelow-riskbaseflowcomponentrecommended
bytheproject.Asaresult,compliancewiththeflowregimeisnowfairlyhigh,withanotableimprovementoverthelast
decadewiththeoperationofXiaolangdiReservoirandtheintroductionofanannualwaterresourcesregulationplanfor
theYellowRiver.
Thehydrologicalindicatorfiguresshowtheannualcompliancewiththemedium-riskenvironmentalflowregimeforall
flowcomponentscombined.Itshowsanoverallgradeofgoodtoverygoodatallstationsfrom2005.Thereference
period,beforeLiujiaxiaDambeganoperationin1969,showedaveryhighdegreeofcompliance.Compliancewas
lowestin1997,butasignificantimprovementoccurredafter1999,whenXiaolangdiReservoirbeganoperation.
river health report cardSummary
Delta healthTheecologicalvalueoftheinternationallyimportant
wetlandsinthelowerYellowRiverisheavilydependent
onthehealthofvegetationcommunities.Vegetation
isasourceoffoodaswellashabitat,itcanleadto
improvedwaterquality,anditinfluencesthehydrology,
hydraulicsandmovementofsedimentintheriver.An
indexforwetlandvegetationinthedeltawasdeveloped
throughanalysisofdatafromLandsatsatelliteimages.
Thecompositionofthevegetationintermsofthethree
mainwetlandvegetationtypes,andlossofwetlandarea
toagriculturewereassessedrelativetotheconditionsin
theyear1984.
Theresultsfrom1997to2006suggestedatrendof
decliningandthenimprovinghealthofthevegetation
inthedelta,withtheimprovementcomingfroman
increaseintheareaofreed(whichcanbeexplainedby
theartificialwateringofpartofthedeltasince2002).Itis
ofconcernthattheareaoffarmlandincreasedthrough
timefrom1984to2006,althoughtheproportionofthe
deltaareathatwasfarmlandstabilisedin2006.
ThephysicalformindexforthelowerYellowRiver
focussedontheamountofsedimentsuppliedto
thedeltaforongoinggrowthofthedelta,whichis
importantformaintainingitscharacteristicwetland
vegetation.Theresultsindicatedthatsedimentloads
havefallensinceXiaolangdidambeganoperationin
1999,puttingtheDeltainastateofdecliningarea,or
riskofdecliningarea.
Social indicatorsThelowerYellowRiversustainsalargepopulationof
peoplebyprovidingwaterfordomestic,agricultural
andindustrialpurposes,generationofelectricityand
navigation,aswellasprovidingcultural,recreational
andaestheticvalues.Byreducingfloodanddrought
risk,andimprovingwaterquality,rivermanagerscan
enhancethesocialvaluesoftheriver.Socio-economic
indicatorsprovideinformationontheservicestheriver
givesthehumanpopulation.Inthisstudy,indicators
ofwaterconsumption,hydro-powerproduction,
navigation,floodrisk,droughtriskandwaterquality
forhumanuseswereconsidered.Resultsfortheperiod
2005to2009suggestthatingeneral,thesocialvalueof
thelowerYellowRiverishighrelativetoexpectations.
Unclassified
Reeds
Tamarisk
Suaeda
Tidal flat
Water
Farmland
Distribution of main land cover types on the Yellow River Detla over time
1984
1997
2002
2006
Cyclists enjoying Huayuankou