Impact of the Construction of Water Conservation Projects on Runoff from the Weigan River

Abstract

In order to use water resources more efficiently, the construction of water conservation projects in dryland watersheds has changed the natural water cycle processes. This study used the SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) model coupled with the glacier module to simulate the hydrological processes in the upper reaches of the Weigan River estuary from 1965 to 1991, to restore and quantitatively evaluate the conditions of the estuarine runoff in the no-reservoir scenario, and to analyse the impact of the construction of water conservation projects on the estuarine runoff based on this model. The results show that the SWAT model has good applicability in the study area, with 41.45% and 58.55% of the increase in runoff due to increased precipitation and temperature, respectively, over the 52 years study period. The degree of influence of the construction of water conservation projects on runoff from the mountain in different seasons was spring > autumn > winter > summer, with 83.28% of the spring runoff being influenced by artificial regulation. The construction of water conservation projects has alleviated water shortage problems to a certain extent, and is an effective measure for achieving the efficient allocation of water resources in arid areas.