Research and Application of the Mutual Feedback Mechanism of a Regional Natural-Social Dualistic Water Cycle: A Case Study in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, China

Abstract

With the intensification of human activities, the natural water cycle has a significant nature-society dual feature, and identifying the mutual feedback mechanism between natural and social water cycles is an important basis for a more accurate simulation of the dualistic water cycle. In this study, two indexes of cumulative runoff change rate and social water cycle feedback rate are put forward, representing the degree of change in socio-hydrological unit runoff under the mutual feedback of the natural social water cycle in all upstream regions, and the degree influence of the water intake, consumption, and discharge process of the social water cycle on the natural water cycle in the socio-hydrological unit, respectively. Taking the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, which is marked by strong human activities, as the study area, the 2035 natural-social dualistic water cycles were simulated by a water allocation and simulation (WAS) model. Different water supply types and use structures cause the social water cycle to increase or decrease local runoff in different areas. The social water cycle feedback rate is greater than 1 in Beijing and Tianjin, and less than 0.25 in the mountainous areas and the Hebei plain, indicating that the social water cycle of each unit in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region increases or decreases local runoff due to different water supply types and use structures. The cumulative runoff change rate in this region was 0.66, indicating that the overall runoff was attenuated due to the social water cycle, and runoff attenuation was greater in the south than the north.