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