14.5 Discussions
305
Difference of plan number and volumes
According to permit management, the annual water abstraction plan is issued once,
normally at the beginning of the year. However, water resource regulation in the
Yellow River is implemented by annual, monthly, and 10-day plans; therefore, the
water abstractor takes according to monthly and 10-day plans. At the same time, the
next month plan is approved by YRCC before 28th of each month and issued to the
water user. Thus, two issues are raised. One is that the water abstractor will have two
plans: an annual water abstraction plan for permit management and a monthly plan
from water resource regulations; the second is that each plan has inconsistent timing
and volume: one annual abstraction plan and 12 monthly regulation plans. For water
abstractor, if volumes in two plans are consistent, there is no need to have two; if
not, which one should be implemented?
Technical linkages between consumption and abstraction in terms of volume
Water resource allocation and regulation is controlled by consumption, but abstraction volume is implemented by a water abstraction plan and a water-use plan. Therefore, regardless of management inconsistency, there is a technical linkage between
river basin consumption management and user/abstractor abstraction management.
Technically, it is a huge challenge to realize consumption consistency among so
many plans in a big river basin, like the Yellow River’s, even under an accurate forecast. Under the hydrological stochastic, it is impossible to be consistent technically.
Both the annual water resource regulation plan and the annual water abstraction plan
are forecasts at the beginning of year/hydraulic year; in the formulation of monthly
and 10-day regulation plans, the bias in the annual forecast in the beginning makes
consumption and abstraction consistency almost impossible, particularly monthly
control after 1998. Of course, there is one way to realize, which is to alleviate hydrological stochastic by human intervention on inflow. This needs a huge capacity. It is
lucky that the Yellow River has a large reservoir capacity.
Water resource allocation in HID is an instance of water allocation in a public
water supply system under a permit. In HID, the management bureau holds the water
abstraction permit based on the volume of the individual water users in the district.
Therefore, it is necessary to allocate its volume to WUAs to clarify water rights in
HID. This is a typical instance of water resource allocation in an irrigation district,
as discussed in Chaps. 5 and 6.
The water resource allocation in HID is a detailed arrangement. The plan allocates
to each level canal and provides a sound basis for the irrigation water-use plan and
management. The plan consists of the eco-environmental water requirements of the
district and reserve and agricultural irrigation water use. In a temporal aspect, both
a normal allocation plan and a contingency plan are formulated. All of these plans
and considerations provide strong support for water resource regulations.
The water resource allocation in HID is conducted to promote the construction
of a water-saving infrastructure and served for water rights transfer. However, under
a normal procedure, a water resource allocation plan should be formulated before a
water rights transfer, and it should be followed by a water-saving infrastructure plan.
305
Difference of plan number and volumes
According to permit management, the annual water abstraction plan is issued once,
normally at the beginning of the year. However, water resource regulation in the
Yellow River is implemented by annual, monthly, and 10-day plans; therefore, the
water abstractor takes according to monthly and 10-day plans. At the same time, the
next month plan is approved by YRCC before 28th of each month and issued to the
water user. Thus, two issues are raised. One is that the water abstractor will have two
plans: an annual water abstraction plan for permit management and a monthly plan
from water resource regulations; the second is that each plan has inconsistent timing
and volume: one annual abstraction plan and 12 monthly regulation plans. For water
abstractor, if volumes in two plans are consistent, there is no need to have two; if
not, which one should be implemented?
Technical linkages between consumption and abstraction in terms of volume
Water resource allocation and regulation is controlled by consumption, but abstraction volume is implemented by a water abstraction plan and a water-use plan. Therefore, regardless of management inconsistency, there is a technical linkage between
river basin consumption management and user/abstractor abstraction management.
Technically, it is a huge challenge to realize consumption consistency among so
many plans in a big river basin, like the Yellow River’s, even under an accurate forecast. Under the hydrological stochastic, it is impossible to be consistent technically.
Both the annual water resource regulation plan and the annual water abstraction plan
are forecasts at the beginning of year/hydraulic year; in the formulation of monthly
and 10-day regulation plans, the bias in the annual forecast in the beginning makes
consumption and abstraction consistency almost impossible, particularly monthly
control after 1998. Of course, there is one way to realize, which is to alleviate hydrological stochastic by human intervention on inflow. This needs a huge capacity. It is
lucky that the Yellow River has a large reservoir capacity.
Water resource allocation in HID is an instance of water allocation in a public
water supply system under a permit. In HID, the management bureau holds the water
abstraction permit based on the volume of the individual water users in the district.
Therefore, it is necessary to allocate its volume to WUAs to clarify water rights in
HID. This is a typical instance of water resource allocation in an irrigation district,
as discussed in Chaps. 5 and 6.
The water resource allocation in HID is a detailed arrangement. The plan allocates
to each level canal and provides a sound basis for the irrigation water-use plan and
management. The plan consists of the eco-environmental water requirements of the
district and reserve and agricultural irrigation water use. In a temporal aspect, both
a normal allocation plan and a contingency plan are formulated. All of these plans
and considerations provide strong support for water resource regulations.
The water resource allocation in HID is conducted to promote the construction
of a water-saving infrastructure and served for water rights transfer. However, under
a normal procedure, a water resource allocation plan should be formulated before a
water rights transfer, and it should be followed by a water-saving infrastructure plan.