CHENG Wei-ming, ZHOU Cheng-hu, TANG Qi-cheng

(State Key Laboratory of Resource and Environment Information System, CAS, Beijing 100101, China)

Abstract: In the process of implementing the strategy developing West China, water resource is very important to achieve a coordinated development between the population, resources, and environment.

Based on Geographical Information System, 12 provinces and autonomous regions in western China are divided into seven drainage areas and 177 small catchment units in this paper. According to hydrological data in 1980 and 1990, water supply, demand, shortage and shortage ratio in each drainage area are calculated. It can be demonstrated that total water resource capacity is very big, but spatial and temporal distribution of water resource is quite uneven.

By comparing water shortage ratios in 1980 and 1990, it can be seen that the Songhuajiang and Liaohe Rivers, the Yellow River, the Yangtze River and the inland rivers regions become better slightly, the Haihe River becomes worse, and the Pearl River and the rivers in Southwest China equal in 1980 and 1990. Severe shortage regions of water resources can be predicted in the future, they are the west Liaohe drainage basin, Sichuan basin, the northern slope of Tianshan Mountains, Hexi Corridor and Weihe valley.

Keywords: the compaign of developing the west; water resource; relationship of water supply and demand; regional difference