Affected by regional natural conditions, ecology and water resources are two "bottleneck" factors that restrict the development of northwest China. Historical experience tells us that the key to restricting the development of the western region is not that its own "advantages" have not been fully exerted, but that a series of regional disadvantages, such as poor water resources, fragile ecology, poor infrastructure conditions, low population concentration, and lagging system transformation, have not been effectively overcome, resulting in the region having to bear the double benefit losses of massive outflow of resource products and net inflow of processing and manufacturing products for a long time. At the same time, a large part of the real economic capital appreciation in this region is also transformed from natural capital. For example, in lingwu city, Ningxia, 1990- 1997 is expected to increase economic capital by 360.9 million yuan. Simply considering the increase of economic capital, the average annual GDP growth is 12.5%, while the natural capital decreases14.24 million yuan in the same period.
To this end, the specific content of implementing the strategy of developing the western region includes two aspects: one is to strengthen the construction of ecological environment, the other is to improve the existing infrastructure construction and establish an economic structure system that matches the background conditions of water resources and ecological environment.
The connotation of ecological environment construction is very extensive, which can be understood as the general name of all actions aimed at protecting, restoring and improving the ecological environment. For the northwest region, ecological environment construction is aimed at the phenomenon of ecological environment degradation caused by various human activities (mainly the transitional development of water and soil resources). Its basic task is to limit or cancel all kinds of human interference that cause the degradation of the ecosystem, make full use of the self-repair function of the ecosystem, and realize the benign development and circulation of the ecological environment system []. Therefore, the ecological environment construction in northwest China can not be divorced from the inherent natural conditions and laws (mainly the macro-zonality law of the ecosystem) and blindly build a new ecological environment. But according to the different characteristics of different scales of ecological environment in northwest China, we should adapt measures to local conditions, that is, suitable for forest, irrigation, grass and drought. In addition, according to the fragility of the ecological environment system in northwest China and the arduousness of restoration and reconstruction, ecological environment construction should first prevent the continued destruction of the existing ecological environment and restore and reconstruct the destroyed natural ecological environment as much as possible; Economically, the northwest region is dominated by basic industries, and agricultural production is dominated by self-sufficiency. The proportion of food crops with small characteristic economy and large water consumption is too high. Industry is in the primary stage of industrialization, most of which belongs to resource development, and has not formed a long industrial chain. A large number of primary energy raw materials enter the market, which has a weak driving effect on regional economic development [2]. Therefore, the northwest region should seize the strategic opportunity of the western development in time, develop infrastructure such as transportation, communication and water conservancy from a high starting point, carry out technical transformation on traditional industries, adjust the industrial structure, especially the planting structure, vigorously develop aquaculture, high-efficiency characteristic agriculture and bioengineering industries, selectively develop mining and corresponding processing industries, focus on developing high-tech industries, improve tourism facilities, expand the tourism market, and establish an efficient, water-saving and pollution-free economic structure system.
2 Northwest water resources and ecological environment evaluation
The northwest region mentioned in this paper includes Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai, Shaanxi and Ningxia provinces, and Alashan, Yikezhaomeng and Wuhai cities in the west of Inner Mongolia, involving four major first-class basins: the inland river basin, the Yellow River basin, the Yangtze River basin and the southwest basin, with a total area of 3.39 million km2, accounting for 35% of the national area and a total population of nearly 654.38 billion.
2. 1 water resources evaluation
The northwest lives in the hinterland, far from the ocean. Coupled with the barrier of high mountains, the climate is very dry. The average annual precipitation is 235mm, and the precipitation in inland river areas is generally below 200mm, but the evaporation is as high as 1000 ~ 2800 mm, which makes the scarcity of water resources in northwest China much higher than that in other parts of the country. The total water resources in northwest China is 234.4 billion m3, accounting for only 8% of the total water resources in China.
The basic characteristics of water resources in northwest China are: (1) drought, little rain and fragile ecology. Northwest China is the region with the least precipitation in China, and it is also the only region where the rainfall is less than the water demand of farmland crops. (2) The contradiction between water and soil is prominent, the spatial and temporal distribution is unbalanced, and the adjustment cost is high, which is not conducive to the development and utilization of water resources; (3) The dependence on ecological water is high, the demand for ecological water is rigid, and the available amount of water resources in the national economy is relatively small; (4) Surface water and groundwater are frequently transformed, and the downstream is extremely sensitive to the upstream development and utilization mode.
2.2 Ecological environment assessment
Affected by regional precipitation and other natural factors, the proportion of green land in northwest China, including woodland, shrub land, sparse woodland and other types of woodland and cultivated land, is far below the national average, while the areas that are difficult to use (including desert, Gobi, saline-alkali land, bare rock, bare soil, etc.). ) accounts for half of the total area, far higher than the national average of 33%.
Due to artificial logging and overgrazing and overloading of grassland in mountainous areas in summer, the vegetation area has decreased by 1.28 million km2, and the proportion of degraded area has reached 24%. In the plain area, since 1970s, the artificial oasis has increased by 1.53 million km2, with an increase of 23%, while the natural oasis area has decreased by 9%. However, the ecotone between oasis and desert is seriously degraded, with a cumulative decrease of 44,400 km2, shrinking by 14% and the desert area expanding by 5%. It can be seen that under the influence of human activities characterized by the development of water and soil resources, the ecology in northwest China has shown an obvious trend of "two expansions and one contraction", that is, the area of desertification has expanded, the area of artificial oasis has expanded, the area of desert-oasis transition zone has shrunk, and the ecological environment has generally evolved in the direction of deterioration.
3. The relationship between water and ecological structure in northwest inland areas and its driving forces.
The topographic features of alternating alpine plateaus and piedmont basins in the inland areas of northwest China form a unique water circulation system in arid areas. The upper mountainous area is relatively rich in precipitation and low in evaporation consumption, which is the main runoff formation area, and the river runoff along the way increases. Below the mountain pass is the plain area, where precipitation is scarce, and most areas basically do not produce runoff, which is a runoff discharge area, during which evaporation and leakage continue and eventually disappear. Among them, the middle and upper reaches of the plain basin along the river belong to runoff consumption and strong surface-groundwater conversion areas, while the downstream of the plain basin and the surrounding areas of artificial ecosystems belong to runoff dissipation areas.
3. 1 Relationship between water status and ecological structure in natural state
Water and heat are the two most important controlling factors in the evolution of regional ecosystem, and the specific constraints on the structure and evolution of regional ecosystem depend on the "short board" of the two factors. For mountainous areas, high altitude areas are mainly controlled by heat, while low altitude areas are mainly water. The alternating action of two factors leads to the development of vertical belt spectrum of mountain ecological landscape, which is followed by glacier snow belt, alpine gravel desert and alpine meadow (mainly ice and snow, supplemented by ice and snow); Subalpine and mountain meadows (rain and snow mixed supply), forest belts and mountain grasslands (mainly rainfall supply). For the plain area, due to the relatively sufficient heat, the ecological structure is almost completely controlled by water conditions, and oases, transitional zones and deserts are formed on both sides of the river in turn; Vegetation grade and coverage gradually evolved from high to low.
The water supply sources supporting the ecosystem include precipitation water resources and runoff water resources. The former is the effective water directly used by the ecosystem in the process of rainfall or precipitation forming runoff, and the latter is the effective water used by the ecosystem in the process of runoff movement or after artificial adjustment. Among them, the natural ecosystem where zonal vegetation is located completely consumes precipitation, while the natural ecosystem where non-zonal vegetation is located mainly consumes runoff, supplemented by precipitation, and in the interlaced transition zone between zonal and non-zonal, it mainly consumes precipitation, supplemented by runoff.
Rivers in mountainous areas are the datum of groundwater discharge, and generally have groundwater recharge, so the ecosystems of inland rivers and mountainous areas are basically supported by precipitation water resources. The utilization of effective precipitation determines the development degree of zonal vegetation and also affects the change of precipitation-runoff coefficient. In the plain area, the precipitation gradually decreases from the edge of the basin to the center, and the precipitation is still not enough to support the growth of vegetation, so the desert is the most typical zonal ecological type in the plain area. However, because the basin is low-lying, it is the destination of inland rivers, so mountain pass runoff is an important source of water supply for plain non-zonal vegetation. Due to the influence of runoff, non-zonal ecological communities, such as woodland, high coverage grassland and wetland, are formed along the banks of inland river plains, forming oases. River runoff seeps sideways to both banks, forming groundwater with a certain influence range. The addition of phreatic water evaporation "activates" the "effective function" of precipitation in the area affected by phreatic water, which is supplemented by precipitation and groundwater, forming a much wider transition zone between non-zonal oasis ecology and zonal desert ecology. The vegetation in the transitional zone is mainly grassland with (medium) low coverage, which is a transitional form from non-zonal oasis ecology to zonal desert ecology. Eventually, the disappearance of groundwater led to the termination of runoff, weak precipitation became the only water source, vegetation basically disappeared and began to enter the vast desert area. The above analysis shows that river runoff is the most important water source to support the vegetation ecosystem in the basin, and precipitation only plays an auxiliary role. Even in the transitional zone where precipitation is the main water source, runoff plays a key role. Due to the lack of runoff supplement, precipitation can not independently support vegetation growth, and it is swallowed up by the desert and becomes ineffective evaporation. Therefore, the effectiveness of precipitation in plain areas needs the help of river runoff (passenger water).
3.2 The relationship between water conditions and ecological succession under the influence of human activities
Human activities have a profound impact on the ecological situation and its evolution in northwest China from two aspects. First, human activities directly change land cover, such as land use, grazing reclamation, soil and water conservation, etc. And the extent and scope of this activity is relatively intuitive; The second is the ecological succession caused by the change of regional water conditions, including three aspects. Firstly, the precipitation and temperature changes caused by global greenhouse effect lead to the succession of regional ecosystems to a high or low level. In the research report "Evaluation of Climate Change from Warm Dry to Warm Humidity in Northwest China" edited by Academician Shi Yafeng, this problem was deeply studied, and the northwest region was divided into basic transition zone, mild transition zone and non-transition zone. The change of the second underlying surface causes the evolution of the ecosystem caused by the change of water yield in the basin; Third, the ecological environment changes caused by large-scale water resources development and utilization. For the northwest region, according to the analysis of China Academy of Engineering, this trend change may affect the ecological evolution to some extent, but it will not fundamentally change the overall situation of the ecological environment in the northwest region, and due to the scale problem, a unified understanding has not yet been formed; In the second case, because the water-producing area of the inland river basin in the northwest is basically in the mountainous area, although the range of human activities in the mountainous area is relatively narrow at present, and the change of the local underlying surface has not caused much impact on the runoff at the outlet, in order to maintain the safety of the "water tower" in the basin, the damage to the underlying surface by human activities in the mountainous area should be strictly controlled to ensure the stability of the water circulation process in the basin; The third situation is the most prominent manifestation of ecological succession driven by water regime in the inland river basin of northwest China.
Rainfall is scarce in the plain area of inland river basin, and mountain pass runoff is the main water source of regional natural ecosystem and socio-economic system. The exploitation and utilization of water resources by human beings has changed the original natural water circulation process, and formed an artificial water bypass cycle composed of supply-use-consumption-discharge in the big pattern of "four waters" transformation in the basin. On the one hand, the formation of bypass circulation reduces the flux of natural water circulation, and at the same time changes the temporal and spatial distribution of water resources and the water quality under natural conditions. Due to the dynamic dependence of water flux between artificial side-branch water circulation and natural main circulation, the increase of runoff water consumption in artificial ecological area will inevitably lead to the decrease of available runoff water resources in natural ecological area and transitional zone. When the sum of runoff water resources and precipitation water resources is less than the water consumption required for the normal growth of surface vegetation, the vegetation coverage decreases and the ecosystem degrades, and the new stable state can only be maintained until it becomes a vegetation type with less water demand. This is a scientific explanation for the natural ecological degradation caused by artificial water intake in the plain area of inland river basin.
It should be pointed out that due to the existence of the spatial structure of the ecosystem in arid areas and the unique law of water migration in inland river basins, it is decided that when the runoff water resources entering the natural oasis and the transitional zone decrease, the transitional zone will be affected first, not the natural oasis. This is because, after the inland river leaves the mountain pass, the runoff water resources supplement the natural oasis and transitional zone ecosystem, mainly in the form of groundwater evaporation. Underground runoff first flows through the natural oasis layer and is captured by the surface vegetation, which leads to a great attenuation of runoff water resources entering the transitional zone. The evolution of the ecosystem in the inland river basin of northwest China in recent 20 years also shows that when the artificial oasis expands and the runoff water consumption increases, the natural oasis is relatively stable, while the transitional zone area decreases obviously.
4. Rational development, efficient utilization and protection of water resources in northwest China.
From the above analysis, we can see that the northwest region mainly faces four major problems: poor background conditions of water resources, fragile degradation of ecosystems, backward social and economic development, and weak human capital base. The purpose of implementing the western development strategy is to realize the rapid growth of regional social net welfare and narrow the gap with the eastern region on the basis of coordinating the relationship between economic development and regional resources and ecology. Judging from the two major implementation contents of the above-mentioned western development strategy, ecological environment construction and social and economic development must be based on water resources consumption. Therefore, under the constraint of the serious shortage of water resources, how to coordinate the relationship between ecological water use and national economic water use, inter-regional water use and inter-departmental water use, that is, to establish a reasonable and efficient water resources development, utilization and protection system, is the key to the success or failure of the western development strategy.
4. 1 Establish a reasonable water resources development system.
Generally speaking, the rational development system of water resources in northwest China mainly includes three parts: first, compared with traditional runoff water resources, the development degree of water resources in China must be strictly limited within the allowable development limit to ensure that basic ecological water use can be met; Secondly, the way of water resources development and utilization must be to reduce the invalid loss of water resources, that is, to improve the efficiency of water resources development; Third, expand the scope of traditional water resources development, that is, develop alternative water resources.
Under the unified framework of river basin water cycle, there is a strong competition and dynamic complementary relationship between national economic water use and ecological environment water use. Northwest China has poor ecological environment background and weak anti-interference ability. In addition, oasis ecology is highly dependent on runoff water resources. Therefore, it is necessary to strictly control the proportion of water intake in the national economy to the natural water circulation flux within a certain limit, and reserve necessary ecological water. The major consulting project of China Academy of Engineering "Study on Water Resources Allocation, Ecological Environment Construction and Sustainable Development Strategy in Northwest China" puts forward that "in the arid inland arid areas of northwest China, the water consumption of ecological environment and socio-economic system is 50% respectively, and the average socio-economic water consumption is converted into 70% of the water consumption, and the highest development and utilization rate of inland rivers in the future will not exceed 70%". It should be noted that the reserved ecological water consumption should be calculated according to the water consumption caliber, but in the actual operation process, it is the water consumption of the national economy that can be effectively supervised and managed. Therefore, when converting the allowable water consumption of national economy into allowable water consumption, we should pay full attention to the change of water consumption rate caused by water-saving measures to prevent crowding out the ecological environment due to calculation deviation.
Development efficiency is an important criterion to evaluate the rationality of water resources development mode. The comparison of development efficiency is mainly judged by the proportion of invalid losses under different development modes. The effectiveness of water use mainly depends on whether the necessary ecological and economic service functions are realized in the process of water use. Common ineffective water loss mainly includes water surface evaporation, bare soil evaporation, saline-alkali land evaporation, desert Gobi evaporation and so on. Based on the criterion of development efficiency, the mountainous reservoir should be used instead of the plain reservoir in the northwest inland area in the future to reduce the invalid evaporation on the reservoir surface, and the joint utilization of surface water and groundwater and moderate exploitation of groundwater should be adopted to reduce the invalid evaporation of diving. Implementing pipeline water supply, reducing water surface evaporation in the process of water conveyance, increasing local utilization of rainwater, reducing invalid losses in the process of water production confluence, increasing the development and utilization of international rivers, and so on. Of course, the improvement of the efficiency of development mode should consider the constraints of economic conditions and other factors.
While improving the development efficiency of traditional water resources in northwest China, we should pay full attention to the development of alternative water resources, such as sewage treatment and reuse, brackish water utilization and rainwater utilization. For the development of atmospheric water, such as the implementation of large-scale artificial precipitation enhancement measures, there are still some differences in the understanding of precipitation enhancement effect and its impact on precipitation, so field research, business experiments and scientific research should be further strengthened.
4.2 Establish a rational utilization model of water resources
The rational utilization model of water resources in northwest China should have three basic characteristics. First, the social equity of water resources utilization, that is, people in different areas in a certain range (like a river basin) should enjoy relatively fair water resources use rights in the process of life and production; The second is the high efficiency of water resources utilization, that is, in the process of water use, the invalid loss of water resources should be as little as possible; The third is the high efficiency of water resources utilization, that is, to improve the economic output and ecological service function of unilateral water.
The social attribute of water resources determines that the social equity of water resources utilization is one of the important signs of its rational utilization, including interregional equity, intergenerational equity and water safety of vulnerable groups, in which interregional equity can be characterized by indicators such as equal per capita water consumption and near water shortage, intergenerational equity can be characterized by indicators such as deep groundwater exploitation and shallow groundwater overexploitation, and water safety of vulnerable groups is reflected in basic water safety, with two specific standards. First, the proportion of basic water and water charges to household expenditure should not be too high; The second is to reduce as much as possible the proportion of people with draught difficulties in the region. Social equity in water resources utilization is mainly achieved through rational allocation and management.
Improving water use efficiency is the central content of long-term water-saving work in China, in which agricultural water use includes canal system reconstruction, field engineering and micro-irrigation. In industry, it is mainly aimed at improving the reuse rate of water, treatment and reuse rate, process improvement and so on. In life, it is like the popularization of water-saving appliances and the improvement of water-saving consciousness. Agricultural water is the main user in northwest China, so improving the efficiency of agricultural water use is also the main content of water saving. For agricultural water saving, we should pay full attention to two issues. One is the calculation of water saving. As far as resources are concerned, the water saved only refers to the ineffective evaporation part reduced by measures. Therefore, the estimation of water saving should be objectively evaluated in the evaporation term in the process of water cycle, and can not be replaced by reduced resource conversion or reduced water consumption. For example, in the middle reaches of Heihe River Basin, from 1999 to 2003, Zhangye City in the middle reaches adopted a series of water-saving measures, which reduced the water consumption by 480-580 million m3 and increased the water discharge by 255 million m3. From the perspective of resources, the water saving should be 255 million m3. Second, the related ecological problems caused by the improvement of water use efficiency are mainly manifested in two aspects. First, water-saving measures (such as canal lining) have changed the original water circulation process and reduced the recharge of surface water to groundwater, which may have a certain impact on the surrounding ecological environment; Secondly, the objective evaluation of whether the reuse of water-saving quantity is used to meet the increment of water demand of national economy or return to ecological environment needs to be based on the objective evaluation of whether it meets the basic ecological water demand of the region.
Improving the utilization efficiency of water resources is the most important content of rational utilization of water resources in northwest China, including the formation of economic structure and ecological structure of efficient water use. The formation of efficient water use economic structure is to adjust the tertiary industry structure and water consumption ratio, increase the proportion and water consumption of secondary and tertiary industries in stages according to local characteristics, and appropriately reduce agricultural water consumption. Second, it is necessary to adjust the planting structure and water consumption, accelerate the formation of the ternary planting structure of grain, economy and grass, change the agricultural production mode, especially in areas with weak industrialization foundation and characteristics, focus on developing characteristic agriculture, ecological agriculture, cash crops and animal husbandry, give full play to the advantages of good quality of regional agricultural products, and take the substitution of imported products and export products as the goal, such as high-quality dairy products, long-staple cotton, low-pollution characteristic agricultural products (such as buckwheat and miscellaneous beans) and flower plants. On the basis of a certain proportion of self-sufficiency, through the implementation of the substitution strategy of "ecology for food, forest and animal products for food, and cash crops for food", we will solve the regional food policy in order to seek comprehensive benefits including economic benefits, social benefits and ecological benefits and increase the income of farmers and herdsmen. In this process, we should fully combine the functions of "strengthening the government" and "strengthening the market", take market demand as the guide, and strengthen the role of government macro-control and infrastructure construction. In addition, because urbanization is an effective way to reduce the per capita comprehensive water consumption, the northwest region should focus on developing small and medium-sized towns in the future. Efficient ecological water use structure is manifested in reasonable ecological construction objectives and ecological layout planning, as well as the selection of appropriate ecological construction measures.
4.3 the formation of a sound water resources protection system
A perfect water resources protection system in northwest China includes three aspects: first, establish a water resources protection system with soil and water conservation and water conservation as the core in the upstream water-producing areas; The second is to establish a water balance system in the middle reaches of water-using areas, with the total control of water use and sewage discharge as the main content; The third is to establish a safe and efficient utilization system of ecological water in downstream water-using areas.
River runoff in northwest China basically comes from mountainous areas. Ecological security in mountainous areas is the fundamental guarantee for maintaining normal water circulation in river basins. It is necessary to unconditionally ensure the stability and safety of vegetation in mountainous areas, strictly control mountain reclamation, natural forest harvesting and mountain nomadism, implement natural forest and grass enclosure and even ecological migration, and enhance the ability of soil and water conservation and water conservation, so as to maintain the water conservation and regulation ability of "water tower", ensure the stability of runoff water resources entering the oasis, and prevent the water resource base on which human beings depend for survival and development from greatly increasing.
Runoff from inland rivers was quickly artificially cited at the exit. In the process of binary water cycle in the middle reaches, surface water and groundwater are continuously transformed, and water is continuously consumed in various production activities, and the hydrochemical characteristics are also changed. In order to ensure the sustainable utilization of regional water resources and the basic eco-environmental water use in the downstream, it is necessary to establish a water resources balance system with the control of water consumption in the middle reaches and the total amount of sewage discharge as the main content, in which the water balance in the middle reaches includes the balance of actual water consumption and allowable water consumption in the middle reaches, the balance of economic water consumption and ecological water consumption in the middle reaches, the balance between economic departments and the balance of water consumption in administrative areas. In addition, because the water environmental capacity in northwest China is small and there is no leakage area in inland river basin, it is necessary to strictly control the total amount of regional sewage discharge within the water environmental capacity.
The construction of ecological water safety and efficient utilization system in downstream water use area includes two points. One is to formulate ecological water security measures under certain standard conditions, including the discharge of a certain amount of water in the middle reaches and the realization and maintenance of ecological water in the lower reaches, such as the inter-provincial water transfer plan formulated by Heihe River Basin through the State Council; In addition, the efficient utilization of ecological water in the downstream area includes selecting suitable tree species and grass species, planning reasonable ecological landscape pattern and developing ecological economy on the basis of fully considering the site carrying capacity.
5 Suggestions on Safeguard Measures for Rational Development and Utilization of Water Resources in Northwest China
The rational development and utilization of water resources in northwest China must strengthen the construction of the following five safeguard measures.
5. 1 Establish new resources and ecological values
Northwest China is restricted by natural conditions, and the proportion of total social capital is very uncoordinated. At present, the strategy of western development centered on ecological construction is to greatly enhance the "short board" of regional natural capital on the basis of the service function and value of ecosystem, and at the same time realize the appreciation of human capital and economic capital, and finally realize the increase of regional social total wealth and sustainable economic and social development. Therefore, in the strategy of western development, we should establish new resource values and ecological values, fully understand the value significance of water resources, ecology and ecological environment water, reserve necessary ecological water in water resources allocation on the one hand, and coordinate the matching relationship between water resources price and value on the other.
5.2 Strengthen the rational allocation of water resources in river basins and regions.
The rational allocation of water resources in northwest China is divided into two levels. At the level of regional development, the overall balance of development indicators is carried out with water as the center. Regional development planning and productivity layout should take the safe supply and sustainable utilization of water resources as the basic premise. Give consideration to pest control and benefit, current and long-term, local and overall situation, and rationally allocate social and economic water and ecological environment water. In the aspect of water resources development and utilization, we should develop ecological forests and economic forests in combination with water supply, develop forage base and irrigated grassland, and increase the proportion of forest and animal husbandry. For fragile ecological areas that have been identified as protected areas, ecological rescue projects should be implemented and water resources should be provided through reconstruction and construction of water conservancy projects. In the Loess Plateau, in principle, water resources should be mainly used locally to give play to the multiple benefits of ecological construction such as soil and water conservation. On the basis of completing the coordination relationship between the above two levels, the rational allocation scheme of different levels based on the total control of river basin water resources is formulated from top to bottom and resolutely implemented.
5.3 Unified management of river basin water resources shall be implemented.
In order to realize the rational development and utilization of water resources in northwest China, it is urgent to strengthen the unified management of water resources based on river basins. For the inland areas of northwest China, the urgent task of unified management of river basin water resources is to set up a river basin management institution that can really perform management duties, complete the initial distribution of water resources use rights at all levels, establish a perfect measurement, monitoring and management system, and control the total amount of water use and sewage discharge for the water intake department. On this basis, unified planning, unified dispatching, unified issuance of water permits, unified collection of water resources fees, and unified management of water quantity and quality are implemented. For the northwest region of the Yellow River basin, one is to strengthen the management of water resources in the basin, and the other is to explore the establishment of upstream and downstream interest compensation mechanism.
5.4 Building a water-saving and pollution-proof society in an all-round way
Building a water-saving society is the fundamental way for the sustainable utilization of water resources in northwest China. The construction of water-saving society in northwest China should aim at improving the efficiency and benefit of water resources utilization, take water resources management as the main content, combine modern water rights and water price theory with regional practice, and actively cultivate and strengthen public awareness of water conservation, and establish a water resources management system combining total control with quota management and a reasonable water price formation mechanism to form a water-saving society operation mechanism with government regulation, market guidance and public participation. By adjusting industrial structure, regulating economic means, strengthening water demand management and popularizing new technologies and new processes, we will build a water-saving society including agriculture, industry, service industry and domestic water saving, continuously improve the carrying capacity of regional water resources and water environment, meet the water demand of economic and social development with optimal allocation of water resources, and ensure the sustainable development of economic and social development with sustainable utilization of water resources.
5.5 Accelerate the construction of key water conservancy projects
On the basis of unified planning and rational allocation of water resources in northwest China, we will speed up the research, planning and construction of major water transfer projects, intensify the development of international rivers, and earnestly do a good job in the preliminary planning and demonstration of improving the development and utilization of water resources in river basins and the construction of water transfer projects to other river basins. Build a number of mountain reservoirs in the inland river basin according to local conditions to increase runoff storage capacity and solve the problem of large-scale spring drought in irrigation areas; There is a serious shortage of water resources in the Yellow River basin, and the development of tributaries lags behind. While speeding up the construction of main controlled reservoirs in tributaries, we will strengthen the preliminary work of the west route of South-to-North Water Transfer Project and speed up the construction.