Water Resources in the Loess Plateau of China and their Availability

Yu Hanzhang and Zhang Renlin

Northwest University, P.R. China

The loess plateau in the Northwestern China is characterized by its dry climate, little precipitation, sparse vegetation, serious shortage of water and erosion of soil etc. Based on the physio-geographical conditions the authors have analysed several important factors such as deficiency in water resources, uneven distribution of rainfall data over time and space with a large variation, muddy rivers containing much silt, heavy contamination of some water sources and so forth by means of a strong support of the regional GIS. It has been also proposed to take the measures for the conservation of soil and water, the construction of aquifers storing water in soil, the control of inefficient evaporationfrom surface, developing and industrial and agricutural system economized on water, improving management and protection of water resources in order to exploit the limited water resources on the loess plateau area most sufficiently and reasonably.