Sustainable Water Management Solutions for Large Cities (Proceedings of symposium S2 held during the Seventh IAHS Scientific Assembly at Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, April 2005). IAHS Publ. 293, 2005, 118-124

1 Key Laboratory of Water Resources Development, Ministry of Education, College of Water Resources and Environment, Hohai University, Naijing 210098, China

2 Arizona Remote Sensing Center, Office of Arid Lands Studies, University of Arizona,
1955 E. 6th Street, Tucson, Arizona 85719, USA

3 Key Laboratory of Water Cycle & Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

4 Department of Applied Mathematics, Hohai University, Naijing 210098, China

Abstract In order to solve essential eco-environmental problems (EEP) related to water in the Haihe River basins, and to encourage continued socio-economic development, the study of the carrying capacity of eco-environments related to water (WEECC) in the Haihe River basins enables determination of: the present ecological state of the river basins, and how many years are needed for the Haihe River basins eco-environment to reach a critical, bearable state under the sustainable development. The paper first deals with the main EEP related to water, then calculates the WEECC by multi-objectives optimization and time series analysis. We find that the river basins are now in a serious over-loaded eco-environment state but will reach a critical eco-environmental bearable state in 2033 under the water supply of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project, with gradual amelioration of the eco-environments and normal societal and economic development.

Key words carrying capacity; eco-environments related to water; Haihe River basins, China; multi-objectives optimization; time series analysis