ZHANG Hai-tao, GAN Hong, WANG Lin, YOU Jin-jun

Department of Water Resources, IWHR, Beijing 100038, China

Abstract: Water resources carrying capacity could help researchers to understand the maximum population size which water resources could support at a certain level of economy and technology and the living and production condition, under the premise of protecting ecological environment in a certain area. And it is al so very important for the development of local economy and society and the improvement of people’s living standard. Three basic problems of water resources carrying capacity include the concept, calculation methods and the application. This paper discussed and analyzed three basic problems based on research progress of water resources carrying capacity in recent 20 years. The concept of water resources carrying capacity was commonly recognized. Calculation precision and practicability of water resources carrying capacity were improved gradually, research areas have been expanded. Although water resources planning, water resources allocation and water resources management are closely related to water resources carrying capacity, the degree of application research is not enough compared with the first two basic problems. So emphasis should be put on the application research of water resources carrying capacity.

Key words: carrying capacity; water resources; water resource allocation; water licensing system

Published in: Journal of China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (Vol. 11 No. 4, 2013)