Equity Principles in Integrated Water Allocation in the Yellow River Basin Part 1 Philosophical Basis and Guidelines

摘要

It is widely recognized that the water management need to be improved in the Yellow River Basin (YRB)in China, where a lot of tension has built up among the 9 provinces and across the different water sectors as a result of severe water shortages in the basin. Current water allocation schemes can prevent zero flow in the downstream of the river, but can not sufficiently alleviate the water conflicts among the provinces as the gap between water demand and water supply is far too big. This paper (Paper 1 Philosophical basis and guideline and Paper 2 allocation algorithm and implementation) proposes and illustrates why and how applying equity principles can provide solutions to integrated water allocation in the Yellow River. Paper 1 argues that ethical approaches of Taosim should be re-established and combined with scientific and technical approaches in this particular basin water management to revitalize the effectiveness of integrated water allocation in the basin. Then the challenge is how to translate the equity principles into operational guidelines. The principle of (reasonable and) equitable use (Article 5 of the UN Convention) is only defined in general terms, and is thus prone to subjective interpretation. In this paper, closely following the definition as used in social psychological literature, the equity principle as used in the analysis for the YRB is better understood. Then the equity principles are reasonably translated into practical and operationalized criteria or allocation guidelines (with consideration of water reserved for environmental flows and high value use) to design equitable water allocation schemes. The corresponding allocation algorithm and implementation results in YRB water allocation are further addressed in Part 2 of the paper.