TY - JOUR
T1 - Water loss by evaporation from China's South-North Water Transfer Project
AU - Ma, Yu Jun
AU - Li, Xiao Yan
AU - Wilson, Maxwell
AU - Wu, Xiu Chen
AU - Smith, Andrew
AU - Wu, Jianguo
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable and constructive comments, and Yuyang Bao and Nanhuanuowa Zhu for their assistance in performing experiments. This work was supported by National Geographic Air and Water Conservation Fund ( GEFC08-12 ) and the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC 41301013 and 91425301 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2016/10/1
Y1 - 2016/10/1
N2 - China's South-North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP) is the longest and largest water transfer project in world history. However, the evaporative loss from SNWTP is still unclear. Here we estimated the water loss by evaporation from the open canal and reservoir of the Middle Route of SNWTP (MR-SNWTP), based on field experiments and three mathematical models (Penman equation, Penman-Monteith equation, and Priestley-Taylor equation). Results showed that the Penman equation was the most reliable model, thus it was used to evaluate the evaporative loss from MR-SNWTP. Under the original planned scenario, average annual evaporative loss from the open canal and accompanying reservoir of MR-SNWTP would be approximately 9.00 × 108 m3, of which 35.28% results directly from the construction of MR-SNWTP (3.34% of the planned total aqueduct diversion). However, during the first implement year of MR-SNWTP in 2015, the actual total water loss by evaporation was 6.43 × 108 m3, and the increased evaporative loss was 2.27 × 108 m3 due to the construction of MR-SNWTP, accounting for 8.57% of the actual total aqueduct diversion. This implies that the efficiency of MR-SNWTP from the perspective of water loss would be improved in the future with more water being transferred. Our results demonstrate that there is a general balance between water evaporation and vertical precipitation supplement of MR-SNWTP.
AB - China's South-North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP) is the longest and largest water transfer project in world history. However, the evaporative loss from SNWTP is still unclear. Here we estimated the water loss by evaporation from the open canal and reservoir of the Middle Route of SNWTP (MR-SNWTP), based on field experiments and three mathematical models (Penman equation, Penman-Monteith equation, and Priestley-Taylor equation). Results showed that the Penman equation was the most reliable model, thus it was used to evaluate the evaporative loss from MR-SNWTP. Under the original planned scenario, average annual evaporative loss from the open canal and accompanying reservoir of MR-SNWTP would be approximately 9.00 × 108 m3, of which 35.28% results directly from the construction of MR-SNWTP (3.34% of the planned total aqueduct diversion). However, during the first implement year of MR-SNWTP in 2015, the actual total water loss by evaporation was 6.43 × 108 m3, and the increased evaporative loss was 2.27 × 108 m3 due to the construction of MR-SNWTP, accounting for 8.57% of the actual total aqueduct diversion. This implies that the efficiency of MR-SNWTP from the perspective of water loss would be improved in the future with more water being transferred. Our results demonstrate that there is a general balance between water evaporation and vertical precipitation supplement of MR-SNWTP.
KW - China's South-North Water Transfer Project
KW - Evaporation
KW - Penman equation
KW - Penman-Monteith equation
KW - Priestley-Taylor equation
KW - Water loss
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2016.06.086
DO - 10.1016/j.ecoleng.2016.06.086
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84976872206
SN - 0925-8574
VL - 95
SP - 206
EP - 215
JO - Ecological Engineering
JF - Ecological Engineering
ER -