Ten Questions on Adjustable Water Volume of the Western Route of South-to-North Water Diversion Project

The Western Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project is the final link to be constructed for the four-horizontal three-vertical framework of China’s national water network. The adjustable water volume in the water source areas is a focal and challenging issue in the planning and demonstration of the Western Route. This study raised ten questions related to the adjustable water volume in the water source areas of the Western Route from the aspects of water resource background conditions and evolution trends, ecological and socio-economic water demands, scales of reservoirs and water conveyance projects, as well as impacts of water diversion on water resource development and utilization, aquatic ecological environment, hydropower, and navigation in the water source areas and their lower reaches. Based on a distributed hydrological model of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, a simulation and analysis model for calculating the adjustable water volume in water source areas of the Western Route is e