River Basin Environmental Flow Calculation

The over exploitation and intensive utilization of water resources have resulted in the water crisis in river basins. To protect river ecosystem, some base flow is very essential to be kept in order to maintain habitats system. To achieve such purpose, the river environmental water demand has to be determined. The eco-environmental water demand means the minimum water consumption used to maintain the river eco-environmental functions. Based on this concept, ecological water demand is divided into ecological base flow and eco-environmental water consumption including evaporation and infiltration. The ecological base flow is calculated with Montana method. Finally the river basin total ecological water demand is determined. It can be taken as a scientific tool for the water allocation and in the Zhangweinan River Basin.