Impact of the dynamic relation between lakes and rivers on water resource security in Jianghan Plain region of Hubei province

Abstract

Water resource security is a globally environmental problem. This study examines three stages through which the rivers and lakes in Jianghan Plain has gone. 1) Before Holocene, merely affected by climate and Geologic structures, the lake water and river water exchanged freely. 2) In early and middle Holocene, water exchange between the lakes and rivers remained unrestrained, but the minor impact from human activities on their exchange had emerged. 3) Since late Holocene the water exchange between the lakes and rivers has been controlled predominantly by human activities and less by nature factors. Therefore, the water circulation system in the Jianghan Plain has changed, which partly aggravated the increasing of water disasters, reduced the self-purification capacity of water bodies, damaged the development of aquatic ecosystems, and endangered the water security in the Jianghan lake area of Hubei province.