Dualistic hydrological cycle based water management policy screening: The case of Taihu lake basin

Abstract

Lake management innovation becomes urgent since the traditional approaches are usually narrowly-focused, fragmented or insufficient in the Taihu lake basin. In this paper, characteristics of dualistic natural-artifical hydrological cycle structure are analyzed for the basin in a systematic way. Five major management clusters flowing the dualistic hydrological cycle process are identified including source reduction, end-point pollution treatment, drinking water protection, lake restoration and management capacity building. A water policy screening model is developed by the aid of social research technique for parameter estimation for the basin. Results show that source reduction and management capacity building have highest priorities among the five clusters to tackle water problems in Taihu lake basin. The most important policy measures to be strengthened are also found, including establishment of watershed based major pollutants amounts total control and assignment, improvement of PS discharge control standard and adoption of NPS cleaner production technology.