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Abstract: Long monthly streamflow series of three control hydrological stations of the Pearl River basin were analyzed by using the scanning t-test and the scanning F-test. Possible implications of the changing properties of streamflow variations for the water resource management of the Pearl River Delta are also discussed. The results indicated that: 1) more complicated changes were observed in terms of the second center moment when compared to the first original moment. More significant abrupt changes of the second center moment imply more sensitive response of streamflow stability to climate changes and human activities; 2) abrupt behaviors of the first (second) center moment of the streamflow variations tend to be more sensitive to climate changes and/or human activities in the larger river basin when compared to those in the smaller river basin. These phenomena are attributed to buffering functions of more storage space of longer river channel, and more complicated and longer runoff yield and concentration processes in the river basin of larger drainage area; 3) annual minimum streamflow of the Pearl River basin tends to be increasing. This will be helpful for better human mitigation of the salinity intrusion in dry seasons across the Pearl River Delta. Annual maximum streamflow, when compared to annual minimum streamflow, shows larger-magnitude variability reflected by larger standard deviation, implying unfavorable conditions for flood mitigation in the Pearl River Delta. The results of this paper are of scientific and practical merits for water resource management and sound human mitigation to water hazards across the Pearl River Delta, and also are a good case study for similar researches in other river deltas in the world under the changing environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Miyun Reservoir is the main raw water source for Beijing’s domestic water supply. Flow discharge to Miyun Reservoir decreased drastically over a 50-year period, from 1956 to 2005, and had seriously affected Beijing’s water supply. Climate variability and human activity had been identified as the two main reasons for the decrease in flow. Here, climate variability refers to changes in precipitation and temperature. Impact of human activity includes direct withdrawal of water (referred to as “direct abstraction” in this paper) from the river (primary) or groundwater and indirect impact due to man-made changes in land use and vegetation in the upstream of the reservoir. According to the historical record, “direct abstraction” from the upstream of the reservoir has increased significantly since 1984. The study period was split into two sub-periods, from 1956 to 1983 and from 1984 to 2005. Based on the historical record, annual runoff in the upstream catchment of Miyun Reservoir (i.e., inflow into the reservoir) had decreased from 90.3mm to 41.8mm for the two sub-periods, a decrease of 48.5mm. Over the same period, average annual “direct abstraction” increased from 2.2mm to 13.4mm, an increase of 11.2mm. The latter accounted for 23% (11.2mm/48.5mm) of the decrease in inflow into the reservoir. This study utilised: (1) a distributed hydrological model (geomorphology-based hydrological model, or GBHM) and (2) a climate elasticity model to conduct a quantitative assessment of the impact of climate variability and the indirect impact of human activity on the inflow into the reservoir. Simulation results of GBHM and the climate elasticity model showed that climate impact was accountable for about 55% and 51% of the decrease in reservoir inflow, respectively. The indirect impact of human activity (mainly man-made land use and vegetation changes) accounted for 18% of the decrease in reservoir inflow. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]