Utilization of Water Resources and Water Right Management in Yellow River

The Yellow River Basin is characterized with ‘different sources of water and sediment, less water and much sediment, mismatching of flow and sediment and uneven distribution of precipitation both in a year and in years’. With the development of economy and society, the contradiction between water supply and water requirement in Yellow River basin has become sharp increasingly and water resources conflicts among different water users occur frequently. Especially in 1990s, the problem of zero-flow in its lower reaches became seriously year after year. This paper introduced the basin water features, analysed the present situation of water utilization and water problems in the Yellow River basin. Then, as for as existing problems presently of water shortage and water pollution, the authors analysed the importance of developing water right management, studies the legal base and problems to implement water right management. At last, the basic thinking of water right management was proposed.