Statistically examining the connection between dike development and human perceptions in the floodplains' socio-hydrology system of Vietnamese Mekong Delta

Seeking a pathway towards a more sustainable human-water relationship by coupled model - From a perspective of socio-hydrology

It is essential to systematically consider social, economic, and natural endowments in managing and allocating water resources. However, few studies have comprehensively quantitatively evaluated the allocation of regional water resources from a socio-hydrology perspective and provided recommendations. To explore this research gap, we have constructed a tightly coupled framework that integrates system dynamics models and optimization algorithms to carry out an innovative redistribution of water resources in Shaanxi Province. The system dynamics model simulation results showed that the error was almost always within 10% over the research period, indicating robust simulation capability and laying a solid foundation for subsequent model coupling. The coupled model achieves convergence in approximately 30 generations by formulating the optimization problem with four individual objectives. Optimizing four objectives concurrently results in convergence around the 150th generation. The optimized Pareto solution sets visually demonstrate the trade-offs between different objectives. In the optimized water allocation schedule, the water consumption in Yulin exhibits a change of 1.22 ×108m3, reflecting the most significant optimization effects on agricultural and domestic water allocation. The results indicated that the comprehensive Gini coefficient typically ranged between 0.2 and 0.3. Over the period from the year 2010-2021, the Gini coefficient exhibited a declining trend, signifying a positive trajectory in water resource allocation throughout the research period and a high level of fairness. The annual total green WF of grain in Weinan was the highest at 14.26 ×108m3, followed by Xianyang at 9.52 ×108m3, and the lowest in Tongchuan at 0.54 ×108m3. The annual average amount of blue WF of grain is the highest in Hanzhong, at 11.33 ×108m3, followed by Weinan at 9.60 ×108m3, and the lowest in Tongchuan at 0.14 ×108m3. The coupled framework proposed in this study exhibits significant innovation, scalability, and practical efficiency. It can inspire future research and decision-making and holds the potential for application in other regions.

A Socio-Hydrological Unit Division and Confluence Relationship Generation Method for Human–Water Systems

Studies on human activities and the natural water cycle as a coupled system are essential for effective water resource management in river basins. However, existing calculation methods based solely on the natural water cycle do not meet the accuracy requirements of natural society dualistic water cycle simulations. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a more scientific and reasonable calculation unit division method and river confluence relationship determination method. This paper presents a socio-hydrological unit with natural society dual characteristics based on both the hydrological characteristics and the social administrative characteristics of the river basin. According to the elevation of the river buffer zone, river confluence relationships among socio-hydrological units are determined, and upstream and downstream confluence of the human–water system is obtained. Finally, a case study of the Jing-Jin-Ji region in China, an area of intensive human activities, was performed. A reliability of 94.3% was reached using the proposed socio-hydrological unit division and river confluence calculation method, suggesting that the approach is highly applicable. Thus, the proposed method for generating socio-hydrological units and determining river confluence relationships can be applied to study the mutual influence and spatial distribution characteristics of natural society dualistic water cycles. The data requirement is minimal, and the approach can provide benefits in research on human water systems.