The causes and alleviating countermeasures of the problems of wa ter resources utilization in areas along Yellow River in Inner Mongolia

Due to the changing regime of the main stream runoff of the Yellow River and the in creasingly deteriorated ecological environment,the contradictions among water resources,eco-logical environment and economic development get quite acute in the areas along the Yellow River in Inner Mongolia,which are the main irrigated areas along the upstream s of the Yellow River and the greatest water consumed areas besides the others.This paper emphatically discuss-es the main causes that result in the problems of water utilization in the areas.The conclusions are that the main natural cause of the problems is the great reduction of the passing water of the Yellow River,and the anthropogenic factors are summed up into the following aspects:the irra-tional water use,se rious pollution of water environment,low efficiency of local economy,and single urban function.The authors propose two groups of countermeasures to alleviate the con-tradictions among water resources,ecological environment and economic development.One be-longs to short-term measures,such as the change of irrigative model,adjustment of water price,and the treatment of water environment al pollution.The other is the long-term strategies,includ-ing the constitutional innovation,the key technological breakthrough,the effect of urban driving,and the environmen tal construction.