Estimation of reservoir evaporation losses for China

Abstract Reservoirs are important for water resources management, including water storage, flood control, and power generation. At the same time, reservoirs cause water losses through evaporation. As the largest developing country in the world, China has built a large number of reservoirs, and it is necessary to estimate China’s reservoir evaporation losses. This study estimated monthly reservoir evaporation losses for 916 large reservoirs in China from 1985 to 2018. Total evaporation losses significantly increased (p