The Relationship among Human, Water and Land: Optimizing  Function of the Embankment in the Yangtze River

The embankment in the middle and1ower reaches of the Yangtze River, the major project of the f1ood contro1, has stopped frequent f1ooding disasters. However, the projectleads to new environment problems. In this study, the relationship among human, water andland is exp1ored, and the changes in hydro1ogica1 environment and geo1ogica1 process caused by con- struction of embankment in the middle-1ower reaches of the Yangtze River are discussed. We suggest the geo1ogica1 setting and hydro1ogica1 environment should be taken into fu11 account before construction of embankment. Dams in the upper Yangtze Riv- er Basin, particularly the Three Gorges Dam, have significantly changed the f1ood contro1 in the middle-1ower reaches. Thus, the function of embankment in the middle-1ower reaches of the Yangtze River should be properly changed and optimized. The major problems of water resources in the middle-1ower reaches used to be f1ood, drought, soi1 and po11ution erosion in order of priority. However, the drought and po11ution now gradua11y become the top priority. We suggest the embankment ought to function better in the eco1ogica1 environment protection and rationa1 utilization of water resources other than the f1ood contro1. Hydraulic engineering in the middle-1ower Yangtze sha11 focuses on such functions of the embankment as the drought contro1, drainage, thelake-river connectivity and eco1ogica1 protection of wetlands.