FLOOD MANAGEMENT ON THE LOWER YELLOW-RIVER - HYDROLOGICAL AND GEOMORPHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

The Yellow River, known also as ''China's Sorrow'', has a long history of channel changes and disastrous floods in its lower reaches. Past c hannel positions can be identified from historical documentary records and geomorphological and sedimentological evidence. Since 1947, gover nment policy has been aimed at containing the floods within artificial levees and preventing the river from changing its course. Flood contr ol is based on flood-retarding dams and off-stream retention basins as well as artificial levees lining the channel. The design flood for th e system has a recurrence interval of only around 60 years and floods of this and larger magnitudes can be generated downstream of the main flood control dams at Sanmenxia and Xiaolangdi. Rapid sedimentation al ong the river causes problems for storage and has raised the bed of th e river some 10 m above the surrounding floodplain. The present manage ment strategy is probably not viable in the long term and to avoid a m ajor disaster a new management approach is required. The most viable o ption would appear to be to breach the levees at predetermined points coupled with advanced warning and evacuation of the population thus pu t at risk.