An ArcHydro-feature based data model of water resources system of irrigation district in northwest China

Water resources system in irrigation district includes not only constructed infrastructure system but also natural environmental system. How to combine the two systems together is important for watershed and irrigation district management. ArcHydro model has provided a method for hydrology and water resources analysis but lost the ability to model infrastructure system of water resources engineering in irrigation district. The paper has analyzed the characteristics of ArcHydro model, and use ArcHydro feature to model the properties of irrigation infrastructure system, water resources engineering and natural environmental system. The three kinds of features in water resources engineering are given to illustrate the properties of irrigation infrastructure systems, including point feature of monitoring station, line feature of cannel and area feature of reservoir. The irrigation district network model of Shulehe River in Hexi corridor of northwest China is given to illustrate the model of irrigation facilities and water resource management.