The disquisition for water resources development and utilization in middle-lower reaches of Balkhash basin on a basis of google earth

General information gathering channels is hard to get effective information required for research of international rivers; it is necessary and critical to explore new method of information collection in order to investigate hydrological water resources in the area which lacks data. In the mass information of Internet, emergence of the platform- Google Earth (GE) provides a “scene” mode of remote information retrieval for environmental resources, traffic planning and many other fields. This article probes into the application framework and assessment method used for water resources development and utilization in the area with lack of needful data based on the GE platform, and demonstrates the application research of the middle-lower reaches of Balkhash basin as an example. The results show that the GE platform can be used as an effective information gathering means for water resources development and utilization in area with lack of needful data. The proposed framework, application flow chart and assessment method have preferable maneuverability in this disquisition; the basic pattern of the investigation area that was formed in early 1990, is composed of the middle-lower reaches of Ili River as the main body, Junggar region and northern small rivers of Balkhash as the important water system area; with the drastic fluctuation in economic and social development in the investigation area, local water consumption has undergone the evolution pattern of “growth-peak-acute reduction-restorative growth”. Now it is estimated that the water consumption may have resumed to the level in the mid 1980's, namely about 6.5 billion m3.