The Impact of Land Use Change on Flood Disaster in the Honghu Lake Watershed

The Honghu Lake watershed is a district with abundant fish and rice. The area has suffered long-term flood damage and the most serious schistosomiasis epidemic in China. It is necessary to determine the cause of flooding in this area. Based on meteorology and land use data of two locations with a similar history of heavy rainfall, a "torrential rain flood submergence"model was used to simulate, compare and analyze scenarios. The results showed that the water area ratio in the Honghu Lake watershed increased from 11.70% (in 1995) to 14.95% (in 2010), which is mostly aquaculture area. It also showed that it was aquaculture which lead to a decline in bearing capacity for flooding, which was amplified by an increase in fish pond areas. We conclude that protection of ecological environment in wetland should be carried out by implementation of policy of restoring the lake from the land.