Study on Ecological Water Demand and Ecological Water Supplement in Wuliangsuhai Lake
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The whole manuscript must be corrected by a native English speaker. For example, the phrase ”The target of ecological water demand, water demand category and water demand calculation results of the Yellow River estuary in recent 20 years have been sorted out by Yu et al [3], and combined with the evolution characteristics of the Yellow River estuary, so that the focus and main direc- tion of ecological water demand research were proposed. ” (lines 39-42) is unclear and very hard to understand. Another example: ”For Wuliangsuhai Lake, in order to ensure a high ecosystem service function, it is necessary to make the already polluted water quality can be gradually improved to reach certain water quality standard.” (lines 155-157). These are just 2 examples, but the whole article must be corrected.
The introduction: Please include also a review of the state-of-the-art international literature in this field. Please stress the novelty of this study.
The chapter: ”2. Overview of the Study Area”: Please insert a map with the lake, the lake drainage basin and their location in China. Also point the location of Urad Front Banner meteorological station. The map would help the non-Chinese readers.
Table 1: Please state the source of the data. Moreover, a new column would help, including the threshold values for COD and ammonia in China. ”COD” must be explained in the table caption or at the bottom.
Please insert a new chapter before Conclusions: Please describe the risks associated with the water works detailed in the paper. Please describe the impacts of the works carried out in the region between 2015 and 2020. And please describe the subsequent monitoring process (if any).
The references: please add titles to the reference list, also from international literature. As I stated before, since Water is an international journal, reviewing international literature is extremely important. From the 12 entries, only one is from outside China.
Additionally please find some specific comments:
line 11, line 88: what does ”ecological barrier” mean?
line 12: ”nutrient loads” instead of ” the content of nutrients”
line 17: ”water” instead of ” Water”
line 19: ”in four ways” instead of ”by four ways”
line 19: ”agricultural” instead of ” Agricultural”
line 22: ” which is located in a serious water shortage area” instead of ” which is located in a serious water shortage”
lines 18-20: fragment unclear: The requirements of ecological water demand in Wuliangsuhai Lake are solved by four ways: Agricultural wastewater in irrigation area, strengthening water saving in the main canal, carrying out water-saving system reform and transporting ecological water use for washing salt to Wuliangsuhai Lake during irrigation gap period
line 30: probably ”and mountains are silver” instead of ” and silver mountains” – the meaning is unclear
line 33: ” Wang et al [1], who compared” instead of ” Wang et al [1], compared”
line 46: Please cite international literature outside China, as well. Since MDPI Water Journal is an international one, with world-wide coverage, the anchoring in international literature is very important.
line 47: ”habitat environment”: the term is unclear: what does it mean?
line 53: what does ” rich nutrition” means? Eutrophication? Please cite the work analyzing the case.
line 64: Please cite international literature too!
line 78: Please explain ”furiotile lake”
lines 83 and 93: Why do citations 10 and 12 refer to Lake Ulansuhai? Is it the same lake? Is it located in the same drainage basin?
lines 95-97: ”The lake bottom is raised at a rate of 6 ~ 9mm per year. If the rescue and treatment are not accelerated, Wuliangsuhai Lake will disappear in 10 to 20 years, and posing a new threat to the ecological security of the north” : please cite the work behind these numbers.
line 107: Probably, ”ecological water supply is obviously insufficient”, instead of ”ecological water demand is obviously insufficient”
line 113-121: Please cite the source of the data
line 113: Please use ”Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)” the first time you introduce the term, and use the abbreviated form COD subsequently.
line 145: ” by using the series values of Urad Front Banner” : redundant information
line 151: what is ”d”?
line 171-173: I believe details about water quality classes in China are required: how many classes are they? Only COD and ammonia are considered? How about other physico-chemical parameters or biotic communities?
line 177-178: ” After the Yellow River water is directly diverted, the mixed concentration of pollutants with Lake Ulansuhai is .. .” please clarify: Lake Ulansuhai waters will be also diverted into lake Wuliangsuhai? Are they the same lake? As I said, a map would help.
lines 265-278: Please revise: the text only describes the numbers included in Table 3. Please comment on these values: are they realistic? Was it done before? Compare with literature.
line 282-284: ” To rescue Wuliangsuhai Lake, we must take the lead in scientific planning of water resources and ensure its requirements of ecological water demand.” : Please rephrase
line 12: ” the aboveground paragraph” : please clarify
line 314: what does ”salt washing” mean? Please explain
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The topic of the article is extremely relevant, since the quality of water resources is declining around the world and it is often water resources that limit the economic development of regions. In addition, due to global climate change and the increasing human impact, an even greater deterioration in the quality of water resources is predicted. The relevance of the study is well substantiated in the article. The goals and objectives are also clearly formulated. The current state of the problem is described briefly, but succinctly. In my opinion, the introduction lacks information about the history of the formation of water resources research in China. And it is also desirable to add a small overview of water resources research in other countries, in which you can also focus on priority areas and research methods used. This is necessary to determine the place of the research conducted by the authors in world science.
The research area is described well.
The research methodology should be separated into a separate section and all stages of the work should be described in detail.
The research results also need to be separated into a separate section with subsections. Now it is perceived very hard. It was difficult for me to understand what the work done is and what its result is. The research results are presented in 4 tables. This is quite informative.
The discussion should be separated into a separate section. The reader may be misled in this paper, which of the information provided is the author's result, and which is a discussion.
Conclusions follow from the content of the paper. However, it is difficult to understand the scientific novelty of research. It needs to be clearly stated. The authors should also formulate more clearly the practical and theoretical significance of the study.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors addressed all issues raised in the first version of the manuscript.
However, I have these two comments remaining:
1) Figure 1 adds value to the presentation. As a non-Chinese reader though, I still have trouble placing the lake system on the larger China map. So, my suggestion would be to add a smaller map on/near the figure, showing China and the study area (as a point or arrow).
2) For Points 22 and 24:
”Point 22: lines 95-97: “The lake bottom is raised at a rate of 6 ~ 9mm per year. If the rescue and treatment are not accelerated, Wuliangsuhai Lake will disappear in 10 to 20 years, and posing a new threat to the ecological security of the north”: please cite the work behind these numbers.
Response 22: These data are from the statistical data of local departments, which are true and reliable.
Point 24: lines 113-121: Please cite the source of the data
Response 24: These data are also statistical data from local departments.”
I agree with the authors, however if the data is not produced by their current institution, I think a citation of the source is needed, in the form of: ”Ministry of...” or ”Department of...” (inserted in the text, not in the ”References” section.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors responded to all my comments and significantly improved the paper. Nevertheless, the results and discussion need further improvement. This section is the main one, but it is written very briefly and takes up less than 1 page of the manuscript. In addition, there is no discussion of the results and comparison with the results of other studies. The authors in this section did not provide any references. Therefore, the paper still needs to be finalized.
Author Response
Please see the attachment.
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 3
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors responded to all my comments and significantly improved the paper.
