Historical Sources of Flooding and Waterloging Calamities and Their Countermeasures in Taihu Lake Basin

The less efficient drainage system in Taihu lake basin was formed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, with its source traced back to the South Song Dynasty, and is one of the factors causing the extraordinary flooding and waterloging calamity in 1991. Therefore, countermeasures for Taihu lake basin should be base dupon the principle of "flood drainage being the major means, while accompanied by augmenting storage capacity".