Abstract: Tarim River basin is the largest inland river basin in China, located in south Xinjang of northwest China. It covers 1.05×106 km² and is shared by five prefectures. It has population of 8. 26×106 and cultivated land of 110.3×104 hm².It has become one of the most potential areas for development in implementing the Strategy of Developing China's West. However the eco-environment in the basin has been degraded with the population growth, economic and social development since 1950.Extensive Reclamation in the tributary areas requires a large volume of water diverted to the local irrigation areas, resulting in a continuous decrease of stream water length, even no discharge in an extremely watery year. The eco-environment degradation in the Tarim downstream known as "Green Corridor" has been expedited. It is evident that there is no any regulating mechanism to control the wasteful water consumption in the prefectures of the tributaries. The unified water management at basin scale should be established in so as tackle these issues. Water management has been stressed on by the governments at all levels since the beginning of 1970's. The establishment of Tarim River Basin Management Bureau and Commission in 1992 was the attempt to commence the unified water management in Tarim River basin. Accordingly "Interim Provisions for Water Administration and Water Resources Management of Tarim River Basin" was also issued in so as legally enforce the implementation of the unified water management. However, it was ineffectively implemented because of the irrational institutional arrangements and authorized powers and functions. The stream water flowing to Tarim mainstream was still in decrease and no water discharged to downstream.
The new Tarim Catchment Water Resources Commission was established according to the "Regulations on Tarim Catchment Water Resources Management of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region" issued by Xinjiang People's Congress in December 1997. The Commission includes a standing committee and a management bureau and receives all heads of different sectors and related prefectures as its members. The regulation stipulates a series of the significant matters, such as the management system, mechanism, institutional arrangements and their functions, and water allocation principle. It provides the basis for implementing the unified water management and eco-environment preservation. Because the new system is just operated, many issues are to be addressed. Therefore the paper proposes some suggestions and countermeasures in terms of necessary amendment of the regulation to complying with new water law and policy, building water market, establishment of water affair bureaus in prefectures and formation of rational mechanism for water charge calculation and collection, in order to effectively implement the unified water management and protect and restore the eco-environment in the whole Tarim River basin.

Key words: Tarim River basin, unified water resources management, countermeasures