Abstract: Taking typical inland river basins in arid region of Xinjiang, China as a research subject, the paper shows three major existing problems of development and utilization of water resources, which are water resources shortage with serious spacetime imbalance distribution & noticeable problem of water safety of trans-boundary rivers, overdevelopment of water resources & serious structure imbalance between artificial and natural oases & ecological environment deterioration, low efficient utilization of water resources & imbalance of water and salt & contradiction between supply and demand of water resources on systematical analysis of local geography, landform, hydro-meteorological information and characteristics for water cycle of river basins. It establishes three-scale (macro-, meso-, micro-scopic scale) multi-objective water cycle regulation theory and engineering technology system and provides scientific model and key technology of water cycle regulation for regions, basins and irrigation zones & high efficient utilization of water resources, leading by water problem and its requirement & simultaneous development of engineering measures and ecological protection and adopting systematic scientific basis theory and analysis method. Combing region landform and geographic characteristics with water resources condition, it builds up water cycle regulation structure, which is net type for north Xinjiang, ring type for south Xinjiang, and cluster type for east Xinjiang in order to strengthen regulation capacity of reasonable allocation of regional water resources. Aiming at characteristics of water cycle of basin, it proposes comprehensive regulation model of plain reservoirs replaced by reservoirs in mountainous area, Three-seven Regulation between inland and outland waterway, Five-five Control for ecological and economical water uses. Surrounding current construction of irrigation zones and its challenge, it sets up Four-in-one (water-saving irrigation & regulation of water and salt & groundwater use & ecological protection) comprehensive regulation technology system for high efficient water resources use, which is the development direction of sustainable oasis agriculture in arid region.

Key words: arid region, water resources, regulation theory, key technology, engineering measures