The assessment of the changes of biomass and riparian buffer width in the terminal reservoir under the impact of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in China

show that water arriving from the SNWD directly decrease the existing buffer width due to the rising water level, and riparian biomass shows a negative response to elevated water levels. Therefore, the transferred water will impair the ecological functions of that buffer and increase risk to the security of the water resource. The vegetation cover in extant riparian buffer zones should be restored if the buffers are to be effective as usual. This study provides information useful to assess riparian impact from artificial inter-basin water projects prior to implementation.