Abstract: Taken the Nanxiaohe watershed as a study case, the influence of engineering and biological measures for soil and water conservation and procedures for improving productivity level on the moisture environment was evaluated. During the past 50 years, the moisture environment of Nanxiaohe watershed was significantly changed. The total annual surface runoff decreased from 15.83mm before starting integrative controls to 3.66mm at present time, and would reduce to 2.86mm in the future 10 years. The plateau runoff increased, due to the increase of courtyard and road area and the improvement of building style, and the slope and gully runoff gradually decreased. Meanwhile, the increased productivity further reinforced the small cycle of water and weakened its big cycle, and changed the quantitative distribution of water balance elements in watershed.

Key words: Watershed, Integrative controls, Moisture effect, remote sensing, ecology, vegetation health index (VHI), principal component analysis, Hetian Basin