On the basis of evaluation and calculation on soil water storage capacity in the typical watershed of Chuanhe river in the loess hill area of northwestern Shanxi Province,soil water storage ability in different vegetation and site conditions in the watershed was analysed.The result shows that soil water storage ability in the forestland(especially arbor in shady slope) and grassland is the best,the farmland,the middle,and the wasteland,the worst.Soil water storage ability is different with different site conditions.The analyses of the soil water storage capacity in the different typical precipitation year show that the water storage capacity in ample flow year increases by 9.2% in comparison with that of the normal year,and the drought year decreases by 27%.The water storage capacity after management is 1.5 times the water storage capacity before management in same precipitation year.