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Long-term groundwater dynamics affected by intense agricultural activities in oasis areas of arid inland river basins, Northwest China

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  • Liu, Minghuan
  • Jiang, Yao
  • Xu, Xu
  • Huang, Quanzhong
  • Huo, Zailin
  • Huang, Guanhua

Abstract

Oasis areas of arid inland river basins in northwest China have been facing intensified water use conflicts between agricultural sector and eco-environmental systems since 1990s. The reduction of river water allocation to oasis has resulted in the undesirable declines of groundwater levels (GWLs) with the increase in irrigated area and groundwater pumping. Improving water management and restoring GWLs become a great concern for those areas. In this study, the middle oasis of Heihe River basin (HRB) was selected as the representative case for such an endeavor. A three-dimensional groundwater flow model was established for the Zhangye basin, a sub-basin of HRB to obtain a better understanding of groundwater dynamics in middle oasis, particularly for investigating the effects of agricultural water use. A major advantage of this model is that the spatial and temporal recharge from irrigation has been described in details with considering the result obtained by an ago-hydrological model (SWAP-EPIC) simulation. The model was well calibrated and validated over the period of 1991–2010. Simulation of GWLs matched well with the observed 20-year GWLs in the 50 wells. Then, spatiotemporal groundwater dynamics and groundwater budget were quantitatively analyzed for the Zhangye basin during 1991–2010. In particular, the modeling results revealed three different changing trends of GWLs based on the analysis of groundwater dynamics and budget for four representative zones. Results indicated that negative balance of groundwater was mainly caused by over exploitation of groundwater for irrigation, resulting in a GWL decline of 9 cm a−1 in average and even 2 m decline in some years at local areas. The area with critical groundwater depth (e.g. <5 m) has reduced about 30% in 2010 as compared to that in 1991. Finally, recommendations on how to restore GWLs were proposed with emphasis on irrigation water and land use adjustment and groundwater pumping control. Our results are expected to provide implications for recovering the groundwater status in oasis areas of inland river basins in arid northwest China.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Minghuan & Jiang, Yao & Xu, Xu & Huang, Quanzhong & Huo, Zailin & Huang, Guanhua, 2018. "Long-term groundwater dynamics affected by intense agricultural activities in oasis areas of arid inland river basins, Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 37-52.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:203:y:2018:i:c:p:37-52
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2018.02.028
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    1. Christopher White & Trevor Tanton & David Rycroft, 2014. "The Impact of Climate Change on the Water Resources of the Amu Darya Basin in Central Asia," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(15), pages 5267-5281, December.
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    2. Yu, Haijiao & Wen, Xiaohu & Wu, Min & Sheng, Danrui & Wu, Jun & Zhao, Ying, 2022. "Data-based groundwater quality estimation and uncertainty analysis for irrigation agriculture," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    3. Ren, Hourui & Liu, Bin & Zhang, Zirui & Li, Fuxin & Pan, Ke & Zhou, Zhongli & Xu, Xiaoshuang, 2022. "A water-energy-food-carbon nexus optimization model for sustainable agricultural development in the Yellow River Basin under uncertainty," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    4. Shi, Xinrui & Batchelor, William D. & Liang, Hao & Li, Sien & Li, Baoguo & Hu, Kelin, 2020. "Determining optimal water and nitrogen management under different initial soil mineral nitrogen levels in northwest China based on a model approach," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    5. Li, Guifang & Shi, Minjun & Zhou, Dingyang, 2021. "How much will farmers be compensated for water reallocation from agricultural water to the local ecological sector on the edge of an oasis in the Heihe River Basin?," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 249(C).
    6. Zheng Lu & Yuan He & Shuyan Peng, 2023. "Assessing Integrated Hydrologic Model: From Benchmarking to Case Study in a Typical Arid and Semi-Arid Basin," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-23, March.
    7. Lingxiao Sun & Yang Yu & Yuting Gao & Jing He & Xiang Yu & Ireneusz Malik & Malgorzata Wistuba & Ruide Yu, 2021. "Remote Sensing Monitoring and Evaluation of the Temporal and Spatial Changes in the Eco-Environment of a Typical Arid Land of the Tarim Basin in Western China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-18, August.

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