Arid Zone Research ›› 2022, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (3): 841-852.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2022.03.17

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Temporal and spatial variation change of groundwater environment in the salinized irrigation districts under the background of water-saving reconstruction

CUI Jiaqi1(),LI Xianyue1(),SHI Haibin1,SUN Yanan1,MA Hongyu1,JIAN Wenhao2   

  1. 1. College of Water Conservancy and Civil Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, Inner Mongolia, China
    2. Hohhot Kezhaofeng Water Industry Survey and Design Co. Ltd., Hohhot 010020, Inner Mongolia, China
  • Received:2021-09-03 Revised:2021-12-14 Online:2022-05-15 Published:2022-05-30
  • Contact: Xianyue LI E-mail:897237672@qq.com;lixianyue80@126.com

Abstract:

Groundwater is an important resource in the arid region of Northwest China, and large-scale water-saving transformation projects are bound to cause changes in the groundwater environment. On the basis of the spatial-temporal probability distribution, the spatial-temporal variations of groundwater depth and salinity were explored in the Yongji irrigation area of the Hetao Irrigation District before the Agricultural Water-saving Transformation Project (AWSTP) (1998-2000), at the initial stage (2001-2006), the middle stage (2007-2012), and the late stage (2013-2018). The Kriging method was used to analyze the probability distribution of groundwater depth and salinity under different threshold conditions before and after the AWSTP. The results show that as the AWSTP advanced, both the buried depth of groundwater and groundwater salinity increased. In the late stage of the AWSTP (2013-2018), the average buried depth of groundwater increased by 0.36 m, and groundwater salinity increased by 1.37 g·L-1 compared with preproject measures (1998-2000). On a spatial scale, 33% of the high-probability area of shallow groundwater (i.e., groundwater depth less than 2.0 m; probability of occurrence above 0.5) transitioned to the high-probability area of deep groundwater (i.e., groundwater depth greater than or equal to 2.0 m). Shallow groundwater has been affected by urbanization (with a large amount of groundwater exploitation), and groundwater depth has increased significantly in the central, southern, and northern parts of the area. The high-probability areas of groundwater salinity less than 2.5 g·L-1 and greater than or equal to 3.0 g·L-1 have expanded by 17% and 4%, respectively. In other words, the south-central part of the study area tended to desalinate, whereas the northern and eastern edges tended to mineralize. The 21 year average deep groundwater (i.e., groundwater depth greater than or equal to 2.0 m) with high-probability areas accounted for 39% of the total area and is mainly concentrated in the south-central area. The high-probability areas with salinity less than 2.5 g·L-1 accounted for 67% on average, and the high-probability areas with salinity greater than or equal to 3.0 g·L-1 were concentrated in the northern region and accounted for 27% of the total area. The AWSTP has resulted in an increase in groundwater depth (i.e., effectively reduced the groundwater level). Although groundwater salinity is increasing, the mineralized areas are mostly concentrated near the drains. Further improvements to the drainage system are recommended.

Key words: Hetao Irrigation District, groundwater depth, groundwater salinity, spatio-temporal probability distribution, indicator Kriging