Cost-effective Approaches for Sustainable Groundwater Management in Alluvial Aquifer Systems

The consequences of unsustainable use of groundwater are becoming increasingly evident worldwide, particularly in developing nations. Groundwater management is a serious problem in many parts of the world. The prime concern is how to achieve groundwater sustainability. Artificial recharge techniques coupled with water harvesting hold a great promise for groundwater sustainability. The main intent of this paper is to highlight salient cost-effective and easy-to-use methods for augmenting groundwater resources in the alluvial hydrogeologic setting. Based on the intensive field investigation in a groundwater basin of Japan, three low-cost and easy-to-implement recharge techniques are suggested for alluvial aquifer systems, viz., augmentation of river flow, recharge through irrigation/drainage canals, and recharge from paddy fields. The source of recharge water for these recharge techniques is surface water supply. The efficacy of these methods or approaches has been demonstrated. It is emphasized that such cost-effective methods of groundwater recharge are key to sustainable groundwater management in both developing and developed countries. These methods must not be overlooked in the midst of sophisticated and highly expensive methods.     

Groundwater and human development: challenges and opportunities in livelihoods and environment.

At less than 1000 km3/year, the world's annual use of groundwater is 1.5% of renewable water resource but contributes a lion's share of water-induced human welfare. Global groundwater use however has increased manifold in the past 50 years; and the human race has never had to manage groundwater use on such a large scale. Sustaining the massive welfare gains groundwater development has created without ruining the resource is a key water challenge facing the world today. In exploring this challenge, we have focused a good deal on conditions of resource occurrence but less so on resource use. I offer a typology of five groundwater demand systems as Groundwater Socio-ecologies (GwSE), each embodying a unique pattern of interactions between socio-economic and ecological variables, and each facing a distinct groundwater governance challenge. During the past century, a growing corpus of experiential knowledge has accumulated in the industrialized world on managing groundwater in various uses and contexts. A daunting global groundwater issue today is to apply this knowledge intelligently to by far the more formidable challenge that has arisen in developing regions of Asia and Africa, where groundwater irrigation has evolved into a colossal anarchy supporting billions of livelihoods but threatening the resource itself.     

Quantifying a Sustainable Management Space for Human Use of Coastal Groundwater under Multiple Change Pressures

In the densely populated coastal regions of the world, loss of groundwater due to seawater intrusion, driven by changes of climate, sea level, land use and water use, may critically impact many people. We analytically investigate and quantify the limits constraining a coastal aquifer’s sustainable management space, in order to avoid critical loss of the coastal groundwater resource by seawater intrusion. Limiting conditions occur when the intrusion toe reaches the pumping wells, well intrusion, or the marine-side groundwater divide, complete intrusion; in both cases the limits are functions of the seaward groundwater flow remaining after the human groundwater extractions. The study presents a screening-level approach to the quantification of the key natural and human-determined controls and sustainability limits for the human use of coastal groundwater. The physical and geometrical characteristics of the coastal aquifer along with the natural conditions for recharge and replenishment of the coastal groundwater are the key natural controls of the sustainable management space for the latter. The groundwater pumping rates and locations are the key human-determined controls of this space. The present approach to combining and accounting for both of these types of controls is simple, yet general. The approach is applicable across different scales and regions, and for historic, current and projected future conditions of changing hydro-climate, sea level, and human freshwater use. The use of this approach is also concretely demonstrated for the natural and human-determined controls and limits of the sustainable management space for two specific Mediterranean aquifers.     

世界地下水资源利用与管理现状

地下水资源在世界范围内都被作为重要水源，其开发管理受到广泛重视。长期以来，由于不适宜的开发方式，全球许多地区面临着由此而产生的环境和生态问题。从分析世界上局部地区地下水过量开采的严峻形势入手，回顾总结世界各国对地下水管理的特点及措施，其经验值得借鉴。     

Assessing Adaptability of Cyclic and Non-Cyclic Approach to Conjunctive use of Groundwater and Surface water for Sustainable Management Plans under Climate Change

Groundwater overdraft in many regions throughout the world has been threatening the sustainability of this valuable resource. It has been argued that climate change may contribute to the severity of the issue; hence “impact assessment” is being replaced by “adaptation,” which explores more adapting scenarios and approaches. This study explores the adaptability of the proposed cyclic and non-cyclic conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water resources in increasing groundwater sustainability while increasing the sustainability of water allocation to the agricultural sector under possible climate change scenarios. To simulate climate change in the study area, precipitation and temperature variables are extracted from the results of three global atmospheric circulation models (Ensemble, CMCC-CMS, MRI-CGCM3) under RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 greenhouse gas emission scenarios in the period of 2021–2031. Spatial downscaling is performed using the M5 decision tree algorithm. The Wavelet-M5 hybrid model is used to predict runoff values as a rainfall-runoff model. Also, the Kharrufa method is applied to calculate evaporation in the future seasons. The system's adaptability to climate change is examined using the multi-objective cyclic and non-cyclic conjunctive use of surface and groundwater models. The study reveals that cyclic operation strategy improves the conjunctive use system adaptability compared to the optimal operation strategy that employs the non-cyclic approach. In this study's case study, the improvement in groundwater sustainability index exceeds 27 percent over the non-cyclic conjunctive use strategy.

     

Groundwater legislation in Turkey: problems of conception and application

The uneven distribution of water resources, a growing population, urbanization and global climate change require new approaches for groundwater management in Turkey. “Safe yield” should yield to broader concepts such as “sustainability”. Groundwater management needs to consider future needs of the people and all ecosystems in accordance with basin development models. Groundwater law needs to be expanded beyond quantity to address quality concerns. A new institutional framework should be established and groundwater regulation should reflect new approaches and ideas, in particular to address problems of application.     

Distributed Simulation‐optimization Model for Conjunctive Use of Groundwater and Surface Water Under Environmental and Sustainability Restrictions

Evolving optimal management strategies are essential for the sustainable development of water resources. A coupled simulation-optimization model that links the simulation and optimization models internally through a response matrix approach is developed for the conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water in meeting irrigation water demand and municipal water supply, while ensuring groundwater sustainability and maintaining environmental flow in river. It incorporates the stream-aquifer interactions, and the aquifer response matrix is generated from a numerical groundwater model. The optimization model is solved by using MATLAB. The developed model has been applied to the Hormat-Golina valley alluvial stream-aquifer system, Ethiopia, and the optimal pumping schedules were obtained for the existing 43 wells under two different scenarios representing with and without restrictions on stream flow depletion, and satisfying the physical, operational and managerial constraints arising due to hydrological configuration, sustainability and ecological services. The study reveals that the total annual optimal pumping is reduced by 19.75?% due to restrictions on stream flow depletion. It is observed that the groundwater pumping from the aquifer has a significant effect on the stream flow depletion and the optimal conjunctive water use plays a great role in preventing groundwater depletion caused by the extensive pumping for various purposes. The groundwater contribution in optimal conjunctive water use is very high having a value of 92?% because of limited capacity of canal. The findings would be useful to the planners and decision makers for ensuring long-term water sustainability.

     

The Yellow River Basin: Water Accounting,Water Accounts,and Current Issues

Abstract

There is increasing recognition of the problems facing China in meeting the growing water demand in the Yellow River basin, the “cradle of Chinese Civilization” and a critically important agricultural and industrial region. Meaningful debate on the range and relative costs of options available to policy-makers in addressing the problem depend fundamentally on an accurate understanding of basin water resources. Unfortunately, the ability of outsiders to participate in the de bate and for Chinese, with their long history of water management, to contribute to similar discussions elsewhere in the world is hindered to some extent by a lack of understanding of differences in water accounting systems and concepts. This paper attempts to address this problem by describing the water accounting system used in the Yellow River basin and elsewhere in China. The paper shows that the primary difference between water accounting methodologies in the Yellow River and those typically applied elsewhere is related to supply accounting in general and groundwater accounting in particular. Although not currently included in its water accounting system, Chinese concepts of environmental water use, when included, will also differ substantially from those familiar to outside researchers. In terms of actual Yellow River balances, the paper highlights the apparent declining trend in basin rainfall and runoff and the dramatic growth in industrial and domestic water use. Together declining supply and rising demand will increasingly cause policy-makers to face hard choices in assessing their water planning options. These choices will only become more difficult as managers in the Yellow River, as elsewhere in the world, try to incorporate ecological needs in the water accounting equation.     

资源环境约束下的后套平原地下水可持续性综合评价

后套平原地下水资源分布不均,人口和经济集中于城镇,地表水漫灌导致了土壤盐渍化,对地区社会经济可持续发展造成了严重影响。因此,评价地下水可持续性已经成为该地区发展规划首先要解决的问题。地下水可持续性可以直观有效地反映一个地区地下水利用程度,对地下水资源管理具有重要参考价值。以后套平原地区地下水开采面临的问题为出发点来选择评价指标,利用综合评价方法计算了评价单元上的地下水可持续性水平。结果显示,黄河南岸和东北部地区可持续性最差,中部北部地区可持续较好,地下水资源的开发潜力较大的行政区位于杭锦后旗和五原县北部,而磴口县和乌拉特前旗大部分地区地下水可持续性差,荒漠化严重,不宜再继续发展耗水产业。     

华北平原地下水资源承载力评价

华北平原地下水严重超采,并带来一系列资源环境问题,地下水资源承载力的可持续性面临严重挑战。本研究定义了地下水资源承载力的概念,提出了一种定量评价地下水承载力的新方法,并对华北平原地下水承载力进行了评价。结果表明,华北平原地区地下水资源支撑的GDP从2003年的15 608.18亿元迅速提高到2011年的37 584.9亿元,33.3%的地市位于未超采未超载区;华北平原整体及57.2%的地市均位于超采未超载区,已发生地下水超采,但通过提高用水效率,未来社会经济规模仍有发展空间;9.5%的地市位于超采超载区。最后探讨地下水资源的承载力的提高途径,主要包括增加地下水资源可利用量和提高用水效率两方面,其中提高用水效率效果更显著。     

Landfill Risk Assessment on Groundwater Based on Vulnerability and Pollution Index

Many existing risk assessment methodologies heavily rely on complex physical models and probabilistic concepts, which are difficult to use and not suitable for a first-cut analysis. Meanwhile, most groundwater pollution risk assessment indices generally are solely based on groundwater vulnerability and ignore the consideration of the hazard of pollution source. In this paper, we developed a simple groundwater pollution risk index approach, which can be easily utilized in many developing countries. The approach is developed according to vulnerability of the aquifers and pollution source index, which is based on landfill treatment technology. Applications of this risk index approach to 22 formal landfill sites in Beijing show that 1, 2, 4, 10, 5 landfill sites can be classified as of high, medium high, medium, medium low, low risk level respectively. These results demonstrate that vulnerability assessment alone is not sufficient to groundwater pollution risk assessment. This simple risk assessment method is most suitable for a comparative assessment of a large number of pollution sources at a regional scale due to its lower cost and easy operability. It also allows prioritizes landfills for reclamation interventions and recommendation of required actions such that an efficient management of landfills could be accomplished.     

The Combined Use of Groundwater Quality,Drawdown Index and Land Use to Establish a Multi-Purpose Groundwater Utilization Plan

Groundwater is abundant and widely used for household consumption, irrigation, and aquaculture in the Lanyang Plain in northeastern Taiwan. However, it is subject to contamination by various anthropogenic activities and natural processes, as well as overexploitation, which has led to land subsidence in the eastern coastal area of this plain. It is becoming increasingly urgent to establish a sound plan for groundwater resource management in the Lanyang Plain to ensure the safe and sustainable use of groundwater to meet demands. The aim of this study is to develop a sound management plan for multipurpose groundwater utilization in the Lanyang Plain. This plan is developed with consideration of the quality and quantity of groundwater, as well as current land use practices. First, the groundwater quality parameters are spatially mapped followed by geographic determination of regions where groundwater quality is safe for different purposes, based on the water quality criteria for drinking, irrigation, and aquaculture. Subsequently, the drawdown index, defined as the ratio of the actual groundwater utilization rate to the transmissivity, is determined for each cell and low drawdown index regions are identified geographically. Information about regions where groundwater quality is safe for different purposes and the regions where the drawdown index is low is integrated to create a map which can be used for the production of a sound management plan for multi-purpose groundwater utilization in the Lanyang Plain. Comparisons between our newly created map and current land use for farmlands and fishponds can provide a basis to review the current land use practices in these regions.

     

Groundwater overdraft reduction through agricultural energy policy: insights from India and Mexico

Rapid expansion of groundwater irrigation has transformed the rural economy in regions around the world, leading to significant increases in agricultural productivity and rising incomes. Farmer investment in wells and pumps has driven this expansion on the demand side; however, the supply of cheap agricultural energy—usually electrical power—is a critical though often overlooked driver of the groundwater boom. One serious outcome in numerous regions around the world has been groundwater overdraft; where pumping exceeds aquifer recharge, water tables have declined and water quality has deteriorated. India and Mexico are two of the largest users of groundwater in the world and both face critical overdraft challenges. The two countries are compared, given that electrical energy supply and pricing are primary driving forces behind groundwater pumping for irrigation in India and Mexico alike. Both countries have attempted regulatory measures to reduce groundwater overdraft. However, with low energy costs and readily available connections, there are few financial disincentives for farmers to limit pumping. The linkages between energy and irrigation are reviewed, comparing and contrasting India and Mexico. Examples of legal, regulatory and participatory approaches to groundwater management are assessed. Finally, the implications of linking electrical power pricing and supply with ongoing groundwater regulation efforts in both countries are explored.     

Application of Neural Networks and Optimization Model in Conjunctive Use of Surface Water and Groundwater

This study develops an optimization model for the large-scale conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater resources. The aim is to maximize public and irrigation water supplies subject to groundwater-level drawdown constraints. Linear programming is used to create the optimization model, which is formulated as a linear constrained objective function. An artificial neural network is trained by a flow modeling program at specific observation wells, and the network is then incorporated into the optimization model. The proposed methodology is applied to the Chou-Shui alluvial fan system, located in central Taiwan. People living in this region rely on large quantities of pumped water for their public and irrigation demands. This considerable dependency on groundwater has resulted in severe land subsidence in many coastal regions of the alluvial fan. Consequently, an efficient means of implementing large-scale conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater is needed to prevent further overuse of groundwater. Two different optimization scenarios are considered. The results given by the proposed model show that water-usage can be balanced with a stable groundwater level. Our findings may assist officials and researchers in establishing plans to alleviate land subsidence problems.     

Nitrate in aquifers beneath agricultural systems.

Research from several regions of the world provides spatially anecdotal evidence to hypothesize which hydrologic and agricultural factors contribute to groundwater vulnerability to nitrate contamination. Analysis of nationally consistent measurements from the U.S. Geological Survey's NAWQA program confirms these hypotheses for a substantial range of agricultural systems. Shallow unconfined aquifers are most susceptible to nitrate contamination associated with agricultural systems. Alluvial and other unconsolidated aquifers are the most vulnerable and also shallow carbonate aquifers that provide a substantial but smaller contamination risk. Where any of these aquifers are overlain by permeable soils the risk of contamination is larger. Irrigated systems can compound this vulnerability by increasing leaching facilitated by additional recharge and additional nutrient applications. The system of corn, soybean, and hogs produced significantly larger concentrations of groundwater nitrate than all other agricultural systems because this system imports the largest amount of N-fertilizer per unit production area. Mean nitrate under dairy, poultry, horticulture, and cattle and grains systems were similar. If trends in the relation between increased fertilizer use and groundwater nitrate in the United States are repeated in other regions of the world, Asia may experience increasing problems because of recent increases in fertilizer use. Groundwater monitoring in Western and Eastern Europe as well as Russia over the next decade may provide data to determine if the trend in increased nitrate contamination can be reversed. If the concentrated livestock trend in the United States is global, it may be accompanied by increasing nitrogen contamination in groundwater. Concentrated livestock provide both point sources in the confinement area and intense non-point sources as fields close to facilities are used for manure disposal. Regions where irrigated cropland is expanding, such as in Asia, may experience the greatest impact of this practice on groundwater nitrate.     

A Framework for Short-term Operational Planning for Water Grids

Water grids are emerging as a response to water scarcity in many urban areas. These grids are comprised not only of traditional surface and groundwater supplies, but also alternative, climate-independent water sources such as desalination and wastewater recycling, as well as one and two-way pipelines connecting surface-water supplies in different regions. The complexity and heterogeneity of these water supply networks brings new challenges to water management. Water managers need to determine strategies to operate the system in terms of multiple objectives, subject to uncertainty and boundary conditions relating to climate, demand and infrastructure. This paper outlines a framework of methodologies for developing optimal operating plans for short-term planning for water grids, in terms of the objectives of interest.     

Accounting for Climate Change and Drought in Implementing Sustainable Groundwater Management

Groundwater provides close to 40% of California’s overall water supply under average hydrologic conditions. It is a critical source of backup during drought when increased pumping occurs to compensate for reduced surface supplies and decreased soil moisture. The conundrum is that in regions of the state where groundwater dependence is already high and rates of recharge are low, over the long term the volume withdrawn, particularly during droughts, generally exceeds replenishment in many regions. The result is overdraft - ongoing declines in groundwater levels over the long-term. To facilitate the reduction or cessation of long-term groundwater overdraft, this paper proposes that sustainable groundwater management must include the development of a drought reserve. The reserve, ideally sourced, sited and used locally, would encompass sufficient water for use during a drought such that the increased withdrawals during a drought do not result in unrecoverable groundwater declines and concomitant negative impacts. The objective is to reduce vulnerability to the state’s periodic droughts, as opposed to mitigating seasonal variations in precipitation. This paper first summarizes the issues associated with developing drought reserves, and then examines in detail how two California groundwater management agencies approach establishing and implementing a drought reserve.     

A Hybrid Fuzzy-Based Multi-Objective PSO Algorithm for Conjunctive Water Use and Optimal Multi-Crop Pattern Planning

This paper focuses on extracting an optimal multi-crop pattern plan through multi-objective conjunctive surface-ground water use management. Minimizing shortages in meeting irrigation demands, maximizing groundwater resources sustainability and maximizing agricultural net benefits are the three main goals of the multi-objective optimization problem solved in this paper. A new robust fuzzy-based multi-objective PSO algorithm called f-MOPSO is adopted and modified to solve a three-objective real-world conjunctive use management problem presented in this paper after testing on standard test problems revealed f-MOPSO superiority as compared to the well-known multi-swarm vector evaluated PSO (VEPSO) algorithm. The f-MOPSO benefits from a well-organized Sugeno fuzzy inference system (SFIS) designed for handling multi-objective nature of the optimization problems. The unique performance of f-MOPSO is not only presenting the better final solutions, but also aggregating the capabilities for measurement of dominance and diversity of the solutions in one stage by one index named comprehensive dominance index, in contrast to a wide range of multi-objective algorithms that evaluate dominance and diversity in two separate stages resulting in excessive computational burden. The optimization model is carried out on a 10-year long-term simulation period, resulting in increasing irrigation efficiency i.e. decreasing water losses, decreasing water consumption per unit cultivated area and increasing water productivity compared to those similar criteria observed in actual operation in the study area. The wheat and rice crops were identified as the dominant crops, while the optimization model was the least interested to onion cultivation, assigning the least average cultivation area to this crop over the whole planning period.     

Optimization and Simulation Modelling for Managing the Problems of Water Resources

Waterlogging and secondary salinization have become a serious problem in the canal irrigated areas of arid and semi–arid regions worldwide. In this study, a unique and simple technique was evolved in which a linear programming (LP) optimization model was first developed that allocates available land and water resources in order to maximize net annual returns by mitigating the waterlogging problems. A finite–difference two–dimensional simulation model was then used to evaluate the long–term impacts of various water management strategies on the groundwater table with the optimal land and water use parameters which were obtained through the optimization model. The model was used to combat the waterlogging and salinity problem of an area located in Haryana State of India. The calibration, validation, sensitivity analysis, and error analysis of the model was performed before it was used to study the impact of various water management scenarios on the long-term groundwater level. Based on the model results a change in cropping pattern with reduced rice area is suggested. Groundwater withdrawal should be increased by 1–7 % in the various nodes. It is concluded from the analysis of various scenarios that implementing multiple approaches simultaneously are more effective in controlling waterlogging problems as compared to individual interventions.     

Sustainable Development and Management of Water Resources for Urban Water Supply in Hong Kong

Abstract

Hong Kong, now a Special Administrative Region of China, is a very special and unique place in the world. Although the territory is located in the humid subtropics, local water resources are very limited because of its geographical setting and physical environment. Hong Kong's urban water supply has its uniqueness and has gone through a history of developing local resources and transferring water from the East River (Dongjiang) basin in mainland China over the past half century. This paper aims to present the experience and challenges in developing water supplies and managing water resources in Hong Kong. First, the availability of local water resources is evaluated in the context of the territory's geographical setting. Second, the approaches adopted for developing urban water supply from local resources and more importantly, by making use of water imported from the Dongjiang, are presented and reviewed. Finally, a number of sustainability issues in Hong Kong's urban water supply are addressed with an emphasis on the problems and prospect of the Dongjiang water resources in the future