Environmental burdens of groundwater extraction for irrigation over an inland river basin in Northwest China

Nui, Jun and Zhu, Xin-Guang and Parry, Martin Afan John and Kang, Shaozhong and Du, Taisheng and Tong, Ling and Ding, Risheng (2019) Environmental burdens of groundwater extraction for irrigation over an inland river basin in Northwest China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 222. pp. 182-192. ISSN 0959-6526

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Abstract

Crop production is expected to increase by more than 50% to meet the demand of population growth in China in 2050 (FAO, 2017). Crop production in North China largely depends on irrigation, which is mainly from groundwater in Northwest China. Over-extraction of groundwater is decreasing groundwater levels, and threatening the fragile ecological systems of arid regions. How groundwater levels will change in order to meet the irrigation water requirement in Northwest China has not been extensively investigated to evaluate sustainability of agriculture and the cost to maintain groundwater levels. Here, we examine the dynamic relations between groundwater levels and the amount of irrigation water, by employing the Variable Infiltration Capacity model and an irrigation scheme, for the last three decades in Heihe River basin of China. The results show that on the average about 1.86 m decline of groundwater is attributable to the irrigation water consumption for the farmland area in Heihe River over the past three decades. In the scenario of ceasing irrigation activities, the groundwater level will be prevented to further decline about 3.06±0.4m under the future climate scenarios till 2050, but at the cost of crop production valued 64.2±8.4 billion CNY. Effective water-saving measures and strategies are expected to adopt to maintain both groundwater levels and agricultural productivity for the coming decades.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Journal of Cleaner Production
Additional Information:
This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Cleaner Production. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Cleaner Production, 222, 2019 DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.03.075
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300
Subjects:
?? irrigationevapotranspirationcrop productiongroundwater levelnorthwest chinaenvironmental science(all)strategy and managementindustrial and manufacturing engineeringrenewable energy, sustainability and the environment ??
ID Code:
131888
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
12 Mar 2019 16:40
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
19 Mar 2024 00:39