Assessment of Shallow Groundwater Recharge from Extreme Rainfalls in the Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China

Yuyu Liu,Peng Qi,Xin Jiang,Y Xu,Guangxin Zhang,Xihua Wang

doi:10.3390/w8100440

Abstract

Groundwater recharge from rainstorms can be vital for regional water resources. With the expansion of the need for more water in some specific regions under global climate change, groundwater is being pumped at a far greater rate than it can be naturally replenished. Considering that excess rainstorms could be utilized for groundwater recharge to lessen the declining tendency of regional groundwater level in the Sanjiang Plain, Northeast China, we analyzed groundwater changes in the quantity of a regional shallow aquifer in the region following extreme rainfall in 2013. The results show that shallow groundwater table in the north and central Sanjiang Plain increased following the 2013 extreme rainfall. Most of the annual maximal change of groundwater depth (MCGD) was in the range of 1 m to 3 m, occupying 72.1% of the study area. The average MCGD was 1.73 m in 2013, about 0.4 m higher than the mean value during the last five years (1.33 m). Spatially, the overall average groundwater depth showed an increasing trend from the southeast to the midwest and northeast. We estimated a total recharge of approximately 41.14 × 108 m3 from the 2013 extreme rainfall across the north and central Sanjiang Plain. This large quantity of recharge demonstrates the important role that large rainstorms can play in regional shallow groundwater resources.

Highlights

IntroductionGroundwater from shallow aquifers is a life-sustaining resource that is integral to sustaining regional agriculture, economic development, and ecological integrity in many parts of the world [1,2,3]
Groundwater from shallow aquifers is a life-sustaining resource that is integral to sustaining regional agriculture, economic development, and ecological integrity in many parts of the world [1,2,3].groundwater is often being pumped at far greater rates than it can be naturally replenished, which poses a far greater threat to global water security than is currently acknowledged [4]
In view of the shrinking groundwater resources, it is important to develop effective techniques and methods to study the trend of groundwater storage and its recharge-discharge relationship, which can support the mitigating measures of over-pumping shallow groundwater to ensure the sustainable utilization of groundwater resources

Summary

Introduction

Groundwater from shallow aquifers is a life-sustaining resource that is integral to sustaining regional agriculture, economic development, and ecological integrity in many parts of the world [1,2,3]. Groundwater is often being pumped at far greater rates than it can be naturally replenished, which poses a far greater threat to global water security than is currently acknowledged [4]. With the increased demand of water resources due to intensive agriculture and urban development, groundwater in many regions of the world faces a crisis of exhaustion. Recent studies have exposed excessive rates of groundwater depletion. The excessive use of groundwater resources can have serious consequences, such as land subsidence, uplifting and seismic activities, vegetation degradation, ecological environment deterioration, livelihoods for rural poor and food security implications [8,9]. In view of the shrinking groundwater resources, it is important to develop effective techniques and methods to study the trend of groundwater storage (increase/decrease) and its recharge-discharge relationship, which can support the mitigating measures of over-pumping shallow groundwater to ensure the sustainable utilization of groundwater resources

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion