Ground Reservoir: A New Pattern of Groundwater Utilization in Arid North-west China -A Case Study in Tailan River Basin

Abstract

It was used to build high dam as an engineering technical plan for solving the problem of water storage and regulation in the arid inland river system. In this paper, based on the analysis on the experiences in construction of underground reservoirs at home and abroad, the characteristics of geomorphic unit storage structures in arid inland river basins, the geological geomorphic structural condition suitable for construction of underground reservoir were analyzed, the difficult points and solving options for construction and utilization of underground reservoir were discussed as well. In the light of the characteristics of the traditional Karez Canal systems in Xinjiang, the concept of underground reservoir construction which is composed of the Karez wells across a river has been proposed, the research progress and key technical points in the feasibility model test of the case study in Tailan River Basin were discussed in the third part, and it showed that the underground reservoir with Karez wells across a river had better useful prospects in arid inland river basins. Finally, the paper tried to propose a new pattern of unified regulation of surface and ground water which takes the underground reservoir storage regulation as the main measure for water resources development & utilization in river basin, and the new pattern may be a beneficial trial for effective utilization and rational allocation of water resources in arid inland river basin. The underground reservoir and its integrated regulation with surface water would has better applying prospects in central Asia region, and is worthy making further research.