Abstract
At the basin scale, the operation of surface water reservoirs rarely takes groundwater aquifers into consideration, which can also be regarded as reservoirs underground. This study investigates the impact of reservoir operation on the water cycle and evaluates the effect of the joint operation of surface water and groundwater reservoirs on the water conflict in arid regions through an integrated modeling approach. The Heihe River Basin (HRB) in northwestern China is selected as the study area. Our results show that the ecological operational strategies of a reservoir under construction in the upper HRB have a direct impact on the agricultural water uses and consequently affect other hydrological processes. The ecological operation strategy with a smaller water release and a longer duration is beneficial to securing the environmental flow towards the downstream area and to replenishing aquifers. With the joint operation of surface water and groundwater reservoirs, a balance among the agriculture water need, the groundwater sustainability in the Middle HRB and the ecological water need in the Lower HRB can be flexibly achieved. However, the joint operation can hardly improve the three aspects simultaneously. To resolve the water conflict in HRB, additional engineering and/or policy measures are desired.
Highlights
Irrigation plays an indispensable role in agricultural water supply when rainfall is not sufficient to sustain crop growth
Our results suggest that the groundwater storage in the lower Heihe River Basin (HRB) is recovered due to increased stream leakage in the ZYX-East Juyan Lake (EJL)
This study investigates the hydrological impacts of joint operation of surface water and groundwater reservoirs in Heihe River Basin (HRB), using an integrated surface water-groundwater modeling coupled with a reservoir operation simulation model
Summary
Irrigation plays an indispensable role in agricultural water supply when rainfall is not sufficient to sustain crop growth. The irrigated cropland produces more than 40% of the total cereal yield worldwide [1,2]. About 54% of the total irrigated area is dependent on surface water (SW) such as rivers, lakes, artificial canals and reservoirs [3]. In arid and semi-arid regions of the world where surface water is not abundantly available, groundwater (GW) abstraction is often required for irrigation purposes. According to Siebert et al [4], the total area irrigated by groundwater is nearly 114 million hectares globally. In most arid and semi-arid regions, irrigation with
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