Abstract
There has been notable depletion of groundwater resources globally in recent decades. Groundwater can be conserved by ecological water replenishment. An understanding of the factors influencing the effect of ecological water replenishment on groundwater recharge is of great significance for water resource management. This study used the improved water table fluctuation and water equilibrium method and Spearman correlation analysis in R to evaluate the effect of ecological water replenishment on groundwater recharge. Furthermore, the correlations between groundwater recharge and topography, hydrogeological conditions, and meteorological factors were analyzed. Groundwater storage in the plain area of the Yongding River (Beijing section) increased by 2.17 × 108 m3 in 2020, equating to an increase in the regional groundwater level of 73.6% (increase of 0.1–9.1 m, arithmetic mean of 2.3 m). The main sources of groundwater recharge are ecological water replenishment and precipitation. The ecological water replenishment first recharged the Ordovician limestone aquifer in the gorge area, following which karst water overflowed through the fault zone to resupply the Quaternary groundwater in the plain area, resulting in a lag in the groundwater recharge effect. Groundwater recharge was positively correlated with ground elevation and aquifer permeability and negatively correlated with the thickness of Quaternary strata and the distance between the recharge point and Yongdinghe fault zone. This study can help to better explain the effect and impact of ecological water replenishment on groundwater resource recharge and its implications for improving ecological water replenishment projects.
Highlights
Global groundwater abstraction has increased from ~312 km3 in 1960 to 734 km3 in 2000 [1] and 1400 km3 in 2016 [2]
The impact of ecological water replenishment in 2020 on groundwater recharge in the Yongding River (Beijing section) was obvious, with groundwater storage increasing by 2.17 × 108 m3
The effect of ecological water replenishment on groundwater in the Yongding River was positively correlated with surface elevation, aquifer permeability, and specific yield
Summary
Global groundwater abstraction has increased from ~312 km in 1960 to 734 km in 2000 [1] and 1400 km in 2016 [2]. Extreme weather events, and the construction of reservoirs and dams have all reduced natural groundwater recharge. Regions that have experienced the most severe depletion of groundwater resources include the North China Plain, Northwest India, the American prairies, Central Valley in California, and the Middle East [3–7]. Water deficit alleviation measures taken by the Beijing municipal government since 2012 have included the South-to-North Water Diversion Project and the use of ecological water replenishment to recharge groundwater [9]. Beijing launched ecological water replenishment of the Guanting Reservoir in 2019 to restore the ecology of the Yongding River and replenish groundwater. Various approaches have been used in past studies to investigate the impact of ecological water replenishment of the Yongding River (Beijing section) on groundwater resources using scenario simulation or hypothesis testing, including numerical simulation [10,11] and statistical analysis [12–14]
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