Water Chemical Characteristics and Safety Assessment of Irrigation Water in the Northern Part of Hulunbeier City, Grassland Area in Eastern China

Abstract

Hulun Buir Grassland is a world-famous natural pasture. The Chenbalhu Banner coalfield, the hinterland of the grassland, is located on the west slope of the Great Khingan Mountains and on the north bank of the Hailar River in China. The proven geological reserves of coal are 17 billion tons. Hulun Buir Grassland plays a role in the ecological barrier, regional coal industry, power transmission from west to east and power transmission from north to south. The proportion of local groundwater in irrigation, domestic and industrial production water sources is about 86%. The large-scale exploitation of coal resources and the continuous emergence of large unit and coal-fired power plants have consumed a large amount of local water resources, resulting in the decrease of the local groundwater level and changing the natural flow field of groundwater. This paper studies the background hydrochemical values and evaluates the irrigatibility of the whole Chenbaerhu Banner coalfield, and studies the impact of coal industry chains such as mining areas and coal chemical plants on the hydrochemistry characteristics of groundwater. The above two studies provide important guiding values for guiding local economic structure planning, groundwater resources exploitation and ecological governance. The study found that Na+ and HCO3− in the groundwater in the study area occupy a dominant position. Referring to the comparison of the lowest values of three types of water standards in the Quality Standards for Groundwater (GB/T14848-2017), the amount of NH4+, Na+ and NO2− exceeding the standard is close to more than 30%. The main chemical types of river water in the study area are HCO3− Na and HCO3− Ca·Na, the main chemical types of surface water are HCO3− Na and HCO3− Na·Ca, and the main chemical type of confined water is HCO3−Na. The formation of hydrochemical types is mainly affected by the dissolution, filtration and evaporation of rocks, specifically the dissolution and filtration of sodium and calcium salts. The chemical correlation analysis of groundwater shows that there are abnormal values at many points in the study area. Further combining with the horizontal comparison of surface human activities in the study area, it shows that the influence scope of coal mine production and coal chemical plants on groundwater is extremely limited. The local groundwater is mainly polluted by a large quantity of local cattle and sheep manure, industrial and domestic sewage pollution and farmland fertilizer.