Analysis on the Effect of Groundwater Overexploitation Control in Water receiving region of the First Phase of the South-North Water Transfer Project

Abstract

The South-North Water Transfer Project is playing a more and more important role in ensuring economic and social development and maintaining a good ecological environment for north of China. However, long-term over-exploitation of groundwater has caused a series of ecological and environmental problems. The first phase of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project was successfully passed through in 2013 and 2014. The water supplied by this huge project provided critical water source for implementing groundwater overexploitation control. In order to promote the management and protection of groundwater resources, the overdraft areas had adopted comprehensive measures to reduce groundwater extraction, such as accelerating the construction of supporting projects, shutting down groundwater mining wells, improving the groundwater monitoring station network, and reforming the water resources fees and so on. The urban groundwater overexploitation control work has received good progress. Based on the investigation and statistics of groundwater overexploitation control in the water receiving region of the first phase of the South-North Water Transfer Project, it was found that since the first phase of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project passing though, the water groundwater withdrawal decreased by 15.23×108 m3 by making full use of the water from the South-North Water Transfer Project, including 2.36×108 m3 in Beijing, 0.67×108 m3 in Tianjin, 6.39×108 m3 in Hebei, 3.84×108 m3 in Henan, 1.62×108 m3 in Shandong, and 0.35×108 m3 in Jiangsu, respectively. The number of groundwater withdrawal wells closed was 15202, including 331 wells in Beijing, 582 in Tianjin, 4895 in Hebei, 6213 in Henan, 2012 in Shandong, and 1169 eyes in Jiangsu, respectively. In terms of groundwater level, the trend of continuous decline in groundwater level has been effectively curbed in most areas of the water receiving region, however, in some areas the groundwater level is still declining due to the too large cumulative over-exploitation of groundwater. Shijiazhuang City was selected as typical monitoring site to explain the groundwater overexploitation control effect on groundwater level. The analysis of the monitoring data of typical monitoring sites showed that groundwater overexploitation control has a great influence on the groundwater level change in Shijiazhuang urban area. This study also puts forward some problems and suggestions in promoting the groundwater overexploitation control in the water receiving region, and provides reference for the construction of ecological civilization and national water security.