Numerical studies on the influences of the South‐to‐North Water Transfer Project on groundwater level changes in the Beijing Plain, China

Abstract

Groundwater is an important component of the water supply, and overexploitation has triggered many problems in the Beijing Plain. The South‐to‐North Water Transfer Project has been proposed as a promising solution to alleviate these problems. Evaluation of different scenarios of groundwater management after the implementation of the South‐to‐North Water Transfer Project is necessarily required. In this study, a numerical model of groundwater flow was established using FEFLOW software and was well calibrated by parameter optimization and groundwater withdrawal inversion in the Beijing Plain. Sixteen scenarios that considered groundwater exploitation, artificial recharge, and precipitation were designed to simulate the groundwater dynamics after 11 years of the project. The results showed that the groundwater level in the study area would recover to various degrees due to the reductions of groundwater withdrawal and the increments of infiltration; additionally, it was concluded that groundwater was significantly affected by precipitation. Generally, in the designed scenarios, the groundwater‐level increment in the upper streams of the model area was higher than that in the lower streams. The groundwater level would obviously increase from artificial recharge in the immediate and adjacent areas. In addition, modes of reducing exploitation had no significant influence on the change in groundwater level during the 11‐year study period. The developed model offers a reliable and effective way to improve groundwater management.

Sustainability Assessment of Water Resources in Beijing

“…The project has provided tremendous help in solving water resource problems. It was discovered that part of the groundwater supply would be gradually replaced, and the groundwater level would gradually recover, in various degrees in Beijing after the implementation of the project [96]. In this study, water derived from the South-to-North Water Transfer Project is the most influential indicator that affects the sustainability of the water resources in Beijing.…”

The Effectiveness of the South‐to‐North Water Diversion Middle Route Project on Water Delivery and Groundwater Recovery in North China Plain

“…As seen, the simulated GWS after receiving Q d is always higher than the observed GWS without Q d received. The decreasing GWS trend (−2.2 km 3 /year) appears to have mitigation or reverse at varying degrees with the gradual accumulation of Q d at monthly scale (X. Li et al, 2017; Xia et al, 2018; Ye et al, 2014; M. Zhang et al, 2018) (Figure 7c). The variations of I r are directly associated with the degree of GWS mitigation or recovery.…”

“…The second issue is whether the delivered water from MRP can help recover the declining groundwater level in NCP. Most previous studies that investigated the influences of MRP on aquifer storage recovery were mainly based on model simulations (e.g., Cao et al, 2013; X. Li et al, 2017; Xia et al, 2018; Y. Yang et al, 2012; Ye et al, 2014; M. Zhang et al, 2018). These studies commonly set a constant water diversion rate throughout the study period and assumed that the MRP‐delivered water can be used to reduce groundwater pumping.…”

“…The assessment of MRP effectiveness in delivering water needs to consider the constraints imposed both by dynamic DR operation and by downstream water demand in HRB (e.g., Y. Li et al, 2017; Y. Wang et al, 2014, 2015). Additionally, the actual MRP water diversion rate in the operational period (2015 till now) is time‐varying, implying that the use of constant water diversion rate in previous modeling studies was not realistic (e.g., Cao et al, 2013; X. Li et al, 2017; Y. Yang et al, 2012; Ye et al, 2014; Xia et al, 2018; M. Zhang et al, 2018). Model simulation may reveal significant insights regarding the influences of MRP on groundwater recovery but is unable to reflect the actual groundwater recovery in NCP.…”

South-to-North Water Diversion stabilizing Beijing’s groundwater levels

“…Previous studies evaluated impacts of climate variability and water diversion on GWS over the Beijing Plain using GW flow models or coupled SW/GW models to simulate changes in GW levels under different climate and water diversion scenarios 39 – 41 . However, the effects of policies that restrict GW extraction on GWS were omitted.…”