Salinization of Deep Groundwater in Plain Areas of Xinjiang: Causes and Countermeasures

Desalination and Water Treatment 52 (2014) 2724–2733 www.deswater.com March

doi: 10.1080/19443994.2013.827775

Salinization of deep groundwater in plain areas of Xinjiang: causes and countermeasures

Qiao Lia, Jinlong Zhoua,*, Yinzhu Zhoub, Ruiliang Jiaa aCollege of Water Conservancy and Civil Engineering, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi 830052, China Tel. +86 13263381574; email: [email protected] bSchool of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences, Beijing 100083, China Received 12 July 2012; Accepted 7 July 2013

ABSTRACT

The salinization of deep groundwater is one of the serious geographical environmental hazards. The present study collected groundwater samples from 60 wells with depth over 100 m in the plain areas of Xinjiang from October to November of 2011. The comparison of hydrochemical data obtained in 2011 and 2003 in the same wells indicated that salinization occurred in a spot-like pattern in Xinjiang. Among the 60 groundwater samples, 20 samples were seriously salinized, which made up to 33.3% of the total wells. Through the analysis of the characteristics of salinization of deep groundwater in this region, four causes of salinization and four countermeasures to prevent salinization were put forward.

Keywords: Plain areas of Xinjiang; Deep groundwater; Salinization

1. Introduction Tacheng Prefecture, Turfan Prefecture, Aksu Prefec- ture, Kashkar Prefecture, Hotan Prefecture and Kizilsu Located in the west of the People’s Republic of Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture (Kizilsu Prefecture China and in the hinterland of Asian-European Conti- hereafter). With the constant development of economy nent, Xinjiang borders on eight countries with 1/6 of and society, the demand for water resources increases the total area of China. Xinjiang is subdivided into 14 and pollution of surface water is aggravated. Such prefectures and cities: Urumqi, Karamay, Bayingolin phenomena lead to irrational exploitation of ground- Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture (Bayingolin Prefec- water in some areas. For example, the deep ground- ture hereafter), Yili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture water in Kashkar and Aksu tends to become salinized, (Yili Prefecture hereafter), Altay Prefecture, Bortala which has become an increasingly serious geographi- Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture (Bortala Prefecture cal/environmental disaster. hereafter), Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture In order to understand the situation of Xinjiang’s (Changji Prefecture hereafter), Hami Prefecture, deep groundwater salinization, we collected 60 sam- pling wells with depth over 100 m from 283 groundwater samples, while compiling the Planning of the *Corresponding author.

Presented at the Second International Conference on Water Resources Management and Engineering (ICWRME 2012) Zhengzhou, China, 14–16 August 2012