Effective Storage Rates Analysis of Groundwater Reservoir With
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
bs_bs_banner Water and Environment Journal. Print ISSN 1747-6585 Effective storage rates analysis of groundwater reservoir with surplus local and transferred water used in Shijiazhuang City, China Shanghai Du1,2, Xiaosi Su1,2 & Wenjing Zhang1,2 1Key Laboratory of Groundwater Resources and Environment, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, China and 2Institute of Water Resources and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun, China Keywords Abstract effective storage rate; fuzzy mathematics; Groundwater reservoir (GR) of both local precipitation and surplus water transferred groundwater reservoir; Hutuo River. from the Han River Basin is an effective method to prevent further lowering of the Correspondence groundwater table. In this study, when the different volumes of infiltration water X. Su, Institute of Water Resources and from the fuzzy mathematical analysis were input in the simulation, the rate at which Environment, Jilin University, Changchun the groundwater table rose ranged from 1.47 to 3.45 m/a. The effective storage rate 130021, China. Email: [email protected] (ESR) values of GR and the local reservoir was calculated, and ranged from 80.50 to 90.95% and from 49.66 to 80.90%, respectively. In GR, the ESR decreased as doi:10.1111/j.1747-6593.2012.00339.x artificial recharge increased. Comparison of the ESR values between local reservoir and GR showed that if the volume of artificial recharge water available was < 7.86 ¥ 108 m3/a, then GR was a better storage method than the local reservoir. According to our results, this situation would occur 80.30% of the time. recharge water resources (Shivanna et al. 2004; Peter 2005). Introduction Because of the purification that occurs in the unsaturated Groundwater reservoir (GR) is a popular water resources zone, some sewage can also be used for GR (Sheng 2005). management method in China, and it refers to the water Groundwater modelling has been used to analyse and conservancy in available porous media under artificial control improve proposed GR schemes (Sanford 2002). In GR applica- for water storage and exploitation (Li 2007). An adequate tions, numerical models are used almost exclusively (Pliakas supply of good-quality water is an essential requirement for et al. 2005). the development and survival of any society. While the avail- In addition to suitable infiltration rate and water storage ability and quality of surface water is generally uncertain, GR conditions, sufficient water supply is important for effective provides a natural, reliable and often cheap way to transform regulation and storage. However, in areas where water is questionable surface water into a safe underground resource scarce, local water resources alone cannot be used to resolve (Huisman & Olsthoorn 1983). Underground storage via GR, water supply problems. Combination of local water with that where possible, may be an efficient, environmentally friendly transferred from other areas is becoming increasingly impor- solution to water storage (ASCE 2001). tant in modern city water supply systems. The source area Storage space, infiltration rate and infiltration water and supply area are usually located in different climatic resources are the main factors to be evaluated for GR. The GR zones, and precipitation changes with the different charac- concept has been extended to the storage of either treated teristics of region, which produces many uncertainties in the or untreated surface water or reclaimed wastewater in a suit- parameters of the local water and transferred water. Analysis able aquifer through a system of spreading basins, infiltration of situations with abundant and scarce water for GR will be galleries and recharge wells (Sheng 2005). Several infiltrate fundamental for the construction and administration of GR. techniques, such as injection wells, old streambeds, infiltra- In this study, a simulation model was used to provide infor- tion ponds or surface drainage system, are documented in mation on the volume of water that could be recharged into the scientific literature (Khepar et al. 2009; Bouwer 2002; Han cone of depression at Shijiazhuang, and how the level of the 2003; Pliakas et al. 2005). Local flooding from rain, storms, groundwater table would vary during infiltration. The results surplus water reservoirs and recycled water are important could be used to ensure sustainable supply of the aquifer and Water and Environment Journal 27 (2013) 157–169 © 2012 CIWEM. 157 Effective storage rates analysis of groundwater reservoir S. Du et al. to decrease the rate at which the groundwater table is low- resources available and social demand means that there is a ering. However, Shijiazhuang and the Han River Basin are large local water shortage that will be impossible to resolve located in different climate regions, and the combined without external input. Development of the cone of depres- amount of water available from these sources is a key factor sion is shown in Figs 3 and 4. The middle section of the for the GR project in this area. Because uncertainty in the South-to-North Transfer Water Project was constructed as a infiltration rate would affect the accuracy of the simulation solution to water resources shortages on the North China model on an increased scale, a field-scale infiltration test was Plain. The South-to-North Transfer Water Project can carry carried out to solve the parameter uncertainty problem. > 100 ¥ 108 m3/a of surface water from the Han River Basin, which is a tributary of the Yangtze River, to cities such as Shijiazhuang. GR could allow full use of this diverted water to Study area resolve water shortages and environment geology prob- Shijiazhuang is the capital of Hebei Province, China (Fig. 1), lems. The excellent storage capacity of the cone of depres- and is located on the alluvial fan of the Hutuo River. The local sion and the infiltration conditions of the riverbed will be reservoir named Huangbizhuang Reservoir is located at the important in the GR project. outlet of the Hutuo River from Taihang Mountain, and is the most important hydraulic project in Shijiazhuang. The bed of the Hutuo River below the reservoir is dry all year, except Construction conditions of GR during the flood season when it receives surplus water from the local reservoir. The main components of the water trans- Boundary conditions fer network in the area are the Shijin, Yuanquan, Dongming, Because of continual overexploitation of the groundwater, Ximing and main channels of South-to-North Transfer Water the aquifer in the study area forms a relatively independent Project (Fig. 1). The main channel South-to-North Transfer groundwater basin. The western boundary is a weakly per- Water Project was constructed with the aim of resolving meable boundary, the southern and northern boundaries are water shortage problems in Beijing and the surrounding area. near the edge of the Hutuo River alluvial fan, and the eastern This channel is 1273 km long. According to the South-to- boundary is near the watershed of the groundwater. Further- North Transfer Water Project plan, 130 ¥ 108 m3 of surface more, there is a continuous clay layer at the bottom of the water could be transferred from the Yangtze River to Beijing middle Pleistocene, which forms an underground storage and other cities, including Shijiazhuang. space with excellent storage conditions. The annual precipitation in the area is 493 mm, and > 80% of this falls in the flood season from June to September (Fig. 2). During the flood season, any surplus water from the Storage capacity local reservoir acts as the main local water source of artificial Calculation of the storage capacity using the following recharge for the GR. equation is an essential first step for the development of There are two layers in the quaternary aquifer. The upper the GR: layer is Holocene-upper and middle Pleistocene phreatic aquifer, which is the dominant aquifer used to supplement m VV= ∑ μ * the water supply of Shijiazhuang. The lower layer is lower ii i=1 Pleistocene confined aquifer, and is separated from the upper 3 3 layer by a section of continuous clay. where V (m ) is the storage capacity of the GR, Vi*(m)isthe The Shijiazhuang City has used groundwater as its main volume of vacant underground space for the i grid and mi is water source for a long time. Long-term mismanagement the specific yield of the i grid. and groundwater overdraft have formed a cone of depres- Storage capacity is determined by the specific yield, and sion at the centre of Shijiazhuang. Although earlier ground- the difference between upper and lower groundwater levels. water management slowed the lowering of the groundwater According to historical data (Du 2009), because of the rapid table from 1.60 m/a (in 1975–1985) to 1.05 m/a (in 1985– increase of water demand and groundwater overexploit 2000) (Yang 1987; Lin & Liao 1995), the cone of depression break the local balance between groundwater recharge and has been increasing. As of 2006, the cone of depression had discharge after 1980 in Shijiazhuang City, and the under- an area of 436.5 km2, and at its centre the depth of the ground constructions of the civil service had been designed groundwater table was 52.40 m. Because of the construc- 15 m below the surface in the central Shijiazhuang City, a tion of Huangbizhuang Reservoir and rapid urbanisation of natural local groundwater flow net of 30 June 1980 has been Shijiazhuang City, there was 5.32 ¥ 108 m3 groundwater chosen as the upper limit water level, and the middle Pleis- exploited in 2006, and the groundwater amount available is tocene layer was chosen as the bottom of the GR. Spatial 2.52 ¥ 108 m3/a; the large difference between the local water analysis based on geographic information system was used 158 Water and Environment Journal 27 (2013) 157–169 © 2012 CIWEM.