Numerical assessment of the effect of water-saving irrigation on the water cycle at the Manas River Basin oasis, China

Guang Yang; Lijun Tian; Xiaolong Li; Xinlin He; Yongli Gao; Fadong Li; Lianqing Xue; Pengfei Li

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135587

Numerical assessment of the effect of water-saving irrigation on the water cycle at the Manas River Basin oasis, China

Sci Total Environ. 2020 Mar 10:707:135587. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135587. Epub 2019 Nov 19.

Authors

Guang Yang¹, Lijun Tian², Xiaolong Li³, Xinlin He⁴, Yongli Gao⁵, Fadong Li⁶, Lianqing Xue⁷, Pengfei Li³

Affiliations

¹ College of Water and Architectural Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China; Xinjiang Production and Construction Group Key Laboratory of Modern Water-saving Irrigation, Shihezi, China; Department of Geological Sciences, Center for Water Research, University of Texas at San Antonio, TX, United States.
² Department of Geological Sciences, Center for Water Research, University of Texas at San Antonio, TX, United States. Electronic address: Lijun.Tian@utsa.edu.
³ College of Water and Architectural Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China; Xinjiang Production and Construction Group Key Laboratory of Modern Water-saving Irrigation, Shihezi, China.
⁴ College of Water and Architectural Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China; Xinjiang Production and Construction Group Key Laboratory of Modern Water-saving Irrigation, Shihezi, China. Electronic address: mikeyork@163.com.
⁵ Department of Geological Sciences, Center for Water Research, University of Texas at San Antonio, TX, United States. Electronic address: yongli.gao@utsa.edu.
⁶ Institute of Geographic Science and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address: lifadong@igsnrr.ac.cn.
⁷ College of Water and Architectural Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China; Hydrology and Water Resources College, Hohai University, Nanjing, China. Electronic address: lqxue@hhu.edu.cn.

PMID: 31784147
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135587

Abstract

Mulch drip irrigation is widely used in the arid areas of Northwest China. Consequently, the Manas River Basin has developed into the fourth largest irrigated agricultural area in China. In this study, a groundwater model of the regional water cycle was developed to quantitatively assess the groundwater balance in response to different irrigation schemes, including traditional irrigation, conventional water-saving irrigation, and high-efficiency water-saving irrigation schemes. Our results reveal that 1) The water-saving irrigation technology has affected the water cycle process in farmlands. The higher the degree of water conservation, the lower the infiltration into groundwater, the higher the deficit of the groundwater balance, and the more significant the decline of the groundwater level. 2) The groundwater at the Manas River Basin remains in a negative equilibrium state. To achieve an equilibrium state of the groundwater at the Manas River Basin, the catchment management agencies should restrict the scale of oasis development and the utilization of groundwater.

Keywords: Groundwater modelling; Manas River basin; Water cycle; Water-saving irrigation.