Groundwater depletion in the Hai River Basin, China, from in situ and GRACE observations

Figures & data

Fig. 1 Location of the study area: the Hai River Basin (HRB; black solid line), the North China Plain (NCP; dark blue solid line) and administrative provinces (gray solid line). The geomorphological regions, surface water reservoirs, soil moisture stations and monitoring bores are also demonstrated. A hydrogeological profile for the location of the cross-section (black dotted line) is shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 2 Precipitation in the study area: (a) annual and 10-year average precipitation in the NCP from 1951 to 2012, and long-term average for 1951–2012 for both HRB and NCP; (b) deviation of annual precipitation for 2003–2012 from the long-term average (50 years: 1951–2001) over the NCP and HRB. Data from the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC).

Fig. 3 Hydrogeological profile across the NCP. Adapted from Foster et al. (2003) with permission. The location of the cross-section is shown in Fig. 1.

Table 1 Comparison of surface and groundwater use between HRB and NCP in 2003. Data are sourced from the Hai River Basin Water Resources Bulletin (2003–2010) and Hai River Basin Groundwater Bulletin (2010).

Region	Area (km^2)	Surface water use (km^3)	Groundwater use (km^3)	Groundwater as % of total water consumption
HRB	320 000	11.4*	26.1	69.6%
NCP	140 000	9.1	20.6	69.3%

* The value includes 1.09 km³ of surface water diverted from the Yellow River.

Fig. 4 Precipitation, in situ soil moisture(SM) and potential evaporation across the HRB: (a) monthly precipitation and in situ SM storage anomalies (expressed as deviation from the mean of 2003–2012); and (b) mean monthly precipitation (2003–2012), pan evaporation (1971–2000) and mean monthly in situ SM storage anomalies. The error range of SM anomalies is indicated by light grey shading. Precipitation data are from the GPCC, and pan evaporation and in situ soil moisture data are from the Chinese Meteorological Data Sharing Service (CMDSS).

Table 2 Linear trends in water storage for terrestrial water storage anomalies (TWS), in situ soil moisture anomalies (SM), deep sub-surface water storage anomalies (DSS) and in situ groundwater anomalies (in situ GW), 2003–2012.

	Trend (mm year^-1)	Volume (km^3 year^-1)
TWS-GRGS (2003/01–2012/08)	−17.9 ± 6.0	−5.8 ± 2.0
TWS-CSR	−8.7 ± 4.0	−2.8 ± 1.3
In situ SM	−0.4 ± 0.05	−0.12 ± 0.02
DSS-GRGS (2003/01–2012/08)	−17.0 ± 6.3	−5.5 ± 2.1
DSS-CSR	−8.3 ± 4.5	−2.7 ± 1.5
In situ GW (HRB; from monitoring bores)	−47.0 ± 25.3	−15.3 ± 8.2
In situ GW (NCP; from monitoring bores)	−83.8 ± 42.0	11.7 ± 5.9

Fig. 5 (a) and (b) total water storage anomalies (TWS: —) and deep subsurface water storage anomalies (DSS: ······) derived from GRACE GRGS_RL02 over the HRB from 2003 to 2012; (c) in situ groundwater storage anomalies (in situ GW: - - - -) over the HRB for the same period; and (d) seasonal amplitudes in TWS, SM, DSS and in situ GW after removing annual trend. The legends for TWS, DSS and in situ GW are kept in the same pattern as in (a), (b) and (c), except for SM (-·-·-). Linear trend for TWS, DSS and in situ GW:

; estimated errors for TWS and DSS:

; and errors for in situ GW:

. Values are expressed in equivalent water height in mm as deviations from the 2003–2012 mean.

Fig. 6 (a) and (b) total water storage anomalies (TWS: —) and deep subsurface water storage anomalies (DSS: ······) derived from GRACE CSR_RL05 over the HRB from 2003 to 2012; (c) in situ groundwater storage anomalies (in situ GW: - - - -) over the HRB for the same period; (d) seasonal amplitudes in TWS, SM, DSS and in situ GW after removing annual trend. The legends for TWS, DSS and in situ GW are kept in the same pattern as in (a), (b) and (c), except for SM(-·-·-). Linear trend for TWS, DSS and in situ GW:

; estimated errors for TWS and DSS:

; and errors for in situ GW:

. Values are expressed in equivalent water height in mm as deviations from the 2003-2012 mean.

Table 3 Evolution of water resources consumption by different sectors. Data source: Hai River Water Conservancy Commission (http://www.hwcc.gov.cn).

Year	Population of the NCP (million)	Proportion of water consumption by different sectors in the HRB			Groundwater consumption in the HRB in km^3 (and as % of total water use)	Annual groundwater recharge in the HRB (km^3)	Annual groundwater over-exploitation in the HRB (km^3)
		Agricultural (%)	Industrial (%)	Domestic (%)
1998		69.3	15.9	11.6	26.2 (61.8)	25.3	0.9
1999		72.0	16.0	12.0	26.7 (61.8)	17.2	9.5
2000		70.0	17.0	13.0	26.3 (65.6)	22.2	4.1
2001	127*	71.0	16	13.0	26.8 (68.3)	17.5	9.3
2002		71.6	15.5	12.9	27.0 (67.6)	14.6	12.4
2003		69.5	15.8	14.2	26.1 (69.6)	25.3	0.8
2004		69.6	15.4	14.3	24.7 (67.1)	23.8	0.9
2005		69.5	14.9	14.6	25.3 (66.5)	21.6	3.7
2006		70.0	14.5	14.4	25.2 (64.1)	18.9	6.3
2007		70.1	13.5	14.7	25.0 (65.0)	21.2	3.8
2008		68.5	13.7	15.3	24.0 (64.4)	24.2	−0.2
2009	133*	68.5	13.3	15.6	23.6 (63.7)	23.6	−0.0
2010		66.9	14.0	16.0	23.7 (64.0)	22.3	1.4
Mean		69.7	15.0	14.0	25.4 (65.3)	21.4	4.1

* The population of NCP in 2003 and 2009 was obtained from Zhang et al. (2009) and Zhang et al. (2011), respectively.

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