scholarly journals Karstic Groundwater Origin and Recharge Process in Zagros Region: Insights From Stable Isotopes (δ18O and Δ2H) Approach

Author(s):  
Mojtaba Heydarizad

Zagros is an important region with high quality and quantity karstic water resources in the Middle East. This region provides a dominant part of potable and agricultural water needs for its inhabitants as well as agricultural water needs for nearby regions. Therefore, studying karstic water resources in Zagros by accurate methods such as stable isotopes techniques is very important. In this investigation, hydrological characteristics of groundwater resources including groundwater origin, recharge rate and recharge elevation have been studied using stable isotopes (18O and 2H). The results show that stable isotopes signatures in groundwater resources show notable variations across Zagros and groundwater resource mainly plot on south and west Zagros meteoric water lines. In addition, recharge elevation and recharge rate in groundwater resources also show significant variations in Zagros. Finally, the stable isotopes signatures in precipitation and groundwater has been used to study the role of each dominant air mass (contribution percentage of precipitation events originate from each air mass) in groundwater resources recharge using Simmr package in R language. Overall, groundwater resources in Zagros is recharged by precipitation events originate from various air masses and they have various recharge rates and recharge elevations.

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ehsan Qasemipour ◽  
Ali Abbasi

Cropping pattern plays an important role in providing food and agricultural water resources sustainability, especially in arid regions in which the concomitant socioeconomic dangers of water shortage would be inevitable. In this research, six indices are applied to classify 37 cultivated crops according to Central Product Classification (CPC). The respective 10-year data (2005–2014) were obtained from Agricultural Organization of South Khorasan (AOSKh) province. The water footprint concept along with some economic indicators are used to assess the water use efficiency. Results show that blue virtual water contributes to almost 99 percent of Total Virtual Water (TVW). In this occasion that an increasing pressure is exerted on groundwater resources, improper pattern of planting crops has to be beyond reproach. The improper cropping pattern in the study area led to the overuse of 346 × 106 m3 of water annually. More specifically, cereals cultivation was neither environmentally nor economically sustainable and since they accounted for the largest share of water usage at the province level, importing them should be considered as an urgent priority. Vegetable cultivation could be further increased—instead of other water-intensive crops such as fruits—at the province level, not only due to their low TVW, but also to their higher financial output.


Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 3444
Author(s):  
Agbortoko Bate Ashu ◽  
Sang-Il Lee

The conjunctive management of surface water and groundwater resources is essential to sustainably manage water resources. The target study is the Osan watershed, in which approximately 60–70% of rainfall occurs during the summer monsoon in Central South Korea. Surface water resources are overexploited six times as much as groundwater resources in this region, leading to increasing pressure to satisfy the region’s growing agricultural water demand. Therefore, a simulation-optimization (S-O) model at the sub-basin scale is required to optimize water resource allocation in the Osan watershed. An S-O model based on an artificial neural network (ANN) model coupled with Jaya algorithm optimization (JA) was used to determine the yearly conjunctive supply of agricultural water. The objective was to minimize the water deficit in the watershed subject to constraints on the cumulative drawdown in each subarea. The ANN model could predict the behaviour of the groundwater level and facilitate decision making. The S-O model could minimize the water deficit by approximately 80% in response to the gross water demand, thereby proving to be suitable for a conjunctive management model for water resource management and planning.


2013 ◽  
Vol 409-410 ◽  
pp. 79-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Qin Chen ◽  
Xian Feng Huang

Due to the rich resources of urban rainwater and transit flood in coastal areas, rational utilization of rainfall and flood water resources can improve the sustainable utilization, to better serve the coastal development. In this paper, the available quantity of water rainfall and flood water resources in coastal are distributed to domestic water, industrial water, agricultural water and ecologic environmental water. Water price method is used to calculate domestic water efficiency. Energy synthesis is used to calculate the industrial and agricultural water-use efficiency. Ecologic environmental water-use efficiency-sharing coefficient method is used to calculate the ecologic environmental water-use efficiency. Finally, taking Lianyungang City, a Jiangsu coastal city as an example to analyze the rainfall and flood water resources utilization efficiency. The results provide reference to the research for Chinas plain area rainfall and flood water resources efficiency analysis.


2016 ◽  
Vol 74 (5) ◽  
pp. 1106-1115 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Mu ◽  
L. Fang ◽  
H. Wang ◽  
L. Chen ◽  
Y. Yang ◽  
...  

Worldwide, water scarcity threatens delivery of water to urban centers. Increasing water use efficiency (WUE) is often recommended to reduce water demand, especially in water-scarce areas. In this paper, agricultural water use efficiency (AWUE) is examined using the super-efficient data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach in Xi'an in Northwest China at a temporal and spatial level. The grey systems analysis technique was then adopted to identify the factors that influenced the efficiency differentials under the shortage of water resources. From the perspective of temporal scales, the AWUE increased year by year during 2004–2012, and the highest (2.05) was obtained in 2009. Additionally, the AWUE was the best in the urban area at the spatial scale. Moreover, the key influencing factors of the AWUE are the financial situations and agricultural water-saving technology. Finally, we identified several knowledge gaps and proposed water-saving strategies for increasing AWUE and reducing its water demand by: (1) improving irrigation practices (timing and amounts) based on compatible water-saving techniques; (2) maximizing regional WUE by managing water resources and allocation at regional scales as well as enhancing coordination among Chinese water governance institutes.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gang Liu ◽  
Lu Shi ◽  
Kevin Li

This paper develops a lexicographic optimization model to allocate agricultural and non-agricultural water footprints by using the land area as the influencing factor. An index known as the water-footprint-land density (WFLD) index is then put forward to assess the impact and equity of the resulting allocation scheme. Subsequently, the proposed model is applied to a case study allocating water resources for the 11 provinces and municipalities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB). The objective is to achieve equitable spatial allocation of water resources from a water footprint perspective. Based on the statistical data in 2013, this approach starts with a proper accounting for water footprints in the 11 YREB provinces. We then determined an optimal allocation of water footprints by using the proposed lexicographic optimization approach from a land area angle. Lastly, we analyzed how different types of land uses contribute to allocation equity and we discuss policy changes to implement the optimal allocation schemes in the YREB. Analytical results show that: (1) the optimized agricultural and non-agricultural water footprints decrease from the current levels for each province across the YREB, but this decrease shows a heterogeneous pattern; (2) the WFLD of 11 YREB provinces all decline after optimization with the largest decline in Shanghai and the smallest decline in Sichuan; and (3) the impact of agricultural land on the allocation of agricultural water footprints is mainly reflected in the land use structure of three land types including arable land, forest land, and grassland. The different land use structures in the upstream, midstream, and downstream regions lead to the spatial heterogeneity of the optimized agricultural water footprints in the three YREB segments; (4) In addition to the non-agricultural land area, different regional industrial structures are the main reason for the spatial heterogeneity of the optimized non-agricultural water footprints. Our water-footprint-based optimal water resources allocation scheme helps alleviate the water resources shortage pressure and achieve coordinated and balanced development in the YREB.


Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuan Yang ◽  
Guangcai Wang ◽  
Zheming Shi ◽  
Dan Zhao ◽  
Wanjun Jiang ◽  
...  

Groundwater is a critical water resource for human survival and economic development in arid and semi-arid areas. It is crucial to understand the groundwater circulation and hydrochemical evolution for sustainable management and utilization of groundwater resources in those areas. To this end, an investigation of the hydrochemical characteristics of surface water and groundwater was conducted in Nomhon, an arid area located in the Qaidam Basin, northwest China, by using hydrochemical (major and trace elements) and stable isotopes (δD and δ18O) approaches. Stable isotopes and ion ratios were analyzed to determine the recharge sources, hydrochemistry characteristics, and major hydrogeochemical processes. Meanwhile, inverse geochemistry modeling was applied to quantitatively determine the mass transfer of hydrogeochemical processes. The results showed that groundwater in the study area is mainly recharged by atmospheric precipitation in mountainous areas, and the groundwater in the center of basin might originate from ancient water in cold and humid environments. Along the groundwater flow path, the TDS of groundwater increased gradually from fresh to salty (ranging from 462.50 to 19,604.40 mg/L), and the hydrochemical type changed from Cl·HCO3–Na·Mg·Ca to Cl–Na. Groundwater chemical composition and mass balance modeling results indicated that from alluvial fan to lacustrine plain, the main hydrogeochemical processes changed from the dissolution of halite and albite and the precipitation of dolomite and kaolinite to the dissolution of halite and gypsum, precipitation of calcite, redox (SO42− reduction), and cation exchange. This study would be helpful for water resources management in this area and other similar areas.


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