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An Initial Inventory and Indexation of Groundwater Mega-Depletion Cases

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Abstract

The state of groundwater systems worldwide is presently not well defined, and in particular there is little context for agencies responsible for managing water resources to evaluate occurrences of groundwater depletion against other cases globally. In this study, an initial inventory of groundwater depletion problems is compiled and ranked to identify the world’s most critical cases, i.e. situations of groundwater mega-depletion. The ranking is based on an indexed approach that considers overdraft, drawdown and subsidence, plus the importance of the resources in terms of population-dependency and rates of extraction. The five most highly ranked depleted aquifers of the world include the shallow aquifers of the Hai River Plain (China), the Altiplano region (Spain), the Mexico Basin (Mexico), the Huang River basin (China) and the California Central Valley (USA). An abridged account of modelling to assess drawdown is described for the Hai River Plain, revealing that despite recharge in the order of 13,000 GL/yr, an overdraft of about 8,000 GL/yr is occurring to support the vast population of the region. This has led to up to 100 m of drawdown in places and reports of subsidence of several metres. The Hai River situation demonstrates that falling water levels may not act to alleviate pumping stresses; a symptom of unchecked extraction and an exemplary illustration of the tragedy of the commons. The causal factors leading to mega-depletion are varying across the globe and each mega-depletion case contains unique elements, although population appears to be an important factor.

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Acknowledgments

This work is jointly funded by the Knowledge Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Science (KZCX2-YW-Q10-3), the Science Foundation of Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGLAS2010XK02), and the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training, a collaborative initiative of the Australian Research Council and the National Water Commission.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of the Environment, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA, 5001, Australia

    Adrian D. Werner

  2. National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA, 5001, Australia

    Adrian D. Werner

  3. State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, People’s Republic of China

    Qi Zhang & Xianghu Li

  4. Tianjin Lonwin Technology Co. Ltd, Tianjin, 300181, People’s Republic of China

    Lijuan Xue & Xinjun Zhu

  5. Land and Water, CSIRO, Waite Campus, Adelaide, SA, 5064, Australia

    Brian D. Smerdon

  6. Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related land Surface Processes, IGSNRR, CAS, Beijing, 100101, People’s Republic of China

    Xinjun Zhu

  7. Haihe River Water Conservancy Commission, Ministry of Water Resources, Tianjin, 300181, People’s Republic of China

    Lei Yu

  8. National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training, School of Civil Engineering, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Ling Li

  9. Centre for Eco-environmental Modelling, Hohai University, Nanjing, China

    Ling Li

Authors
  1. Adrian D. Werner
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  2. Qi Zhang
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  3. Lijuan Xue
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  4. Brian D. Smerdon
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  5. Xianghu Li
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  6. Xinjun Zhu
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  7. Lei Yu
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  8. Ling Li
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Correspondence to Qi Zhang.

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Werner, A.D., Zhang, Q., Xue, L. et al. An Initial Inventory and Indexation of Groundwater Mega-Depletion Cases. Water Resour Manage 27, 507–533 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-012-0199-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-012-0199-6

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