LU Chui-yu 1, 2, SUN Qing-yan 1, LI Hui 1, GE Yan-ru 1

1. State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing 100038, China
2. Engineering and Technology Research Center for water Resources and Hydroecology of the Ministry of water Resources, Beijing 100038, China

Abstract: Groundwater recharge evaluation in arid and semi-arid areas plays a foundational role in the exploitation and protection of the groundwater. In this study, from the perspective of water cycle for the whole region, the law of groundwater recharge is explored in the artificial-natural dual water cycle. The integrated hydrology model named MODCYCLE is used, which is formed by the tightly-coupling of the water cycle model and the groundwater numerical simulation. The groundwater of the plain area in Tongliao, a typical semi-arid region, is evaluated as an example. The analytical results show that (1) the precipitation recharge, 65.2 % of the total recharge, is the main supply source of groundwater, (2) the variation trends of precipitation recharge and precipitation are basically consistent, but influenced by many factors, not a linear relationship, (3) the average annual amount of precipitation recharge in farmland areas (107.3 mm) is larger and more stable than that in non-cropland ecological zones (29.1 mm), (4) the net annual flow amount of groundwater from the dune areas sparsely populated to the central plain areas where the socio-economic activities are frequent is 65.7 million m 3 and with a declining trend. The law of groundwater reflected by the model is in line with the objective situation in the study area, which can provide a reference for local groundwater management. The method involved in this paper is an alternative way for the groundwater recharge evaluation in similar areas.

Key words: groundwater, recharge evaluation, water cycle, arid and semi-arid areas, MODCYCLE, Tongliao plain areas

Published in: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, Vol. 45, No. 6, 2014