The potential impacts of a water transfer project on the groundwater system in the Sugan Lake Basin of China

• Published in: Hydrogeology journal Vol. 29; no. 4; pp. 1485 - 1499
• Main Authors: Yang, Zhengqiu, Hu, Litang, Sun, Kangning
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-06-2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Drawdown; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Ecological succession; Ecology; Field investigations; Flow rates; Flow velocity; Geology; Geophysics/Geodesy; Groundwater; Groundwater data; Groundwater flow; Groundwater levels; Groundwater recharge; Groundwater runoff; Hydrogeology; Hydrology/Water Resources; Lake basins; Lakes; Moisture content; Plant cover; Remote sensing; River discharge; River flow; River runoff; Rivers; Runoff; Three dimensional analysis; Three dimensional flow; Three dimensional models; Vegetation cover; Waste Water Technology; Water content; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Water Quality/Water Pollution; Water resources; Water resources planning; Water transfer; Wetland protection; Wetlands; China; Numerical modeling; Interbasin water transfer; Groundwater/surface-water relations; Arid regions; China
• ISSN: 1431-2174; 1435-0157
• DOI: 10.1007/s10040-021-02337-9

The ungauged Sugan Lake Basin represents a candidate area for development of a water transfer scheme to satisfy the water requirement of Dunhuang city in northwestern China. In this work, multisource data, including river runoff, groundwater levels and remote-sensing data, and field investigation records, were collected and analyzed. A three-dimensional groundwater flow model was constructed using FEFLOW software to predict the potential influence of the transfer project on the groundwater system. Results show that infiltration from the Great Harten River is the main driving factor of groundwater-level fluctuation and groundwater recharge. Scenario analysis under four water transfer conditions found that the drawdown of groundwater gradually decreases from east to west. If the water transfer scale reaches 1.2 × 10
8
 m
3
/a, after 100 years, the maximum drawdown of groundwater is noted at 68.02 m, and the flow rate of the Middle Spring reduces by 25.7%. In the western wetland, the area over which the groundwater level is lowered by more than 4 m is 10.21 km
2
, and natural succession may occur or vegetation cover may decline. The results of this study will aid in water resource planning based on a rational amount of water transfer, and provide further protection of the wetland ecology.