Integrated Modeling of Conjunctive Water Use in a Canal-Well Irrigation District in the Lower Yellow River Basin, China
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 139, Issue 9
Abstract
The Yellow River Basin is a closed basin under serious stress with dense population, intensive agriculture, and excess water withdrawals. Low water use efficiency and groundwater overexploitation are threatening the sustainable development of the basin. This paper describes a coupled modeling approach to analyze sustainable management strategies in surface–groundwater conjunctive use irrigation districts in the lower Yellow River Basin. An appropriate irrigation schedule and an optimal range of groundwater levels are first established using the soil water atmosphere plant (SWAP) model with data from an irrigation experiment station. The integrated surface water and groundwater model was then set up using modified soil and water assessment tool (SWAT2000) and modular three-dimensional groundwater flow model (MODFLOW) models. The two models were connected through standardized simulation grids and calibrated using field measurements. Five scenarios that were designed according to different well-canal irrigation supply ratios and the irrigation schedule determined by SWAP were tested using the integrated modeling approach. It is proved that conjunctive management strategies of canal diversions and tube-well pumps can effectively reduce phreatic evaporation losses, increase water use efficiency, and sustain groundwater levels while maintaining crop yields at current levels.
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Acknowledgments
This study was partially supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 50839002 and 51179048). The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. The authors also would like to thank Dr. Xueliang Cai at the International Water Management Institute Southern Africa for his helpful review on the manuscript.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 139 • Issue 9 • September 2013
Pages: 775 - 784
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 12, 2012
Accepted: Apr 1, 2013
Published online: Apr 3, 2013
Published in print: Sep 1, 2013
Discussion open until: Sep 3, 2013
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