Integrated Modeling of Conjunctive Water Use in a Canal-Well Irrigation District in the Lower Yellow River Basin, China

• Published in: Journal of irrigation and drainage engineering Vol. 139; no. 9; pp. 775 - 784
• Main Authors: Liu, Luguang, Cui, Yuanlai, Luo, Yufeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Reston, VA American Society of Civil Engineers 01.09.2013
• Subjects: Agricultural and forest climatology and meteorology. Irrigation. Drainage; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Biological and medical sciences; Freshwater; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General agronomy. Plant production; Irrigation. Drainage; Technical Papers; Asia; China; China, People's Rep., Huang He R; Irrigation; Conjunctive use; Water management; Canal; Water resource management; Soil quality; Water use; Soil water atmosphere plant (SWAP); Modular three-dimensional groundwater flow model (MODFLOW); Modeling; Underground flow; China; Three dimensional system; Ground water; Rivers and streams; Soil moisture; Canals; Irrigation districts; River basins; Yellow River; Atmosphere; Irrigation schemes; Water quality; Wells; Soil and water assessment tool (SWAT2000)
• ISSN: 0733-9437; 1943-4774
• DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000620

AbstractThe 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.