Achieving Sustainable Groundwater Development with Effective Measures in Beijing Plain, China

Intensive groundwater exploitation has depleted groundwater storage and led to a series of geo-environmental problems in Beijing Plain, China. To cope with the groundwater depletion problem and achieve sustainable groundwater development, groundwater abstraction has been reduced and Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) and Environmental Flow Release (EFR) projects have been piloted and planned. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed measures in restoring groundwater storage depletion in Beijing Plain, a 3D transient groundwater was constructed to simulate the effects of these proposed measures regionally and locally. Results show that with the reduction of groundwater abstraction, the declining trend of groundwater level has been stopped. The implementation of MAR and EFR projects have successfully enhanced the groundwater recharge and restored the connectivity of the surface water and groundwater. Prediction model results also show that with the large-scale MAR implementation and current level of groundwater abstraction, groundwater levels and groundwater storage will slowly increase in the next 30 years. With these combined measures in Beijing Plain, sustainable development of groundwater resources is expected to be achieved in the near future.