Extreme precipitation time trends in Ontario, 1960–2010

The impact of climate change on the behaviour of intensity–duration–frequency curves is critical to the estimation of design storms, and thus to the safe design of drainage infrastructure. The present study develops a regional time trend methodology that detects the impact of climate change on extreme precipitation from 1960 to 2010. The regional time trend linear regression method is fitted to different durations of annual maximum precipitation intensities derived from multiple sites in Ontario, Canada. The results show the relationship between climate change and increased extreme precipitation in this province. The regional trend analysis demonstrates, under nonstationary conditions arising from climate change, that the intensity of extreme precipitation increased decennially between 1.25% for the 30‐min storm and 1.82% for the 24‐h storm. A comparison of the results with a regional Mann–Kendall test validates the found regional time‐trend results. The results are employed to extrapolate the intensity–duration–frequency curves temporally and spatially for future decades across the province. The results of the regional time trend assessment help with the establishment of new safety margins for infrastructure design in Ontario. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial and temporal variability of annual and seasonal precipitation over the desert region of China during 1951–2005

The spatial and temporal variations of precipitation in the desert region of China (DRC) from 1951 to 2005 were investigated using a rotated empirical orthogonal function (REOF), the precipitation concentration index (PCI) and the Mann–Kendall trend test method (M‐K method). In addition, the association between variation patterns of precipitation and large‐scale circulation were also explored using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) reanalysis data. The results indicated that the spatial pattern of precipitation was primarily the local climate effect significant type, with the first three EOFs explaining a total of 55·3% of the variance, and the large‐scale climate system effect type, which explained 9·8% of the variance. Prior to the 1970s, the East Asian summer monsoon was stronger, which resulted in abundant precipitation in the Inner Mongolia region. Conversely, the climate of the Xinjiang region was controlled by westerly circulation and had lower precipitation. However, this situation has been reversed since the 1980s. It is predicted that precipitation will decrease by 15–40 and 0–10 mm/year in the Inner Mongolia plateau and southern Xinjiang, respectively, whereas it will likely increase by 10–40 mm/year in northern Xinjiang. Additionally, 58–62% of the annual rainfall occurred during summer in the DRC, with precipitation increasing during spring and summer and decreasing in winter. The intra‐annual precipitation is becoming uniform, but the inter‐annual variability in precipitation has been increasing in the western portions of the DRC. The probability of precipitation during the study period increased by 30% and 22·2% in the extreme‐arid zones and arid zones, respectively. Conversely, the probability of precipitation during the study period decreased by 18·5% and 37·5% in the semi‐arid zones and semi‐wet zones, respectively. It is predicted that the northwest portion of the DRC will become warmer and wetter, while the central portion will become warmer and drier and the northeast portion will be subjected to drought. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The spatio‐temporal variability of annual precipitation and its local impact factors during 1724–2010 in Beijing,China

Rapid population growth and increased economic activity impose an urgent challenge on the sustainability of water resources in Beijing. Understanding the spatial and temporal variability of precipitation is of the upmost importance in order to sustain the region's water resources. Two time series, one long term (1724–2010) from a single meteorological station and a shorter time series (1980–2010) from 20 different meteorological stations within the Beijing area, were analysed using Linear Regression, Moving Average, Mann–Kendall, Rescaled Range and Spatial Interpolation methods. Results from both the long‐ and short‐term meteorological data show a mean annual precipitation rate of 600 mm and 540 mm respectively. Annual precipitation rates have decreased during the 21st century by an estimated 100 mm or 16% in comparison to the 1990s. The 1980–2010 data show an increase in precipitation during the early 1990s followed by a sharp decrease during the subsequent years. The change of annual precipitation with time is more random and diverse in comparison to space. The main local impact factors (terrain, urbanization and elevation) and how they work on the local precipitation especially the spatial diversity are identified qualitatively. Generally speaking, (1) the annual precipitation of the plain area is more than that of the mountainous area (terrain effect), (2) the annual precipitation of the urban area in the plain area is obviously more than that of the surrounding suburb area (urbanization effect) and (3) the annual precipitation of the lower location is approximately more than that of the higher location (elevation effect). Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A modified global model for predicting the tritium distribution in precipitation, 1960–2005

A modified global model for predicting the tritium concentration in precipitation has been developed using the dataset of International Atomic Energy Agency/the World Meteorological Organization (IAEA/WMO) over the period from 1960 to 2005. The tritium concentration in precipitation and its history can be estimated at any location using the model. The modified global model of tritium in precipitation (MGMTP) here presented has higher accuracy than the global model of tritium in precipitation (GMTP) developed by Doney et al. ( 1992 ). The new model is not only more appropriate for a particular station but also applicable for the un‐normalized observations directly. Another advantage of MGMTP is that it can estimate a longer history (from 1960 to 2005) of tritium content in precipitation than GMTP (from 1960 to 1986). The seasonal cycle of tritium in precipitation has also been modelled in the form of a simple cosine function with five parameters. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Potential evapotranspiration and its attribution over the past 50 years in the arid region of Northwest China

Evaporation paradox and its attribution have become a hot research topic in hydrology in recent years. This study estimates the potential evapotranspiration (ET₀) using modified Penman–Monteith method and analyzes the corresponding trend attribution based on the long‐term meteorological data collected at 81 ground‐based meteorological stations in Northwestern arid region of China during the period 1958–2010. The analysis results show: (1) The ET₀ has exhibited an obvious decreasing trend until the early 1990s; however, the downward trend has been reversed to an upward trend after then. (2) Decrease in diurnal temperature range (DTR) and wind speed (WS) may lead to the decrease of ET₀ during 1956–1993. The change of dominant factors in the ET₀ trend has differences after the early 1990s; observed increase in WS is the primary factor contributing to the reversion of ET₀. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial and temporal variations of precipitation in Haihe River Basin,China: six decades of measurements

This study aims to determine temporal trends and spatial distribution of the annual and monthly precipitation in the Haihe River Basin, China, during 1951–2008. A significant decreasing trend was observed for the annual precipitation, mainly attributed to the abrupt decrease in the flood‐season precipitation (June–September) around the year of 1979. No significant trend was revealed for precipitation within Period I of 1951–1979 and Period II of 1980–2008. Results of this study indicated that the relative contributions of the flood‐season precipitation decreased temporally with time and spatially with elevation. This study also identified a potential movement of storm centers from east to west portions of the basin. In addition, analysis on the precipitation anomalies also suggested a redistribution of the non‐flood season precipitation over the study area. Compared with the west portion of the basin, generally, the east received relatively more precipitation during the non‐flood season, while similar trend of precipitation redistribution was not observed in the flood season. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Precipitation and temperature trends for the Southwest China: 1960–2007

Daily temperature and precipitation data from 136 stations of Southwest China (SWC) during the last five decades, from 1960 to 2007, were analysed to determine the spatial and temporal trends by using the Mann–Kendall trend test. Results show that SWC has become warmer over the last five decades, especially in the recent 20–25 years. The increasing trends in winter months are more significant than those in the months of other seasons, and spatially Tibet, Hengduan mountains area and west Sichuan Plateau have larger temperature trend in magnitude than the other regions have. A downward trend was detected in Sichuan Basin also, but the region with cooler temperature was shrinking due to the statistically significant increasing trend of temperature after 1990s. Both annual and seasonal means of daily maximum and minimum temperatures show an increasing trend, but trend magnitude of minimum temperature was larger than that of maximum temperature, resulting in the decrease of diurnal temperature range for SWC in the last 50 years. Annual precipitation showed slightly and statistically insignificant increasing trend, but statistically significant increasing trend has been detected in winter season while autumn witnessed a statistically significant decreasing trend. The results could be a reference for the planning and management of water resources under climate change. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

西北干旱区典型水库浮游植物群落结构特征及驱动因子

为了解西北干旱区水库浮游植物群落结构特征,并进一步探究浮游植物与环境因子之间的相关关系,于2017年对张掖境内不同分布区域的8座典型水库进行为期4个季度的采样调查.结果显示,调查期间共计检出浮游植物8门106属294种,其中硅藻门、绿藻门和蓝藻门占比分别为48.35％、26.64％和14.47％.浮游植物密度在0.3×...     

Spatial and temporal variability of Canadian seasonal precipitation (1900–2000)

Wavelet and cross-wavelet analysis are used to identify and describe spatial and temporal variability in Canadian seasonal precipitation, and to gain further insights into the dynamical relationship between the seasonal precipitation and the dominant modes of climate variability in the Northern Hemisphere. Results from applying continuous wavelet transform to seasonal precipitation series from 201 stations selected from Environment Canada Meteorological Network reveal striking climate-related features before and after the 1940s. The span of available observations, 1900–2000, allows for depicting variance and covariance for periods up to 12 years. Scale-averaged wavelet power spectra are used to simultaneously assess the temporal and spatial variability in each set of 201 seasonal precipitation time series. The most striking feature, in the 2–3-year period and in the 3–6-year period—the 6–12-year period is dominated by white noise and is not considered further—is a net distinction between the timing and intensity of the temporal variability in autumn, winter and spring–summer precipitation. It is found that the autumn season exhibits the most intense activity (or variance) in both the 2–3 year and the 3–6 year periods. The winter season corresponds to the least intense activity for the 2–3 year period, but it exhibits more activity than the spring–summer for the 3–6 year period.Cross-wavelet analysis is provided between the seasonal precipitation and four selected climatic indices: the Pacific North America (PNA), the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the Northern Hemisphere Annular Mode (NAM) originally called the Arctic Oscillation, and the sea surface temperature series over the Niño-3 region (ENSO). The wavelet cross-spectra revealed coherent space–time variability of the climate–precipitation relationship throughout Canada. It is shown that strong climate/precipitation activity (or covariance) in the 2–6 year period starts after 1940 whatever the climatic index and the season. Prior to year 1940, only local and weaker 2–6 year activity is revealed in western Canada essentially in winter and autumn, but overall a non-significant precipitation/climate relationship is observed prior to 1940. Correlation analysis in the 2–6 year band between the seasonal precipitation and the selected climatic indices revealed strong positive correlations with the ENSO, the NAO, and the NAM in eastern and western Canada for the post-1940 period. For the period prior to 1940, the correlation tend be negative for all the indices whatever the region. A particular feature in the correlation analysis results is the consistently stronger and positive NAM–precipitation correlations in all the regions since 1940. The cross-wavelet spectra and the correlation analysis in the 2–6 year band suggest the presence of a change point around 1940 in Canadian seasonal precipitation—that is found to be more likely related to NAM dynamics.     

Spatial and temporal variability of precipitation extrema in the Haihe River Basin,China

In this article, we investigated the variability of precipitation conditions in the Haihe River basin (HRB) during 1961–2010 by analyzing four daily precipitation scenarios. These scenarios were set with the values of, equal to 0 mm/day, 10–20 mm/day, 20–50 mm/day, and greater than 50 mm/day, which were denoted as P0, P10, P20, and P50, respectively. Results indicate that the mean values of daily precipitation decline, and its fluctuation becomes weak with years in HRB. The contour of daily precipitation with the mean value of 1.4 mm/day moves more than 100 km toward southeast in the basin from 1960s to 2000s. The variations of four precipitation scenarios show difference. The Tianjin and Langfang cities were the P0 drought center in HRB after 1980s, and the days and regions without precipitation increase with years. The magnitude of P10 extrema shows no significant changes over the last 50 years, but the rainfall centers vary with areas in HRB. The magnitude of P20 extrema shows no obvious changes in 1961–2000 but increases in 2000s. The magnitude of P50 extrema obviously declines in the last 50 years, with the rainfall center moving from northeast to south of HRB. Urbanization impacts are reflected in some cities in 1980s and 1990s, but after 2000, the urbanization impacts were not clearly detected due to the significant precipitation decreases in HRB. In summary, precipitation decrease is caused by the decreases of P50 extrema rather than P10 and P20 extrema in HRB, which would be favorable for the flood resources utilization through ample‐low flow operations over space. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial and temporal variability of precipitation maxima during 1960–2005 in the Yangtze River basin and possible association with large-scale circulation

This study investigated spatial and temporal patterns of trends of the precipitation maxima (defined as the annual/seasonal maximum precipitation) in the Yangtze River basin for 1960–2005 using Mann–Kendall trend test, and explored association of changing patterns of the precipitation maxima with large-scale circulation using NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data. The research results indicate changes of precipitation maxima from relative stable patterns to the significant increasing/decreasing trend in the middle 1970s. With respect to annual variability, the rainy days are decreasing and precipitation intensity is increasing, and significant increasing trend of precipitation intensity was detected in the middle and lower Yangtze River basin. Number of rain days with daily precipitation exceeding 95th and 99th percentiles and related precipitation intensities are in increasing tendency in summer. Large-scale atmospheric circulation analysis indicates decreasing strength of East Asian summer monsoon during 1975–2005 as compared to that during 1961–1974 and increasing geopotential height in the north China, South China Sea and west Pacific regions, all of which combine to negatively impact the northward propagation of the vapor flux. This circulation pattern will be beneficial for the longer stay of the Meiyu front in the Yangtze River basin, leading to more precipitation in the middle and lower Yangtze River basin in summer months. The significant increasing summer precipitation intensity and changing frequency in the rain/no-rain days in the middle and lower Yangtze River basin have potential to result in higher occurrence probability of flood and drought hazards in the region.     

Diurnal and seasonal variations of sap flow of Caragana korshinskii in the arid desert region of north‐west China

The aim of this study was to obtain the diurnal and seasonal changes of trunk sap flow in desert‐living Caragana korshinskii so as to understand its water requirement and ecological significance. The experiment was carried out with 15‐year old Caragana korshinskii grown in north‐west China under natural conditions. Heat pulse sensors based on the heat compensation theory were applied to measure the trunk sap flow, and soil moisture content at 0–300 cm layer, using tube‐type time domain reflectometry (Tube‐TDR). The solar radiation, the maximum and minimum air temperatures, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction and precipitation were measured at a standard automatic weather station. The diurnal and seasonal variations of sap flow rate, the sap velocity at different positions in the trunk and the sap flow rate under different weather conditions were analysed. And the correlation between the sap flow rate and the meteorological factors was also analysed. Results showed that the trunk sap flow varied regularly in the diurnal term and the sap flow velocity decreased with the probe‐inserted depth into the sapwood. Magnitude of sap flow changed considerably between sunny and rainy days. The order of the main meteorological factors affecting the sap flow rate of Caragana korshinskii shrubs were: vapour pressure deficit > solar radiation > air temperature > wind speed. The close correlation between daily sap flow rate and meteorological factors in the whole growing season can be used to estimate the transpiration of Caragana korshinskii. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Regional sea-surface temperatures explain spatial and temporal variation of summer precipitation in the source region of the Yellow River

ABSTRACT

The summer precipitation (June–September) in the source region of the Yellow River accounts for about 70% of the annual total, playing an important role in water availability. This study divided the source region of the Yellow River into homogeneous zones based on precipitation variability using cluster analysis. Summer precipitation trends and teleconnections with global sea-surface temperatures (SST) and the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) from 1961 to 2010 were investigated by Mann-Kendall test and Pearson product-moment correlation analysis. The results show that the northwest part (Zone 1) had a non-significantly increasing trend, and the middle and southeast parts (zones 2 and 3) that receive the most precipitation displayed a statistically significant decreasing trend for summer precipitation. The summer precipitation in the whole region showed statistically significant negative correlations with the central Pacific SST for 0–4 month lag and with the Southern Indian and Atlantic oceans SST for 5–8 month lag. Analyses of sub-regions reveal intricate and complex correlations with different SST areas that further explain the summer precipitation variability. The SOI had significant positive correlations, mainly for 0–2 months lag, with summer precipitation in the source region of the Yellow River. It is seen that El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events have an influence on summer precipitation, and the predominant negative correlations indicate that higher SST in equatorial Pacific areas corresponding to El Niño coincides with less summer precipitation in the source region of the Yellow River.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Associate editor D. Gerten     

Spatial distribution and temporal variation of reference evapotranspiration in arid and semi‐arid regions of Iran

Analysis of spatial and temporal variations of reference evapotranspiration (ET_o) is important in arid and semi‐arid regions where water resources are limited. The main aim of this study was to analyse the spatial distribution and the annual, seasonal and monthly trends of the Penman–Monteith ET_o for 21 stations in the arid and semi‐arid regions of Iran. Three statistical tests the Mann‐Kendall, Sen's slope estimator and linear regression were used for the analysis. The analysis revealed that ET_o increased from January to July and deceased from July to December at almost all stations. Additionally, higher annual ET_o values were found in the southeast of the study region and lower values in the northwest of the region. Although the results showed both positive and negative trends in annual ET_o series, ET_o generally increased, significantly so in six (～30%) of the stations. Analysis of the impacts of meteorological variables on the temporal trends of ET_o indicated that the increasing trend of ET_o was most likely due to a significant increase in minimum air temperature, while decreasing trend of ET_o was mainly caused by a significant decrease in wind speed. At the sites where increasing ET_o trends were statistically significant, the rate of increase varied from (+)8·36 mm/year at Mashhad station to (+)31·68 mm/year at Iranshahr station. On average, an increasing trend of (+)4·42 mm/year was obtained for the whole study area during the last four decades. Seasonal and monthly ET_o have also tended to increase at the majority of the stations. The greatest numbers of significant trends were observed in winter on the seasonal time‐scale and in September on the monthly time‐scale. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Extreme precipitation drives groundwater recharge: the Northern High Plains Aquifer,central United States, 1950–2010

Future extreme precipitation (EP, daily rainfall amount over certain thresholds) is projected to increase with global climate change; however, its effect on groundwater recharge has not been fully explored. This study specifically investigates the spatiotemporal dynamics of groundwater recharge and the effects of extreme precipitation (daily rainfall amount over the 95th percentile, which is tagged by ranking the percentiles in each season for a base period) on groundwater recharge from 1950 to 2010 over the Northern High Plains (NHP) Aquifer using the Soil Water Balance Model. The results show that groundwater recharge significantly (p < 0.05) increased in the eastern NHP from 1950 to 2010, where the highest annual average groundwater recharge occurs compared to the central and the western NHP. In the eastern NHP, 45.1% of the annual precipitation fell as EP, which contributed 56.8% of the annual total groundwater recharge. In the western NHP, 30.9% of the annual precipitation fell as extreme precipitation, which contributed 62.5% of the annual total groundwater recharge. In addition, recharge by extreme precipitation mainly occurred in late spring and early summer, before the maximum evapotranspiration rate, which usually occurs in mid‐summer until late fall. A dry site in the western NHP and a wet site in the eastern NHP were analysed to indicate how recharge responds to EP with different precipitation regimes. The maximum daily recharge at the dry site exceeded the wet site when there was EP. When precipitation fell as non‐extreme rainfall, most recharge was less than 5 mm at both the dry and wet sites, and the maximum recharge at the dry site became lower than the wet site. This study shows that extreme precipitation plays a significant role in determining groundwater recharge. © 2016 The Authors Hydrological Processes Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Spatial distribution and temporal trends in daily and monthly precipitation concentration indices in the upper reaches of the Huai River, China

Understanding precipitation variations on various timescales and their correlations is important for assessment of flood risk and utilization of water resources. In this study, the spatial and temporal patterns of precipitation concentration in the upper reaches of the Huai River, China, were investigated using two indices: the precipitation concentration index (PCI) and the concentration index (CI) for measuring seasonality and daily heterogeneity using monthly and daily precipitation series, respectively. In particular, the trends of PCI and CI were tested by the Mann–Kendall method, and relationship among PCI, CI and percentage of precipitation contributed by the rainiest days was analyzed by the linear correlation analysis. The results show a significant seasonality of the rainfall distribution and very in homogeneous temporal distribution of the daily rainfall in the south part of the study area, especially in the three reservoirs. Positive trends in the PCI and CI were found at most stations, although none of the PCI trends were statistically significant. Daily heterogeneity of the rainfall in a year is highly correlated with the heavy rainfall amount of the 15 % rainiest days, and seasonality in rainfall distribution over a year can be partly explained by the daily rainfall heterogeneity.     

Spatial distribution and temporal trends of rainfall and erosivity in the Eastern Africa region

Soil erosion by water is one of the main environmental concerns in the drought‐prone Eastern Africa region. Understanding factors such as rainfall and erosivity is therefore of utmost importance for soil erosion risk assessment and soil and water conservation planning. In this study, we evaluated the spatial distribution and temporal trends of rainfall and erosivity for the Eastern Africa region during the period 1981–2016. The precipitation concentration index, seasonality index, and modified Fournier index have been analysed using 5 × 5‐km resolution multisource rainfall product (Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Stations). The mean annual rainfall of the region was 810 mm ranging from less than 300 mm in the lowland areas to over 1,200 mm in the highlands being influenced by orography of the Eastern Africa region. The precipitation concentration index and seasonality index revealed a spatial pattern of rainfall seasonality dependent on latitude, with a more pronounced seasonality as we go far from the equator. The modified Fournier index showed high spatial variability with about 55% of the region subject to high to very high rainfall erosivity. The mean annual R‐factor in the study region was calculated at 3,246 ± 1,895 MJ mm ha^?1 h^?1 yr^?1, implying a potentially high water erosion risk in the region. Moreover, both increasing and decreasing trends of annual rainfall and erosivity were observed but spatial variability of these trends was high. This study offers useful information for better soil erosion prediction as well as can support policy development to achieve sustainable regional environmental planning and management of soil and water resources.     

Spatial patterns and temporal stability of soil moisture across a range of scales in a semi‐arid environment

The antecedent soil moisture status of a catchment is an important factor in hydrological modelling. Traditional Hortonian infiltration models assume that the initial moisture content is constant across the whole catchment, despite the fact that even in small catchments antecedent soil moisture exhibits tremendous spatial heterogeneity. Spatial patterns of soil water distribution across three transects (two in a burnt area and one in an unburnt area) in a semi‐arid area were studied. At the transect scale, when the factors affecting soil moisture were limited to topographical position or local topography, spatial patterns showed time stability, but when other factors, such as vegetation, were taken into account, the spatial patterns became time unstable. At the point scale, and in the same areas, topographical position was the main factor controlling time stability. Scale dependence of time stability was studied and local topography and vegetation presence were observed to play an important role for the correlation between consecutive measures depending on the scale. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analysis of trends of annual and seasonal precipitation from 1956 to 2000 in Guangdong Province,China

Abstract

The trends of annual, seasonal and monthly precipitation in southern China (Guangdong Province) for the period 1956–2000 are investigated, based on the data from 186 high-quality gauging stations. Statistical tests, including Mann-Kendall rank test and wavelet analysis, are employed to determine whether the precipitation series exhibit any regular trend and periodicity. The results indicate that the annual precipitation has a slightly decreasing trend in central Guangdong and slight increasing trends in the eastern and western areas of the province. However, all the annual trends are not statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. The average precipitation increases in the dry season in central Guangdong, but decreases in the wet season, meaning that the precipitation becomes more evenly distributed within the year. Furthermore, the analysis of monthly precipitation suggests that the distribution of intra-annual precipitation changes over time. The results of wavelet analysis show prominent precipitation with periods ranging from 10 to 12 years in every sub-region in Guangdong Province. Comparing with the sunspot cycle (11-year), the annual precipitation in every sub-region in Guangdong province correlates with Sunspot Number with a 3-year lag. The findings in this paper will be useful for water resources management.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz; Associate editor Sheng Yue

Citation Dedi Liu, Shenglian Guo, Xiaohong Chen and Quanxi Shao, 2012. Analysis of trends of annual and seasonal precipitation from 1956 to 2000 in Guangdong Province, China. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 57 (2), 358–369.     

Groundwater quality in the semi‐arid region of the Chahardouly basin,West Iran

Chahardouly basin is located in the western part of Iran and is characterized by semi‐arid climatic conditions and scarcity in water resources. The main aquifer systems are developed within alluvial deposits. The availability of groundwater is rather erratic owing to the occurrence of hard rock formation and a saline zone in some parts of the area. The aquifer systems of the area show signs of depletion, which have taken place in recent years due to a decline in water levels. Groundwater samples collected from shallow and deep wells were analysed to examine the quality characteristics of groundwater. The major ion chemistry of groundwater is dominated by Ca²⁺ and HCO₃^?, while higher values of total dissolved solids (TDS) in groundwater are associated with high concentrations of all major ions. An increase in salinity is recorded in the down‐gradient part of the basin. The occurrence of saline groundwater, as witnessed by the high electrical conductivity (EC), may be attributed to the long residence time of water and the dissolution of minerals, as well as evaporation of rainfall and irrigation return flow. Based on SAR values and sodium content (%Na), salinity appears to be responsible for the poor groundwater quality, rendering most of the samples not suitable for irrigation use. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.