A series of environmentalegeological problems have been caused by over-exploitation of deep
groundwater (i.e., confined aquifer water) in the North China Plain. In order to better understand the status
of deep groundwater over-exploitation and the resultant environmentalegeological problems on a regional
scale, the over-exploitation of groundwater has been assessed by way of the groundwater exploitation
potential coefficient (i.e., the ratio of exploitable amount of deep groundwater to current exploitation),
cumulative land subsidence, and long-term average lowering rate of the groundwater table. There is a good
correlation among the results calculated by the different methods. On a regional scale, deep groundwater
has been over-exploited and there is no further exploitation potential under the current conditions. The
groundwater exploitation degree index takes the exploitation in 2003 as the reference for the calculations,
so the results mainly reflect the degree of current groundwater exploitation. The results of over-exploitation
of deep groundwater obtained by land subsidence data and long-term average rate of depression of the water
table mainly reflect environmentalegeological problems caused by exploitation of deep groundwater. 相似文献