Limiting hydrochemical factors for sustainability of water resources: The Cisjordanian experience

In Cisjordan, surface- and groundwater flow are either towards the Jordan Valley-Dead Sea-Arava Valley (the Rift) or the Mediterranean Sea. Due to upstream exploitation by riparians to the Jordan River, the historical annual flow, which fluctuated between 250 and 1100 Mm³, has declined to a mere 100-200 Mm³. The remaining flow south of Lake Kinneret is highly polluted and heavily loaded with salts. Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) is one of the major water resources in the area. Annually, between 200 and 700 Mm³ reach the Lake as surface and groundwater flow. The relatively high salinity of the Lake is caused by thermomineral water discharging from springs and seepages located onshore and on the bottom of the Lake. The main factors causing deterioration of the groundwater quality in the Rift are of geogenic character. These are different types of brines, whose outflow and penetration into freshwater aquifers was triggered by overpumpage. Contemporary encroachment of seawater caused by intensive water exploitation in the Coastal Plain is manageable and reversible. However, due to lack of hydrogeological evidence, no such statement can be made about the circulation of seawater beneath the Coastal Plain and into the deep-seated Yarkon-Taninim aquifer or the upflow of brines in the Rift.The flow regimes of the different brine bodies could not be elucidated. Whether each such brine-body flows by its particular hydrological regime or whether the movement of the different bodies is intradependent or interdependent with the regional movement of fresh groundwater, remain open questions. Therefore, sustainable development of groundwater resources is clearly dependent on the elucidation of the relationship between changes in the pressure of the brine with depth and its relationship to the overlying freshwater.The average total annual recharge of all water sources in Cisjordan is 1820 Mm³, which means that the total production of water must be managed within the limits of this annual volume. During drought years, total groundwater extraction exceeds the safe yield, causing drastic lowering of water levels and upflow of saline waters from greater depths.Because of the structural complexity of aquifers and hydrochemical variability of the numerous groundwater bodies, new hydrochemical methods have been developed for the identification of groundwater bodies and for the elucidation of their origins. These methods combine macrochemical, microchemical, and isotopic evidences. By combining distribution patterns of rare earths, yttrium and stable isotopes, a complete picture of catchment lithology and the altitude and latitude of precipitation could be obtained.The area west of the Jordan River is characterized by the occurrence of transboundary surface- and groundwater basins in which fresh and saline water and brines flow across political borders between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. It is very difficult to assess separately the annual safe yield of water resources for each of the two national entities. Neither country may dispose independently of its waters and is usually at the mercy of the other riparian. There is as yet no general multilateral international treaty in force allocating the water resources of international watercourses. At present there are two rules for the management of the waters of an international drainage basin—the rule of Equitable Distribution, and the obligation Not to Cause Significant Harm. The rules of equitable distribution have tended to focus on the issue of quantities of water rather than on quality of water, which is really relevant to the issue of equitable distribution. Future negotiations on the uses of the basin will need to deal with issues of characteristic salinities and geochemical features and on their impact on equitable sharing of water resources.     

Contested H2O: Science, policy and politics in water resources management in Chile

This paper critically explores the politics that mediate the use of environmental science assessments as the basis of resource management policy. Drawing on recent literature in the political ecology tradition that has emphasised the politicised nature of the production and use of scientific knowledge in environmental management, the paper analyses a hydrological assessment in a small river basin in Chile, undertaken in response to concerns over the possible overexploitation of groundwater resources. The case study illustrates the limitations of an approach based predominantly on hydrogeological modelling to ascertain the effects of increased groundwater abstraction. In particular, it identifies the subjective ways in which the assessment was interpreted and used by the state water resources agency to underpin water allocation decisions in accordance with its own interests, and the role that a desocialised assessment played in reproducing unequal patterns of resource use and configuring uneven waterscapes. Nevertheless, as Chile’s ‘neoliberal’ political-economic framework privileges the role of science and technocracy, producing other forms of environmental knowledge to complement environmental science is likely to be contentious. In conclusion, the paper considers the potential of mobilising the concept of the hydrosocial cycle to further critically engage with environmental science.     

Geochemistry of carbonate precipitation from the groundwater in a coastal region

Groundwater samples were collected from a coastal region of Andhra Pradesh to assess the possible conditions of the formation of carbonates. The area experiences a semi-arid climate and is underlain by khondalites, over which the Quaternary sediments occur. The study of the geochemistry of groundwater indicates that groundwater is mostly of fresh, with alkaline nature. The study further suggest that the breakdown of feldspars as kaolinite during rock-water interaction, releases Ca²⁺. Soils/weathered products contribute high CO₂ under the open system. The Ca²⁺ and CO₂ are added to the groundwater through the infiltrating recharge water. They subsequently precipitate as fine-grained carbonates in the weathering profile due to evapotranspiration under a freshwater environment.     

A feather hydrogen isoscape for Mexico

Developing useful biological isoscapes for areas of the world is a priority. This is the case for Mexico that hosts a large percentage of North America's Neotropical migrant birds. Here we investigated the use of House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) feathers to create a spatially explicit feather deuterium isoscape for that country using samples (n = 461) that were collected across Mexico. Considerable and useful spatial hydrogen isotopic structure was observed, suggesting that isotopes may be a potential forensic tool for evaluating origins of Mexican derived fauna and flora. The most positive feather δD values occurred in the northeast and most negative in the south-central part of the country, roughly matching δD patterns observed in groundwater. A weak negative isotopic relationship was found with altitude in both the Pacific and Atlantic drainage systems. The most parsimonious model describing isotopic spatial variation in feathers between 300 and 3000 m a.s.l. included groundwater δD (δD_gw; precipitation proxy), sex, amount of precipitation, and the coefficient of variation in amount of precipitation. Overall, δD_gw was a poor predictor of sparrow δD_f values for all of Mexico. However, this relationship was considerably strengthened when we considered sex separately, removed the Baja peninsula from our sample, and considered the Atlantic and Pacific drainage basins separately. The strongest relationship between δD_gw and δD_f was found for female sparrows in the Atlantic drainage basin (r² = 0.464). We recommend that researchers interested in inferring origins of migratory birds and other animals in Mexico create species specific isotopic basemaps that may be guided by the isotopic patterns we have observed for House Sparrows and groundwater.     

A groundwater isoscape (δD, δO) for Mexico

Numerous studies have shown that precipitation isocapes drive δD and δ¹⁸O patterns in surficial waters and in terrestrial food webs. While the GNIP (Global Network for Isotopes in Precipitation) dataset provided a key foundation for linking precipitation-terrestrial isoscapes globally, it has insufficient spatial coverage in many countries like Mexico. To overcome this limitation, we hypothesized that shallow phreatic groundwaters in Mexico could be used as an isotopic integrator of long-term seasonally weighted precipitation inputs to the landscape to aid in calibrating spatial H and O isotope datasets for terrestrial, biological and hydrological research. Groundwater was sampled from 234 sites in Mexico at ~ 50 km latitudinal spacing to obtain high spatial resolution and country-wide coverage for the construction of a groundwater isoscape. Our data revealed that shallow groundwater infiltration in Mexico appears largely unaffected by evaporation and reflects seasonally weighted precipitation inputs. These precipitation inputs are primarily biased to summertime when highest rainfall occurs, but a small degree of post-precipitation evaporation revealed a lower d-excess zone that corresponded to the interior semi-arid ecozone. We developed a predictive general linear model (GLM) for hydrogen and oxygen isotopic spatial patterns in Mexican groundwater and then compared the results to a validation subset of our field data, as well external data reported in the literature. The GLM used elevation, latitude, drainage basin (Atlantic vs. Pacific), and rainfall as the most relevant predictive variables. The GLM explained 81% of the overall isotopic variance observed in groundwater, 68% of the variance within our validation subset, and 77% of the variance in the external data set. Our predictive GLM is sufficiently accurate to allow for future ecological, hydrological and forensic isoscape applications in Mexico, and may be an approach that is applicable to other countries and regions where GNIP stations are lacking.     

辽河三角洲地区地下水动态监测研究

辽河三角洲处于陆地和海洋的结合部,蕴含丰富的资源,具有十分重要的战略地位。项目通过三年的时间,查明了辽河三角洲地区主要含水层结构:第四系含水层系统(Q)、明化镇组含水层系统(Nm)、馆陶组含水层系统(Ng)。通过设立动态监测网,建立、完善地下水动态监测体系,实现地下水位和水质的实时监测;地下水水位动态:第四系松散岩类孔隙水较为稳定,水位动态变化不大;上新近系明化镇组和馆陶组地下水,受人类活动影响较大,由于多年连续大量开采,地下水位逐年下降,已形成了2个区域性地下水降落漏斗。地下水水质动态:第四系上更新统(Q3)浅层水Cl-、SO42-、Na+及矿化度持续升高,高矿化度水分布面积扩大,水化学类型复杂化,氯化物型和钠型水分布面积增大,向周边扩散;明化镇组和馆陶组地下水,水质优良,变化不大。针对地下水超采,注重水资源合理配置,适当减少新近系地下水资源的开采,充分利用地表水资源的对策。     

地下水水位管理研究进展综述

地下水位变化是地下水资源量多寡最直接的表现形式,是地下水管理最重要的控制性指标。对地下水水位进行管理,可实现对地下水资源的量化管理。通过对地下水位与生态及地质环境的关系、地下水位阈值、地下水管理水位划定等几个方面进行综述,力图从相对全面的角度认识当前地下水水位管理的发展。在回顾地下水水位管理以上研究进展的基础上,对我国地下水水位管理面临的问题、地下水管理策略、复合型地区地下水水位管理等发展趋势进行了探讨,为相关研究人员提供一定的参考。     

Characteristics of the main inorganic nitrogen accumulation in surface water and groundwater of wetland succession zones

Based on the observation of a complete hydrological year from June 2014 to May 2015, the temporal and spatial variations of the main inorganic nitrogen(MIN, referring to NO_3~--N, NO_2~--N, NH_4~+-N) in surface water and groundwater of the Li River and the Yuan River wetland succession zones are analyzed. The Li River and the Yuan River are located in agricultural and non-agricultural areas, and this study focus on the influence of surface water level and groundwater depth and precipitation on nitrogen pollution. The results show that NO_3~-N in surface water accounts for 70%-90% of MIN, but it does not exceed the limit of national drinking water surface water standard. Groundwater is seriously polluted by H_4~+-N. Based on the groundwater quality standard of H_4~+-N, the groundwater quality in the Li River exceeds Class III water standard throughout the year, and the exceeding months' proportion of Yuan River reaches 58.3%. Compared with the Yuan River, MIN in groundwater of the Li River shows significant temporal and spatial variations owing to the influence of agricultural fertilization. The correlation between the concentrations of MIN and surface water level is poor, while the fitting effect of quadratic correlation between H_4~+-N concentration and groundwater depth is the best(R~2=0.9384), NO_3~-N is the next(R~2=0.5128), NO_2~--N is the worst(R~2=0.2798). The equation of meteoric water line is δD =7.83δ~(18) O+12.21, indicating that both surface water and groundwater come from atmospheric precipitation. Surface infiltration is the main cause of groundwater H_4~+-N pollution. Rainfall infiltration in non-fertilization seasons reduces groundwater nitrogen pollution, while rainfall leaching farming and fertilization aggravate groundwater nitrogen pollution.     

Characteristics of shallow geothermal fields in major cities of Tibet Autonomous Region

Based on the project titled "Investigation and evaluation of shallow geothermal energy in major cities of Tibet Autonomous Region", the distribution characteristics and occurrence conditions of shallow geothermal fields in these cities were introduced in this paper. To this end, relevant data in Lhasa, Shigatse and Nyingchi Cities through vertical thermometry was a focus, so as to analyze groundwater temperature and the distribution law of strata with constant temperature. Then through comprehensive comparisons and analysis of the relationship between groundwater temperature and climate, differences in this aspect of Nagqu City were taken as a typical case to clarify formation of geothermal field and corresponding influence on groundwater temperature, furthermore providing basic data for rational development and utilization of shallow geothermal energy in Tibet Autonomous Region.