Ruiqiang Yuan

The impacts of a linear wastewater reservoir on groundwater recharge and geochemical evolution in a semi-arid area of the Lake Baiyangdian watershed, North China Plain

Sewage leakage has become an important source of groundwater recharge in urban areas. Large linear wastewater ponds that lack anti-seepage measures can act as river channels that cause the deterioration of groundwater quality. This study investigated the groundwater recharge by leakage of the Tanghe Wastewater Reservoir, which is the largest industrial wastewater channel on the North China Plain. Additionally, water quality evolution was investigated using a combination of multivariate statistical methods, multi-tracers and geochemical methods. Stable isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen indicated high levels of wastewater evaporation. Based on the assumption that the wastewater was under an open system and fully mixed, an evaporation model was established to estimate the evaporation of the wastewater based on isotope enrichments of the Rayleigh distillation theory using the average isotope values for dry and rainy seasons. Using an average evaporation loss of 26.5% for the input wastewater, the estimated recharge fraction of wastewater leakage and irrigation was 73.5% of the total input of wastewater. The lateral regional groundwater inflow was considered to be another recharge source. Combing the two end-members mix model and cluster analysis revealed that the mixture percentage of the wastewater decreased from the Highly Affected Zone (76%) to the Transition Zone (5%). Ion exchange and redox reaction were the dominant geochemical processes when wastewater entered the aquifer. Carbonate precipitation was also a major process affecting evolution of groundwater quality along groundwater flow paths.

A hydrochemical framework and water quality assessment of river water in the upper reaches of the Huai River Basin, China

This study characterizes the major ion chemistry for river water in the upper reaches of Bengbu Sluice in the Huai River Basin in wet and dry seasons, and assessed the suitability of water quality for irrigation and human consumption. It is found that sodium and calcium are the dominant cations and bicarbonate is the dominant anion in most river water samples. River water in Zhoukou of the Ying River and Bozhou of the Guo River is characterized as a Na–Cl water type, whereas river water from the upper reaches and the lower reaches of the two cities is characterized as a Na-HCO3 water type, which may be attributed by anthropogenic influences in these cities. The river water types vary from the upstream to the downstream of the Fuyang sluice, which indicates that the sluices play a critical role in determining the water type. The water chemistry of these rivers clearly shows that the second group of rivers is affected more severely by waste effluent than is the first group. Calculated values of sodium adsorption ratio, %Na, and residual sodium carbonate indicate that, in general, most of the river water is of acceptable irrigation quality. The river water in Zhoukou section of the Ying River and the Bozhou section of the Guo River cannot be used as drinking water; pollution control should be further improved and enhanced across the river.

Characteristics of aquatic bacterial community and the influencing factors in an urban river.

Bacteria play a critical role in environmental and ecological processes in river ecosystems. We studied the bacterial community in the Ganjiang River, a major tributary of the Yangtze River, as it flowed through Nanchang, the largest city in the Ganjiang River basin. Water was sampled at five sites monthly during the wet season, and the bacterial community was characterized using Illumina high-throughput sequencing. A total of 811 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were observed for all samples, ranging from 321 to 519 for each sample. The bacterial communities were maintained by a core of OTUs that persisted longitudinally and monthly. Actinobacteria (41.17% of total sequences) and Proteobacteria (31.80%) were the dominant phyla, while Firmicutes (mostly genus Lactococcus) became most abundant during flooding. Temperature and flow rate, rather than water chemistry, were the main factors influencing the bacterial community in river water. Temperature was the best individual parameter explaining the variations in OTU abundance, while flow rate was the best individual parameter explaining the variations in phylum abundance. Except for Proteobacteria, the relative abundance of bacterial phyla did not differ significantly between sites, and the degrees of influence of urban landscape on the bacterial community were estimated to be 17%-34%.

Combination of CFCs and stable isotopes to characterize the mechanism of groundwater-surface water interactions in a headwater basin of the North China Plain

Mountainous areas are characterized by steep slopes and rocky landforms, with hydrological conditions varying rapidly from upstream to downstream, creating variable interactions between groundwater and surface water. In this study, mechanisms of groundwatersurface water interactions within a headwater catchment of the North China Plain were assessed along the stream length and during different seasons, using hydrochemical and stable isotope data, and groundwater residence times estimated using chlorofluorocarbons. These tracers indicate that the river is gaining, due to groundwater discharge in the headwater catchment both in the dry and rainy seasons. Residence time estimation of groundwater using chlorofluorocarbons data reveals that groundwater flow in the shallow sedimentary aquifer is dominated by the binary mixing of water approximating a piston flow model along 2 flow paths: old water, carried by a regional flow system along the direction of river flow, along with young water, which enters the river through local flow systems from hilly areas adjacent to the river valley (particularly during the rainy season). The larger mixing ratio of young water from lateral groundwater recharge and return flow of irrigation during the rainy season result in higher ion concentrations in groundwater than in the dry season. The binary mixing model showed that the ratio of young water versus total groundwater ranged from 0.88 to 0.22 and 1.0 to 0.74 in the upper and lower reaches, respectively. In the middle reach, meandering stream morphology allows some loss of river water back into the aquifer, leading to increasing estimates of the ratio of young water (from 0.22 to 1). This is also explained by declining groundwater levels near the river, due to groundwater extraction for agricultural irrigation. The switch from a greater predominance of regional flow in the dry season, to more localized groundwater flow paths in the wet season is an important groundwatersurface water

Renewal rate of groundwater in the Baiyangdian Lake Basin

Human activities, such as water storage in reservoirs and pumping for irrigation, reduce stream flows and deplete unconfined aquifer in the plain area of the Baiyangdian Lake Basin. Without recharges from rivers and groundwater, the Baiyangdian Lake faces the risk of drying up. Considering the impacts of the Baiyangdian Lake on the local environment, biodiversity, and climate, many projects of water transfer for the sustainability of the lake were implemented. However, the result are unsatisfactory due to considerable leakages in the lake. In order to preserve the lake, sustainable groundwater use should be achieved and therefore, it is necessary to study the renewal rate of unconfined groundwater. In this study groundwater was surveyed on the plain area of the Baiyangdian Lake Basin in 2009. thirty six samples from groundwater and surface water were collected for measuring the content of tritium. Tritium content in precipitation since the mid-1950 s was rebuilt by comparing the results from linear interpolation, Wus method and Lians method. Renewal rate of groundwater in the plain area was estimated based on the tritium data and the well- mixed model. Results show that leakage of the lake slightly increased tritium content in the ambient groundwater. Generally, the renewal rate of unconfined groundwater decreased from 15.0 %/a to 4.0 %/a between the mountain area and the lake. Alluvial fans are the main recharge area with an average renewal rate of 9.8 %/a. The renewal rate dropped to 4.4 %/a in the alluvial plain. We recommend that groundwater development should be restricted in the alluvial plain to recover the renewal rate of unconfined groundwater. Although such recovery may take a long time to occur, it is believed that recharging the lake by shallow groundwater is the only way to maintain a sustainable lake.