An analysis of groundwater resources composition and driving force in Huocheng county

The analyses of the composition change and driving force of groundwater resources is of practical significance for the development and utilization of urban water resources, development planning and urban resources management. Previous studies on water resources in Huocheng County in Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture of Xinjiang focused mostly based on the water resources quantity in that year and did not involve the change in water resources composition. A quantitative study of the compositions and driving forces of groundwater resources in Huocheng County in the past 30 years is conducted. The results show that the total groundwater resources in Huocheng County show a decreasing trend from 1985 to 2014, and a positive equilibrium from 1985 to 1990, and a negative equilibrium from 2000 to 2014. At the same time, the composition of groundwater resources has changed profoundly. The infiltration recharge of the river and canal system obtained with the water balance method has decreased significantly, the infiltration recharge in the field has increased continuously, the spring discharge has decreased by 22.85%, and the artificial exploitation has increased by 15.2%. The analysis method is used to compares water resources composition from 1985 to 2000 with that from 2000 to 2014, showing that the positive and negative correlation between the main components of water resources and the total amount of water resources has changed. The correlation between the spring discharge, river infiltration, reservoir infiltration and total water resources changes from negative to positive, and the field infiltration recharge and artificial mining changed from positive to negative. The results of water balance method and factor analysis method show a high correlation to the analysis of the change in groundwater resources composition. The results also show that human activities have a profound impact on the composition of groundwater resources. It is the main driving force of groundwater resources change in Huocheng County, in which the increasing irrigation area and the improvement of irrigation method increase the utilization coefficient of irrigation water, leading to the slow increase speed of infiltration. The groundwater level decreased continuously duo to artificial exploitation, causing the spring water resources to decline in stages and the groundwater level to be redistributed, the irrigation area and the total irrigation volume to increase, making the evaporation volume increase. Therefore, it is of great significance to put forward the corresponding water-saving measures for each driving force to guide the sustainable utilization of local water resources.