Abstract:

To improve the reliability of regional groundwater resource assessment and to apply the theory and method of ecology-oriented regional groundwater resource assessment in arid and semi-arid area, the research on the relationship between groundwater and ecology environment in Junggar basin and Ordos basin is carried out, and the result reveals that groundwater takes significant ecological value. Nowadays it takes inadequate consideration on the ecological value of groundwater in groundwater resource assessment in arid and semi-arid area, which is one of the reasons for inaccurate groundwater resource assessment. The concept of groundwater ecological value is constructed in arid and semi-arid area. In accordant with the sustainable use of groundwater resource quantity and virtuous circle of ecological environment, the theories and methods frame of ecology-oriented regional groundwater resource assessment has established. The fundamental frame of this theory is the systematic perspective and the three principles including integrated assessment of surface water and groundwater, equal attention to water quality and quantity, and the agreement between groundwater resource and its relative ecology environment; and the four models of it includes hydrogeological conceptual model, lumped parameter model, distributed parameter model and the groundwater-based ecology integrated assessment model; its three constrain condition includes water quantity, water level and water quality; and based on the above elements and the platform of  GIS-based groundwater resource assessment information system, the integrated assessment and precaution of groundwater resource, its regulation capacity and the ecological environmental benefits can be carried out. This method frame considers dual attributes of groundwater as both resource and ecology, emphasizes the integrated assessment and precaution of groundwater resource, regulation capacity and the ecological environmental benefit, and is highlighted in the effective integration of model system and GIS tech in regional groundwater assessment and relative ecological environmental assessment.

Key words: groundwater resources, assessment, ecological value, arid and semi-arid area