ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Soil Water and Salt Transport and its Influence
on Groundwater Quality: A Case Study
in the Kongque River Region of China
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1
Key Laboratory of Groundwater Resources and Environment (Jilin University), Ministry of Education,
Changchun, China
2
Institute of Water Resources and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun, China
3
Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun, China
4
Jilin Geophysical Prospecting and Surveying Company, Changchun, China
Submission date: 2018-02-06
Final revision date: 2018-03-28
Acceptance date: 2018-03-28
Online publication date: 2018-12-12
Publication date: 2019-02-18
Corresponding author
Xiaosi Su
Jilin University, 2519 Jiefang Road, 130000 Changchun, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2019;28(3):1637-1650
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ABSTRACT
Unreasonable exploitation of groundwater resources in the Kongque River region has led to
a decline in the groundwater table, groundwater salinization, and other geo-environmental problems.
Therefore, this study supplements the studies on soil water and salt transport in the Kongque River
region, and provides a new method for the prevention of groundwater salinization in arid and semiarid
regions. In this study, soil column experiments were carried out to investigate the influence of
lithological structures of the unsaturated zone, water quality, and methods of irrigation on soil water and
salt transport. Based on the data from the experiment, a one-dimensional model of soil water and salt
transport was built to predict the impact of long-term irrigation on groundwater quality using Hydrus-
1D. The results showed that groundwater TDS increased in the predicted scenarios and that groundwater
quality was greatly influenced by irrigation water with high TDS values. The influence of long-term
irrigation on groundwater quality was smallest for drip irrigation, which can save water and should be
promoted. The influence of irrigation on groundwater quality was largest for flood irrigation. If flood
irrigation cannot be avoided, then it is recommended that water with a TDS below 2 g/L should be used.