气候变化领域集成服务门户(CCPortal): A roadblock on the path to aquifer sustainability: Underestimating the impact of pumping reductions

CCPortal

DOI	10.1088/1748-9326/ab6002
	A roadblock on the path to aquifer sustainability: Underestimating the impact of pumping reductions
	Butler J.J.; Bohling G.C.; Whittemore D.O.; Wilson B.B.
发表日期	2020
ISSN	17489318
卷号	15 期号:1
英文摘要	Depletion of aquifers across the globe is challenging our ability to maintain critically needed agricultural production and provide potable water supplies for millions. In most cases, the only option to decrease the rate of depletion is to reduce the pumping of groundwater. Although implementation of large-scale pumping reductions in the absence of alternative water sources has proven difficult, recent work has shown that locally based, stakeholder-driven initiatives, coupled with regulatory oversight, can be a promising path forward. A critical question is how much must pumping be reduced to have a significant impact on decline rates. Data limitations and modeling uncertainties, however, have frustrated efforts to answer this question with reliable estimates of the needed reductions. We address this situation using a variant of the water-balance equation to identify a key factor, the misestimation of specific yield, that is limiting our ability to assess the impact of proposed pumping reductions. We find that common modeling practices can lead to large overestimates of the required pumping reductions, thereby inadvertently discouraging conservation efforts. We demonstrate the importance of this general finding using data from the High Plains Aquifer in the central United States where common practices have led to overestimates of required pumping reductions by a factor of three to six. We introduce a new metric, the coefficient of variation of net inflow, to help identify such conditions. The reliability of estimates of the impact of pumping reductions can be greatly improved when the constraints imposed by this new metric are combined with a recently proposed method for estimation of specific yield from field data. The ramifications of these findings are far reaching, as defensible estimates of the impact of proposed pumping reductions are an essential element of efforts to chart more sustainable paths for the world's heavily stressed aquifers. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.
英文关键词	aquifer sustainability; High Plains Aquifer; irrigated agriculture; Ogallala Aquifer; pumping reductions; specific yield; water management
语种	英语
scopus关键词	Agriculture; Aquifers; Groundwater resources; Hydrogeology; Potable water; Sustainable development; Uncertainty analysis; Water management; Water supply; Water supply systems; Agricultural productions; Alternative water sources; Coefficient of variation; Irrigated agriculture; Ogallala aquifers; Regulatory oversight; Specific yield; Water balance equation; Pumps; agricultural production; agriculture; aquifer; crop yield; environmental impact assessment; irrigation; policy implementation; pumping; regulatory approach; stakeholder; sustainability; water budget; water management; water supply; Ogallala Aquifer; United States
来源期刊	Environmental Research Letters
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/154136
作者单位	Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66047, United States
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Butler J.J.,Bohling G.C.,Whittemore D.O.,et al. A roadblock on the path to aquifer sustainability: Underestimating the impact of pumping reductions[J],2020,15(1).
APA	Butler J.J.,Bohling G.C.,Whittemore D.O.,&Wilson B.B..(2020).A roadblock on the path to aquifer sustainability: Underestimating the impact of pumping reductions.Environmental Research Letters,15(1).
MLA	Butler J.J.,et al."A roadblock on the path to aquifer sustainability: Underestimating the impact of pumping reductions".Environmental Research Letters 15.1(2020).