The Assessment of Groundwater Vulnerability in China

China is 0fle of the countries suffering severely from water shortage. Its water availability per capita is only 25% of the world average. According to new statistics or 2000–2002, the fresh groundwater resource is about 883.7 billion m², which amounts to 33% of the total water resources in China. Moreover, groundwater plays an important role in water supply. Nearly 20% of the total water consumption is from groundwater, especially in northern China where the percentage of supply from groundwater exceeds 50%, and in some cases even up to 80%. With such a great degree of exploitation, as well as excessive development, many environmental problems have been caused, such as groundwater pollution and overexploitation, which greatly affect humans. In order to further understand the characteristics of groundwater quantity and quality, and to protect groundwater resources, a research assessment of groundwater vulnerability for the whole of China was carried out during the second Comprehensive National Water Resources Planning (CNWRP) exercise that commenced in 2002. Based on abundant data and GIS technology, an integrated assessment model was developed and applied to evaluate the groundwater vulnerability. The results show trends of increasing groundwater vulnerability from north to south, as well as from west to east. Terrain slope, shallow groundwater depth and aquifer media are the three most dominant factors influencing groundwater vulnerability in China as a whole.