Agricultural Water Management 213 (2019) 185–192

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Agricultural Water Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat

Degradation of agricultural drainage water quantity and quality due to T

farmland expansion and water-saving operations in arid basins
a,b a, a c
Qiuli Hu , Yonghui Yang , Shumin Han , Jiusheng Wang
a Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, 286 Huaizhong Road, Shijiazhuang 050021, China
b College of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Ludong University, Yantai 264025, China
c Irrigation Experiment Station, the First Agricultural Division of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Alaer 843300, China

ARTI CLE INF O AB STRACT

Keywords: Understanding the impacts of agricultural activities on drainage is increasingly important element of water resources
Farmland drainage management in arid regions. This study analyzed the effects of recent changes in agricultural activities on drainage water
Irrigation water quantity and quality from farmlands in Aksu River Basin in Northwest China. Based on drainage water analysis for 2003–
Agricultural water-saving 2010, implementation water-saving measures resulted in the reduction of irrigation quota by up to 48%. This in turn resulted
Groundwater
in a decline in drainage water by up to 44% in 2010, compared with that in 2004. Na-Cl was the main drainage water type,
Tarim River Basin
driven by the dissolution of soluble salts and cation exchange. Analysis further showed that while TDS (total dissolved solids)
Total dissolved solids
in drainage water increased to 4.7–10.8 g/L (an average of 7.6 g/L) in period 2005–2010, that in 2003–2004 was 28% lower.
In contrast to irrigation water, TDS in drainage was 6–18 times higher than that in irrigation water. Yet further analysis
showed that while the increase in TDS in drainage water was mainly driven by farmland expansion, drainage water was as
well affected by groundwater exploitation. It was therefore recommended to restrict farmland expansion and to intensify
water-saving operations in order to prevent destructive declines in water flow to downstream ecosystems.

1. Introduction
There is a growing concern about water shortage and water quality
deterioration in arid and semi-arid regions of China (Feng and Cheng, 1998;
Liu et al., 2016; Wang and Cheng, 1999). Tarim River Basin is the largest
inland river basin in arid Northwest China. Over the past half century,
increasing air temperature and precipitation in Tarim River Basin have
resulted in rising river runoff in the headstream regions (Xu et al., 2013).
Even so, flows in the mainstreams have been decreasing. This is particularly
the case in the downstream region, where the lower reaches even got dried up
in the 1950s and 1970s (Hao et al., 2008). Declining flows in the mainstreams
have resulted in degradation of water quality and of riparian ecosystems in the
basin (Feng et al., 2005). Tao et al. (2011) noted that anthropogenic activities
such as agricultural irrigation and domestic water use were the main causes of
water shortage in the region. It is therefore critical to develop rational water
resources management strategies in the agricultural sector to ensure
ecological sustainability in the whole river basin.
Water is critical for agriculture, which is in turn affected by
agriculture both in terms of quantity and quality. Agriculture accounts for
some 70% of global freshwater use (FAO, 2013), with the share of
agricultural water use reaching 97% in Aksu River Basin (Feike et al., 2015).
In the basin, agricultural development has increased agricultural water use
9 3 9 3
from 4.6 × 10 m in the 1950s to 6.7 × 10 m in the 2000s (Shen et al.,
2008). Xu et al. (2005) noted that uncontrolled expansion in irrigated areas
resulted in increasing water use in the upper reaches of Tarim River at the rate
3
of 16 million m /yr in the 1950s–2000s. Since agricultural irrigation is the
largest water user, developing water-saving agriculture could enhance
sustainable use of scarce water resources in the region. Thus the local
government enacted a new surface water allocation scheme in 2005 to reduce
overall water use and limit culti-vated land expansion in the upper reaches of
Tarim River (Xinjiang Tarim River Basin Management Bureau, 2005). The
scheme promotes widespread use of water-saving irrigation with decreasing
irrigation quotas.
With increasing water scarcity and water demand in arid regions, drainage
from agricultural lands in the upstream region has become an increasingly
critical source of water in the downstream regions. Li et al.

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: yonghui.yang@sjziam.ac.cn (Y. Yang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2018.10.019
Received 30 May 2018; Received in revised form 14 October 2018; Accepted 15 October 2018
Available online 25 October 2018
0378-3774/ © 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.
Q. Hu et al.
(1999) found that agricultural drainage water from Aksu Oasis ac-counted for
39.9% of total Tarim River runoff. The contribution of drainage water to the
total river flow in downstream was likely to in-crease. The share of drainage
water reached 80% in the lower reaches of Amu Darya River (Crosa et al.,
2002). However, the characteristics of drainage water is closely related with
agricultural activities. Drainage water from agricultural fields under water-
saving irrigation conditions can be drastically reduced by replacing traditional
irrigation with drip irrigation (Hu et al., 2017; Sinai and Jain, 2005). Vazquez
et al. (2006) observed that reductions in irrigation amounts resulted in less
drainage from agricultural lands. Along with declining drainage water
quantity, changes in water quality can limit water availability in downstream
regions (van Vliet et al., 2017). Lecina et al. (2010) noted that while
modernized irrigation reduces return flows, it increases salt con-centration in
drainage water. Using data from Alaer monitoring station, Wang et al. (2010)
concluded river water salinity increased from 0.67 g/L in 1960 to 5.27 g/L in
2000 due to expansions of farmlands. Highly saline drainage water could
destroy ecosystems and farmlands in downstream regions.
The above studies pave the way for further insight into not only the
quantity, but also quality of drainage water following reductions in irrigation
quotas and adoptions of water-saving measures; critical for developing
efficient policies on regional water resources management. The specific
objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of recent agricultural
practices on drainage water quantity and quality. The overall goal was to have
the best options for balanced regional water management between agriculture
and downstream ecosystems.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Study area
This study was conducted in Aksu Oasis, which is a typical desert oasis in
Tarim River Basin in Northwest China. Agricultural irrigation in the oasis
relies heavily on water from Aksu River, the largest upstream tributary of
Tarim River. At the middle reaches of Aksu River, a big flow gate (Tarim
Barrage) was constructed to apportion and control water flow to different
reservoirs for domestic, industrial and agricultural uses in the so called Tarim
Irrigation District. Irrigation water flow to dif-ferent irrigation units is strictly
controlled by gauge stations.
Tabei Irrigation District (the northern section of Tarim Irrigation District
on the east side of Aksu River and the north side of Tarim River) has five
irrigation units with water supply from Duolang Reservoir. The study area
2
(220.8 km ) is one of the five irrigation units of Tabei Irrigation District. It
lies between 80°46′–80°59′ E and 40°30′–40°41′ N, and is 38 km away from
Alaer City in Xinjiang Autonomous Region (Fig. 1). The study area borders
Duolang Drainage Canal on the west, Duolang Reservoir and Tabei Drainage
Canal on the north, and Tarim River on the south. The No. II Drainage Canal
flows across from north to south of the study area, discharging most of the
salt-laden drainage water into Tarim River. Thus, drainage water quality
directly affects water quality in Tarim River.
With a typical continental temperate arid climate, average tem-perature in
the study area is 10.7 °C and average precipitation is 49.2 mm. Due to strong
evaporation (2044.6 mm/yr) and intense sun-shine (3032 h/yr), there is severe
salt accumulation in the arable soil layer in the region. Thus, large amounts of
water are used to flush out the salts from the arable soil layer. While the
flushing salts makes the land cultivatable, it discharges large quantities of salts
into Tarim River via No. II Canal.
2.2. Statistical data analysis
Agronomic data, including cultivated land areas and cropping pat-terns,
were derived from the 2000–2010 Agriculture Statistical Yearbooks issued by
the Water Conservancy Administration Bureau of
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Agricultural Water Management 213 (2019) 185–192
Tarim Irrigation District. The Bureau collected water samples (in-cluding
irrigation and drainage water in 2003–2010) once every month for water
quality analysis. Irrigation water samples were collected from the S1 and S2
discharge gauge stations of Duolang Reservoir (Fig. 1). The irrigation water is
explained by hydro-chemical indices, averaged for the two stations.
Drainage water samples were collected from S3 gauge station of No.
II Drainage Canal. While the irrigation amount is controlled by sluice gates
on the side canals, drainage water flow is monitored at 10-day interval at S3
gauge station. Water samples were analyzed for various chemical
compositions.
2+ 2+
Water contents of Ca and Mg were measured by titration with 0.01
mol/L EDTA, using Eriochrome Black-T as indicator. The water contents of
+ +
Na and K were determined by flame photometry. Acidification with 1:3
2−
(volume ratio) HCl solution was done prior to measuring SO 4 by titration
with 0.01 mol/L EDTA, using K-B (acid chrome blue K and naphthol green
− 2−
B) mixture as indicator. Then HCO3 and CO3 were determined by titration
with 0.01 mol/L H2SO4, respectively using 0.5% phenolphthalein and 0.1%
−
methyl or-ange as indicators. Cl was titrated in 0.03 mol/L AgNO 3 solution,
using K2CrO4 as indicator. Finally, TDS was calculated by summing up all
major ions identified in the collected water samples.
Salt load was quantified by multiplying monthly volumes of irri-gation or
drainage water by the respective salt concentrations. The difference in salt
loads between irrigation and drainage water was analyzed by Independent-
Sample t-test in SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Scientists).
2.3. Experimental investigation
To identify the effects of ion exchange on water type transforma-tion,
both drip irrigation and flood irrigation were applied on newly cultivated
cotton field plots within the study area in 2012. The initial soil salinity within
1 m depth of the soil profile was determined in advance (Table 1). Under drip
and flood irrigation conditions, the ir-rigation quotas were respectively 337
mm and 381 mm, fully reflecting local irrigation practices in the region. Soil
solution was collected at different depths by ceramic suction samplers two
+ + 2+
days after every ir-rigation event. All major ions including Na , K , Ca ,
2+ − 2- −
Mg , Cl , SO4 and NO3 were analyzed for using ion chromatography.
3. Results
3.1. Changes in cultivated area and water supply in 2000–2010
Fig. 2 shows the changes in cultivated land area and irrigation water
supply in 2000–2010. The total irrigated area was relatively stable in 2000–
3 3
2004, as it only slightly increasing from 7.27 × 10 to 8.00 × 10 ha. In 2005,
3
total irrigated area increased by 57.8% to 12.6 × 10 ha and stayed from then
on (Fig. 2a). The area under cotton, the main cash crop, increased from 4.7 ×
3 3
10 ha in 2000 to 7.1 × 10 ha in 2010; accounting for almost 60% of the total
irrigated area. Simultaneously, the area under wheat decreased since 2005;
suggesting a significant change in the cropping pattern. Although the area
under cotton in-creased by 51.4% in 2010 over that in 2000, the highest
increase was for the other cash crops such as jujube and walnut. These crops
3 3
ac-counted for 0.6 × 10 ha in 2000 and 3.1 × 10 ha in 2010 (Fig. 2a).
Similarly, irrigation water steadily increased until 2005 (Fig. 2b), before
declining in line with government policies on sufficient water delivery in the
downstream regions of Tarim River. Therefore, 2005 was used as the
transition year for analysis of the differences in irri-gation and drainage.
Compared with 2004, irrigation quota decreased by 26% in 2005. By 2010,
irrigation quota dropped to 524 mm, nearly half of that (1013 mm) in 2004.
The widespread use of drip irrigation under plastic mulch narrowed the gap
between water supply and de-mand in the region. Cotton was mostly
cultivated under drip irrigation
Q. Hu et al. Agricultural Water Management 213 (2019) 185–192

Fig. 1. A map depicting the geographical location of the study area in grey (left plate), sampling sites S1 and S2 for irrigation water and S3 for drainage water, and the irrigation and
drainage canals (right plate) (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article).

Table 1 and winter. February to May is spring irrigation season, during which period
Contentsssss and proportions of salt ions along the vertical depth of the soil pro file at irrigation is done to flush out salt before sowing. June to September is the
selected experimental site in the study area. main growing season, during which period irrigation is done to ensure water
Depth Salt content (g/kg) Na
+
K
+
Mg
2+
Ca
2+
Cl
−
SO4
2−
NO3
− supply for crop growth. Then October to January is winter irrigation season,
(cm) % (m/m) during which period irrigation is again done to flush out salt for the next
0–10 55.9 29.1 0.4 0.1 6.9 41.5 21.8 0.2 cultivation season. Each irri-gation done to flush out salts from the root-zone
soil profile requires about 250 mm of water, which is done once or twice in an
10–20 30.1 23.2 0.6 0.2 10.9 32.7 32.2 0.2
20–30 22.9 19.6 0.6 0.2 13.6 27.1 38.7 0.2 irrigation season.
30–60 15.1 12. 7 0.5 0.2 18.5 16.0 52.0 0.1
60–90 14.4 11.3 0.6 0.2 19.3 13.4 55.1 0.2 Fig. 3 compares monthly irrigation and drainage for 2004 and 2010 to
90–100 16.8 14.5 0.6 0.1 17.0 17.8 49.7 0.1 illustrate the changes before and after the implementation of the new surface
water allocation scheme. The peak drainage flow rates corre-sponding with
3
spring (March) and winter (November) irrigations in 2004 were 1.19 m /s and
(Fig. 2a). Drip irrigated fraction of the total irrigated area in 2005 was 38%, 3
1.34 m /s, respectively. The average flow rate of drainage water during the
and increased to 45% in 2010. The changes in cultivated land area and 3 7 3
growing season was 0.56 m /s, producing a total of 2.30 × 10 m of drainage
irrigation water amount influenced drainage water flow and water quality in
water. While in 2010, the flow rate of drainage water during the salt flushing
the study area. and growing seasons de-creased dramatically, it fluctuated mildly about an
3
average of 0.41 m /
3.2. Reduction of drainage water after water saving 7 3
s. The total drainage water in 2010 was 1.28 × 10 m , suggesting a 44%
decline or a one-half cut from that in 2003.
Irrigation in Tarim Irrigation District is generally in spring, summer

Fig. 2. Plots of variations in cultivated land area (a) and irrigation water supply (b) during the period 2000–2010.

187
Q. Hu et al.
Fig. 3. Comparison of monthly irrigation and drainage between 2004 and 2010 in the study area.
Fig. 4. Plots of TDS of irrigation and drainage water during 2003–2010. Open triangles
denote irrigation water for 2003–2010, open circles for drainage water samples before
2005, filled diamonds for drainage water samples after 2005, and straight lines are the
average values of irrigation and drainage water before and after 2005, respectively.
3.3. Deterioration of drainage water quality
Salt concentration in irrigation and drainage water during 2003–2010 are
illustrated in Fig. 4. No obvious annual variation was noted in irrigation
water, the average TDS was 0.57 g/L. However, re-sults showed increase in
drainage water TDS. In 2005–2010, TDS in drainage water was 4.7–10.8 g/L,
in comparison with 4.4–7.9 g/L in 2003–2004. The fluctuation of drainage
TDS was caused by the sea-sonal recharge from upstream and irrigation. Then
average TDS of drainage water was used to reflect the variations in
agricultural drai-nage water. On average, it suggested an increase of 28% in
average TDS, 7.6 g/L in 2005–2010 and 5.9 g/L in 2003–2004. In contrast to
irrigation water, TDS of drainage water was 6–18 times higher caused by the
strong evaporation effect after water saving and dissolution of soluble salts
from newly cultivated land.
The chemical compositions of irrigation and drainage water are plotted as
a Piper diagram in Fig. 5. The water type in Duolang Re-servoir varied
seasonally with Ca-Mg-Na-SO4-Cl in spring, Mg-Ca-Na-SO4-Cl in summer
and Na-Mg-Ca-Cl-SO4 in winter. In contrast, drainage collected at S3 gauge
+ in Aksu Oasis increased by 2.93 billion m over the same period, resulting in
station was mainly of Na-Cl water type. While Na accounted for > 55% of
−
total cations, Cl accounted for > 67% of total anions in drainage water.
Similarly, field irrigation experiment in 2012 showed that cation exchange
affected water type. Fig. 6 shows the variations of ion con-centration in soil
solutions along the vertical depth of the soil profile. As irrigation water
+ 2+
leached through the soil profile, Na concentration increased and Ca
concentration decreased. This suggested that there was replacement of soil
+ 2+ −
Na with Ca as irrigation water percolated through leaching. Both Cl and
2-
SO4 concentrations increased with downward leaching of drainage water,
indicating high concentrations of the ions in the soil (Table 1). Thus, the
typical Ca-Mg-Na-SO4-Cl (or Mg-Ca-Na-SO4-Cl) water type which came in
as irrigation changed into Na-Cl water type that went out as drainage.
Simultaneously, the TDS increased from 1.2 g/L (in irrigation water) to 90.1
g/L (in drainage
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Agricultural Water Management 213 (2019) 185–192
water), which reflected the significant influence of soluble salts dis-solution
from new farmland.
3.4. Comparison of discharged salt loads with drainage water
Salt load was calculated from monthly volumes of irrigation or drainage
water and the respective salt concentrations. As annual pre-cipitation is very
low (49 mm) in the region, its effect on total salt load is negligible. Given that
+ −
the dominant cation and anion in the drainage water were Na and Cl
(respectively accounting for > 55% and > 67% of the total cations and
anions), the contribution salts due to the use of fertilizers or pesticides to
discharged salt loads was also negli-gible (Chen et al., 2007; Yang et al.,
2007).
Monthly salt loads in irrigation and drainage water in the study area are
plotted in Fig. 7. The points before and after 2005 above the 1:1 trend line
suggested a tremendous increase in effluent salt loads in drainage water.
Based on the results of Independent-Sample t-test, significant differences (p <
0.01) were noted in salt loads between drainage and irrigation water in the
study area (Table 2). Average monthly salt load of effluent water was 7.38 ×
3
10 t higher than that of influent water. Moreover, no significant difference (p
> 0.05) existed in effluent salt load before and after 2005, indicating that there
was no obvious decline in discharged salt load with the reduction of drainage
water after the implementation of the new surface water allocation scheme.
4. Discussions
4.1. Agricultural activity and new water allocation scheme
Among the three large tributaries, Aksu River is the only remaining river
with perennial flow; contributing some 73.2% to total runoff in Tarim River
(Chen et al., 2003). Meng et al. (2016) and Zhang et al. (2012) showed that
even though natural annual flow in Aksu River increased substantially from
3 3
6.67 billion m in the 1950s to 8.67 billion m in the 1990s and 9.26 billion
3
m in the 2000s, annual discharge to Tarim River decreased from 3.02 billion
3 3
m in the 1950s to 2.68 billion m in the 2000s. This suggested that water use
3
the speedy im-plementation of the new surface water allocation scheme. The
new scheme stipulates that annual discharge from Aksu River to Tarim River
3
should reach 3.42 billion m in 2005 (Xinjiang Government and Ministry of
Water Resources of China (XGMWRC), 2002). The scheme also
simultaneously promotes water-saving irrigation in agricultural production. In
principle, no expansion in cultivated area is allowed under the scheme.
Economic interests drive farmers to reclaim new lands for cultiva-tion.
Thus, it was not surprising that cultivated land area increased drastically (by
57.8%) in 2005 before government intervention. From then on, an effective
control was put on cultivated lands in the study area.
Though expansion in cultivated area was stopped, irrigation quota
declined as irrigation water supply to each irrigation district was
Q. Hu et al.
+ 2+ − 2-
Fig. 6. Comparison of Na and Ca , Cl and SO4 concentrations along the vertical
profile of the soil separately under flood and drip irrigation conditions.
reduced. Irrigation quota in the study area started decreasing in 2005, with
only 523.9 mm of water used in 2010; a decline of 48% over that in 2004.
Water-saving irrigation such as drip irrigation with plastic mulch was widely
used to ensure high crop yields. The area under drip irrigation accounted for
45% of the total cultivated area in 2010.
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Agricultural Water Management 213 (2019) 185–192
Fig. 5. Piper diagram depicting comparisons between che-mical
compositions of irrigation water and drainage water. Open diamonds,
filled triangles and filled stars respectively denote irrigation water in
spring, summer and winter seasons while open circles denote drainage
water. Arrow indicates change in water type from irrigation to
drainage water.
Fig. 7. Plot of monthly total salt load in irrigation water versus that in drainage water.
Black diamonds are for the period before 2005 and grey triangles for the period after
2005 (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is
referred to the web version of this article).
Table 2
Results of Independent-Sample t-tests for salt loads in irrigation and drainage water, and
of effluent salt loads before and after 2005.
Salt load t Sig. (2-tailed) Mean difference
Irrigation/drainage −4.210 −5 −7.376
6.7 × 10
Before/after 2005 −1.047 0.302 –
4.2. Effect of water saving on drainage water
Water-saving technology increases irrigation efficiency by reducing return
flow (Hu et al., 2017). It was noted in this study that drip irri-gation, as well
as reduced traditional irrigation quota, limited leaching from farmlands.
Compared with 2004, drainage water decreased by 44% in 2010. Meanwhile,
TDS concurrently increased by nearly 30%,
Q. Hu et al.
from 5.4 g/L in 2003 to 7.1 g/L in 2010. Because water-saving practices also
changed salt dynamics in farmlands, salt could not be thoroughly flushed out
under drip irrigation. This led to the build-up of soluble salts in the soil profile
and drainage water. This is consistent with the findings by Causapé et al.
(2006) that improved irrigation via sprinkler irrigation decreased water
quality by increasing TDS in drainage water. Hu et al. (2017) also identified
the shrinkage of return flow and dete-rioration of water quality under water
saving conditions.
Salt load is mainly driven by the quantity and quality of water. Several
studies have noted that leaching of salts from agricultural fields was highly
dependent on leached water amount (Causapé et al., 2004; Lecina et al.,
2010). Bahceci and Nacar (2009) found a statistically significant linear
correlation between cumulative drainage water vo-lume and leached salt as
effluent salt load decreased with decreasing drainage. Aragüés et al. (2011)
reported that water-saving techniques (e.g., drip and sprinkler irrigation) were
the most efficient ways of re-ducing discharged salt loads. However, there
was no statistically sig-nificant difference between effluent salt loads before
and after 2005 (p > 0.05). Total discharged salt loads did not decline with
reduction of drainage water volume (Fig. 7 and Table 2). Water-saving
irrigation appeared to have a minor effect on the discharged salt loads. The
much higher TDS and salt loads in effluent drainage than in influent irrigation
after 2005 suggested that reclaimed new farmland could be the main factor of
increasing TDS in drainage water in the study area.
4.3. Effect of reclaimed farmland on drainage water
While water-saving measures induced water quality change, other factors
could have as well affected TDS load in drainage water. One such factor was
saline land reclamation for farming. Fig. 2a illustrates that farmland area
increased sharply in 2005 before the new water regulation and reallocation
policy was enacted. While high evaporation and shallow groundwater
conditions resulted in high salt accumulation in the top-soil layer, rapid
expansion of farmlands increased leaching of salts into drainage systems. For
instance, Meng et al. (2011) observed a drainage water salinity of 5.3–12.4
g/L in newly reclaimed farmlands. Studies in Weigan Oasis near Aksu River
Basin reported 7–8 g/L of salt content in drainage water in reclaimed
farmlands even under 675 mm of net irrigation (Chen et al., 2011). Using
filtration and irrigation cropping for land treatment and effluent reuse in
severely saline lands, Jayawardane et al. (2001) noted that electrical
conductivity of drainage water increased over 10 times for irrigation/drainage
ratio of 3:1. It was therefore inferred that the significant increase in irrigated
area (57.8%) in 2005 also greatly increased TDS load in drainage water,
consistent with the conclusion by Han et al. (2015). Thus, both ex-pansion of
farmlands and aggressive water-saving measures caused drainage water
quality degradation in the study area.
It was necessary and also feasible to identify cultivated land area using
Remote Sensing data. Fig. 8 illustrates variations in cultivated and
uncultivated land areas in 2013 versus 2000 (data were extracted from Yang
et al., 2018). Cultivated land area in 2013 was assumed to be similar to that in
2010 because cultivated land area remained stable since 2005 due to
government restrictions. Most of the new farmlands were on both sides of No.
II Canal (Fig. 8c). Apparently, the newly reclaimed farmlands contributed
heavily to the increase in TDS in drainage water, which could be even higher
than the one under water-saving farming.
4.4. Reduced surface water allocation and groundwater exploitation
Irrigation quotas in Fig. 2b decreased due to water diversion to
downstream regions. The decrease in irrigation quota from 1013 mm in 2004
to 524 mm in 2010 influenced crop water supply and leaching of salts out of
the root-zone soil profile. Zhao et al. (2009) estimated that annual water
requirement in cotton fields in Tarim Irrigation District under drip irrigation
with plastic mulch was 543 mm. Also Liu et al.
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Agricultural Water Management 213 (2019) 185–192
(2006) estimated that cotton water requirement in the nearby region was 625
mm/yr under drip irrigation with plastic mulch. In reference to the above
studies, irrigation quotas in the study area were close to or even less than
water requirement for cotton. This was probably the main reason why farmers
extracted groundwater for field irrigation.
Considering the fact that irrigation quota decreased by 48% and nearly
reached field crop water requirement, drainage water should have dropped to
a much lower level. Thus, the 44% drop in drainage water indicated that
considerable extraction of groundwater had offset the decline in irrigation
water (Hu et al., 2017). For instance, Feike et al. (2015) evaluated the percent
of groundwater irrigation in Aksu River Basin and concluded that
groundwater irrigated area increased from 2% in 2004 to 7% in 2010. The
groundwater depth in Aksu River Basin dropped gradually due to expansion
in irrigated area (Wang, 2018). Even fossil groundwater was exploited for
irrigation in Yingbaza region of Tarim River (Thevs, 2011). In the whole
Tarim River Basin, the area equipped for groundwater irrigation accounted for
10–20% in the total irrigated farmland (Siebert et al., 2006). It is important to
note that groundwater extraction should be strictly controlled within a
reasonable amount to maintain natural vegetation growth (Thevs et al., 2015).
Moreover, government should prohibit farmers from drilling wells privately.
4.5. Implications for regional water management
Under the limited surface water supply, government could seek other
reliable policies to further enhance the management of the re-gional water
resources. For instance, government could control water delivery to reclaimed
new farmlands instead of simply decreasing irri-gation quotas. Expansions of
cultivated lands could be controlled through land/water use regulations or by
reducing agricultural sub-sidies, which would affect the economic interests of
native farmers. It is illustrated in Fig. 2a that the highest expansion was in
cash crops (cotton and other cash crops), for which the native farmers have
ob-tained the highest economic incentives. Simultaneously, the total amount
of irrigation water used to meet water requirements of cash crops has
distinctly improved. Therefore, there is the need for com-promises between
economic interests and conservation of water re-sources. It is very important
to strengthen awareness of native farmers about sustainable use of water
resources and preventing the endless reclamation of new cultivated farmlands.
On the other hand, food se-curity is critical for the growing population. Not
only water shortage, but also the fragile environment in northwest China
make it difficult to reclaim more farmlands for food production (Zhang et al.,
2010). It is important to enhance land productivity on the existing farmland.
Also improving water use efficiency can be highly critical for increased food
production in arid areas (Deng et al., 2006).
Another area of policy issue was water quality. From Fig. 4, salt
concentration in discharged water increased from 5.4 g/L in 2003 to 7.1 g/L in
2010. Even drainage water salinity in 2003 was much higher than the
accepted standard of 2.0 g/L for irrigation water quality in China (China
National Standadization Management Committee (CNSMC), 2006). Even up
till 2010, drainage water from farmlands was still highly saline — > 7.0 g/L
(Rhoades et al., 1992), especially for direct discharge into Tarim River. Cotton
is not so tolerant to highly saline water conditions (Hanson et al., 2006), and it
is hard for even highly salt-tolerant plants (e.g., Populus euphratica and
Tamarix ramo-sissima) to grow well under such high salt water conditions
(Zhang et al., 2002). Worse more, is the fact that the soils irrigated with the
saline water were prone to severe erosion and sedimentation (Ghadiri et al.,
2007).
There was therefore the need to evaluate the implications of direct
discharge of highly saline drainage water into Tarim River for aquatic life in
the downstream ecosystems. Evaporation ponds are successfully used to
dispose saline drainage water in southern Australia (Ahmed et al., 2000),
which can be fitted to the new drainage canals to
Q. Hu et al.
Fig. 8. Distributions of cultivated and uncultivated lands in the study area in 2000 (a), 2013 (b), and a comparison of the changes in cultivated land in 2013 and 2000 (c).
discharge saline waters. Alternatively, serial biological concentration systems
can be used to manage salinity (Khan et al., 2008). Water quality in the study
area should be monitored with the utmost vigilance in order to ensure good
water availability in Tarim River and the connected aquatic ecosystems.
5. Conclusions
Agricultural drainage water is an important source of water for
downstream regions in arid areas. Agricultural activities constitute a critical
element of drainage water quantity and quality. In the study area, drainage
water decreased with intensification of water-saving practices due to
expansions in irrigated area (by 57.8%) and the re-duction of irrigation quota
(by 48%). Based on the analyzed char-acteristics of agricultural drainage
water in Aksu River Basin and using 2005 as the transition year, drainage
water volume dropped by 44% in 2010 over that in 2004. Groundwater
exploitation can be enhanced after limitations are put on surface water supply.
Simultaneously, drainage water quality deteriorated mainly due to expansion
of new farmlands, in spite of the application of water-saving measures.
Average TDS in farmland drainage water in 2005–2010 was 7.6 g/L, as com-
pared with 5.4 g/L in 2003–2004. The main drainage water type in the study
area was Na-Cl, driven by the dissolution of soluble salts and cation
exchange. The drastic increase in drainage water salinity can endanger the
downstream ecosystems. We deduced that restriction of reclamation of new
farmlands was a rational water management strategy in the study area.
Moreover, the discharge of highly saline drainage water into Tarim River
needed further consideration in terms of the environmental implications it will
cause for water supply and ecosystems in the downstream region.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program
of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA 2004030203), the Major
Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Treatment
(2018ZX07110001) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(31871518). Agronomic data were provided by Water Conservancy and
Management Administration Bureau of Tarim Irrigation District. We greatly
appreciate the con-structive inputs of the anonymous reviewers and editors
during the review phase of the paper.
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