Assessment of deep groundwater over-exploitation in the North China Plain

A series of environmental–geological problems have been caused by over-exploitation of deep groundwater (i.e., confined aquifer water) in the North China Plain. In order to better understand the status of deep groundwater over-exploitation and the resultant environmental–geological problems on a regional scale, the over-exploitation of groundwater has been assessed by way of the groundwater exploitation potential coefficient (i.e., the ratio of exploitable amount of deep groundwater to current exploitation), cumulative land subsidence, and long-term average lowering rate of the groundwater table. There is a good correlation among the results calculated by the different methods. On a regional scale, deep groundwater has been over-exploited and there is no further exploitation potential under the current conditions. The groundwater exploitation degree index takes the exploitation in 2003 as the reference for the calculations, so the results mainly reflect the degree of current groundwater exploitation. The results of over-exploitation of deep groundwater obtained by land subsidence data and long-term average rate of depression of the water table mainly reflect environmental–geological problems caused by exploitation of deep groundwater.