Spatio-Temporal Variations in Groundwater Revealed by GRACE and Its Driving Factors in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, China

The Huang-Huai-Hai (3H) Plain is the major crop-producing region in China. Due to the long-term overexploitation of groundwater for irrigation, the groundwater funnel is constantly expanding and the scarcity of water resources is prominent in this region. In this study, Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and hydrological models were used to estimate the spatial-temporal changes of groundwater storage (GWS) and the driving factors of GWS variations were discussed in the 3H Plain. The results showed that GRACE-based GWS was depleted at a rate of −1.14 ± 0.89 cm/y in the 3H Plain during 2003 to 2015. The maximum negative anomaly occurred in spring due to agricultural irrigation activities. Spatially, the loss of GWS in the Haihe River Basin is more serious than that in the Huaihe River Basin, presenting a decreasing trend from south to north. Conversely, the blue water footprint (WF(blue)) of wheat exhibited an increasing trend from south to north. During the drought years of 2006, 2013, and 2014, more groundwater was extracted to offset the surface water shortage, leading to an accelerated decline in GWS. This study demonstrated that GWS depletion in the 3H Plain is well explained by reduced precipitation and groundwater abstraction due to anthropogenic irrigation activities.