Research On The Value Of Quaternary Groundwater Based On GIS

As the major material basis of all creature composition and lifeactivities, water is an important part of natural resources and plays anirreplaceable role in social economy and ecological environment. Waterresources, we usually refer to means the sweet water resource humanbeings can make use of; such global sweet water resource, almost 70% ofwhich is distributed in the polar regions and glaciers of high mountainsand is hardly made use of, and these is only 2.66% of the total wateramount of the earth. Thus fresh water resources available for exploitationby human beings is quite limited. With the social and economicdevelopment and huge demand for water resources, human being hasbeen exploiting water resources in a large scale, which consequentiallyleads to a sharp decline of it. For a long time, the wrong value that waterresource is free and inexhaustible is one of the important reasons forwater resource waste and thus resulting in water resources shortage.Groundwater resources is an important part of the water resourcehuman being relys on. With 2/3 of the water supply being from thegroundwater, Beijing is one of the few metropolitans in the world wherethe groundwater consists of the major part of water supply. For Beijing,the capital of China, groundwater resource is the basic resources, even thestrategic resources and an important guarantee for its development. Inconsideration of the shortage of ground water and its over-exploitation in today's Beijing, how to understand groundwater in the correct manner,which renders a scientific theoretical foundation for the properexploitation of groundwater resource by Beijing water resourceadministration authorities and reasonable water pricing in Beijing, andthus how to ensure that the use of groundwater is in conformity withsustainable development, are the matters to be covered in this paper.Through the search of domestic and overseas research regarding theevaluation of water resources, it is found out that there is no scholar whohas conducted systematically research with regard to the value ofgroundwater resources, thus this paper covers a systematic research onthe evaluation of groundwater in Beijing. On the basis of the domesticand overseas research on the evaluation of water resources, and inconsideration of the characteristics, function and influencing factors of it,an value evaluation index system for groundwater resources is set up. It isconcluded that the ground water resources have its value, including bothresource value and ecological value; and that the evaluation system forgroundwater resources is a complex and vague one.Through the research and comparison of the computation model forgroundwater and in consideration of the feature of the evaluation systemfor groundwater resources, avague mathematics comprehensiveevaluation model is set up to calculate the value of groundwater resourcesin Beijing. For the specific conditions of Beijing and in consideration of the value of ground water resources, amount of water resources, degree ofwater exploration, water quality, GDP and population density are selectedas evaluation factors to evaluate the groundwater resource in Beijing. Theresult shows that in 2009 the total value of exploitable groundwater ofBeijing is 19 billion yuan, and the price of water resources (waterresources price) based on water resources value is 8.35 yuan/m3.Comparably, there is still space for price increase as the current waterprice is 4 yuan/ m3.If the fees for sewage disposal and water supply areconsidered, it can be calculated that the per capita water expense amountsto 3.1% of each citizen's total spending, which reaches the water expenselevel of each citizen in developed countries and coincides with the actualsituation in Beijing. Thus this can be referred to for the water pricereform in Beijing.The value of groundwater computed with the above method can onlyreflect the value of groundwater resources as a whole in Beijing area. It isnecessary to evaluate the groundwater for each district and county oreven for each plot if a scientific theoretic foundation is intended to renderto the Beijing water resource administration authorities for scientificexploitation and utilization of the groundwater. With the help of thepowerful spatial analysis function of GIS (Geographic InformationSystem), a comprehensive evaluation model for groundwater ispropounded in this paper and a comprehensive evaluation for Beijing individual district is also conducted when GIS method is applied.Similarly, amount of water resource, water quality, groundwaterexploitation degree, GDP in this area and population density are selectedas evaluation factors and each factor is evaluated, thus one-factorevaluation map is formed. With the powerful spatial analysis of arcgisand program code written by me, the above mentioned one-factorevaluation maps are superimposed together and consequentially acomprehensive evaluation map of groundwater resource for individualdistrict in Beijing is formed. Furthermore, the value of groundwaterresource of each district in Beijing thus becomes available.Lastly, with the combination of above-mentioned evaluation andcomputed results, this paper renders some suggestions to Beijing waterresource administration authorities for proper and reasonable exploitation,and also outlooks problems to be further studied.