Groundwater resources in karst area in Southern China and sustainable utilization pattern

Occurrence conditions of groundwater in southern karst area are complicated. The water-bearing media in the karst have multiplicity, and the groundwater is hosted in holes, gaps, seams, pipes and caves. The karst water shows heterogeneity where fast and slow flow coexist, and the Darcy and non-Darcy flow coexist, and the liquid flow, the gas flow and solid flow coexist. The evaluation and investigation indicates that the mineable resource of karst groundwater is about 53.44 billion m3/y, and the current exploitation quantity is merely 6.565 billion m3/year. The exploitation and utilization potential is gigantic. In the region there are altogether 2 763 karst subterranean rivers with a total length of 12 687 km. The dry season runoff volume equals to 47 billion m3/year. At present the exploitation is only 10%. Four effective utilization models of karst groundwater resources have been put forward. (1) The karst hills-depression zone formed the surface-underground united reservoir. By digging tunnels, water diversion irrigation and generating electricity, the ecological economy is developed. (2) In the deep-cut peak cluster depression area, by using the high-part Epikarst spring and constructing the regulation and storage water tank, the stereo ecological agriculture is developed. (3) In the karst peak forest plain and hilly-gully area, the pump-type underground regulating reservoir is constructed and the water-saving ecological agriculture is strengthened. (4) In the fault basin region with the surrounding groundwater runoff belting beam backwater, the water resources are jointly controlled to develop a fruit crop base within the basin.