Zan et al. (2026) Assessment of agricultural water-saving potential in arid regions based on an integrated sustainable management framework

Identification

• Journal: Agricultural Water Management
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-08-17
• Authors: Ziyi Zan, Changming Cao, Weifeng Yue, Xianyue Li, Tingxi Liu, Kun Wang, Hangzheng Zhao
• DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110696

Research Groups

• College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University
• College of Water Conservancy and Civil Engineering, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University

Short Summary

This study developed an integrated sustainable management framework to enhance water utilization coefficient while controlling soil salinity in arid regions. The framework couples a water-salt process simulation model with a multi-objective optimization algorithm (NSGA-II) to optimize agricultural water resource management.

Objective

• Establish a comprehensive and physically informed framework for sustainable agricultural water resource management.
• Identify optimal water-saving strategies that align with policy constraints and environmental objectives.
• Quantify the water-saving potential achievable under different optimization pathways.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Irrigation district scale (Hetao Irrigation District, China)
• Temporal Scale: Multi-year average values were used to characterize the baseline condition of the HID

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Water-salt process simulation model coupled with NSGA-II multi-objective optimization algorithm
• Data sources: Meteorological data from National Meteorological Science Data Center, potential evapotranspiration dataset, local government statistical yearbooks, water resources bulletins, and official reports

Main Results

• The results indicate that Yellow River water diversion to the HID can be reduced to 3.69 billion m³.
• This can be achieved by limiting groundwater extraction to no more than 700 million m³, improving the canal system water utilization coefficient, and prioritizing the adoption of water-saving irrigation technologies.

Contributions

• The study provides a robust scientific basis and a transferable technical framework for water resource optimization and agricultural green transformation in similar arid and semi-arid regions.
• The integrated framework enables a systematic exploration of efficient water allocation strategies under different water-saving and salinity-control pathways.

Funding

• This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52179201)

Citation

@article{Zan2026Assessment,
  author = {Zan, Ziyi and Cao, Changming and Yue, Weifeng and Li, Xianyue and Liu, Tingxi and Wang, Kun and Zhao, Hangzheng},
  title = {Assessment of agricultural water-saving potential in arid regions based on an integrated sustainable management framework},
  journal = {Agricultural Water Management},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110696},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110696}
}