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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Water and Wastewater Management
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1517836

Traceability simulation of drainage in irrigation areas along the south bank of the Yellow River based on the SWAT model

Provisionally accepted
Hexiang Zheng Hexiang Zheng 1Yujing Han Yujing Han 2*Rongxuan Bao Rongxuan Bao 2*Biyu Wang Biyu Wang 2Jiabin Wu Jiabin Wu 1*Delong Tian Delong Tian 1*Haofang Yan Haofang Yan 2*Beibei Hao Beibei Hao 3*
  • 1 China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
  • 2 Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 3 Guangdong Institute of Eco-environmental and Soil Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Simulation drainage sources in irrigation areas at the watershed scale is of great significance for understanding the characteristics and drainage status of irrigation districts under various water-saving irrigation and climatic conditions. In this study, our focus was on the irrigation areas located on the south bank of the Yellow River in Hangjin Banner. We aimed to analyze and simulate the flow rate and overall drainage volume in the drainage ditch by developing a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. The measured drainage data was utilized to calibrate and validate the model to explore the drainage structure and drainage sources in the selected study area. The results indicated that the average annual drainage volume of the study area was 4355.65 × 10 4 m³, and the primary source of drainage was subsurface drainage, which accounted for about 68% of the total drainage. Subsurface flow was the second-largest source, contributing about 31%, while surface drainage accounted for a negligible proportion, contributing merely 1% to the drainage. Concerning of the proportion of drainage relative to the total drainage in each irrigation area, the Balahey irrigation area accounted for about 20%, the Jianshe irrigation area for about 45%, and the Dugui irrigation area for about 35%. Moreover, the model parameters were optimized using the SWAT-CUP software to obtain the R 2 , NSE, Re and RMSE of 0.65, 0.60, -8.54% and 384.65 × 10 4 m 3 , respectively, for the model calibration period, and the corresponding values were 0.63, 0.56, -7.82% and 389.65 × 10 4 m 3 , respectively for the validation period. The traceability simulation results for irrigation drainage of crucial importance for the efficient utilization of water resources in this study area.

    Keywords: ：Drainage traceability, Surface drainage, subsurface flow, Subsurface drainage, The SWAT model

    Received: 28 Oct 2024; Accepted: 02 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Zheng, Han, Bao, Wang, Wu, Tian, Yan and Hao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Yujing Han, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, Jiangsu Province, China
    Rongxuan Bao, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, Jiangsu Province, China
    Jiabin Wu, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, 100038, Beijing Municipality, China
    Delong Tian, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, 100038, Beijing Municipality, China
    Haofang Yan, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, Jiangsu Province, China
    Beibei Hao, Guangdong Institute of Eco-environmental and Soil Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Guangzhou, 510650, Guangdong Province, China

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