Effects of agricultural activities on hydrochemistry in the Shiyang River Basin, China

Agricultural water accounts for more than 80% of the available water in arid areas. Agricultural activities have a great impact on surface water and groundwater. If the impact of agricultural activities on hydrochemistry is not prevented, the risk of water quality change in arid areas may be greatly intensified. Based on the hydrochemical data of the whole Shiyang River Basin from April 2014 to October 2019, this paper analyzes the impact of agricultural activities on hydrochemistry in the basin. The results show that (i) in the middle and lower reaches of farmland with high intensity of agricultural activities, the ion concentration of groundwater in summer and autumn is significantly higher than that in winter and spring due to the influence of irrigation; (ii) the runoff ion concentration in the backflow of the river reaches recharged by irrigation water is significantly higher than that of other reaches; (iii) due to strong evaporation, different types of reservoirs will lead to an overall increase in ion concentration, which is more obvious in plain reservoirs and river tail lakes. In addition, the reservoirs have a certain removal effect on nitrates.