INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION

ON IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE

Symposium
R.03
Nineteenth Congress
Beijing 2005

EFFECT OF LEACHING IRRIGATION ON THE SPATIAL

DISTRIBUTION OF SOIL SALINITY IN THE HETAO
IRRIGATION DISTRICT IN CHINA

EFFET DU LESSIVAGE PAR IRRIGATION SUR LA

DISTRIBUTION SPATIALE DE LA SALINITE DU SOL
DANS LE PERIMETRE IRRIGUE DE HETAO EN CHINE
Takashi Kume1 Takanori Nagano2
Tsugihiro Watanabe3 Toru Mitsuno4 Chaolunbagen5

ABSTRACT

To evaluate the effect of leaching irrigation on the spatial distribution of

soil salinity, an electromagnetic induction method (EIM) was used to track
the salt dynamics of poorly drained fields during leaching irrigation in the
Hetao irrigation district. In a 0.3-ha study area, we observed soil salinity and
micro-topography at over 700 points, and the groundwater level and salinity
at 17 points, between 2002 and 2003. Spatial analysis was used to
determine the inter-relationships of soil salinity, irrigation water path, and
groundwater. After leaching irrigation, soil salinity in the root zone was
reduced temporarily. During the observation period, the distribution of soil
salinity did not change greatly. Lateral flow of groundwater was quite slow
and there was little difference in groundwater salinity before and after
irrigation. There was a good correlation between groundwater salinity and
soil salinity. The distribution of soil salinity was largely affected by the micro-

1
Research fellow, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN), 335
Takashima-cho, Marutamachi-dori Kawaramachi nishi-iru, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto
602-0878, JAPAN
2
Postdoctoral fellow, Japan Society for the promotion of Science (JSPS), 335
Takashima-cho, Marutamachi-dori Kawaramachi nishi-iru, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto
602-0878, JAPAN
3
Professor, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN)335 Takashima-
cho, Marutamachi-dori Kawaramachi nishi-iru, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto 602-0878,
JAPAN
4
Professor, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa Oiwake-Cho, Sakyo-Ku, Kyoto, 606-
8502 JAPAN
5
Professor, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, 306 Huhhot, Inner Mongolia,
010018, CHINA
2 SYMPOSIUM – R.03

topography of the field. As there was very little lateral movement of

groundwater in this field, leaching irrigation enhanced only the vertical
movement of salt in the root zone and did not reduce the heterogeneous
salinity distribution in groundwater, which remained a potential salinity
hazard. The heterogeneous distribution of groundwater salinity was
attributed to the uneven distribution of irrigation water owing to poor land
leveling. The results suggest that leaching irrigation is not efficient for
eliminating soil salinity problems in poorly drained areas. The heterogeneous
distribution of soil salinity may be reduced if land is leveled more carefully.
Nevertheless, the main constraint remains the lack of drainage in such
areas. There is an urgent need to classify the entire Hetao irrigation district
according to how well areas are drained and to determine the fundamental
movement of groundwater and salinity on a large scale.

RESUME ET CONCLUSIONS

Pour évaluer l'effet du lessivage par irrigation sur la distribution spatiale

de la salinité du sol, une méthode électromagnétique d'induction (EIM) a été
employée pour dépister la dynamique du sel des champs mal vidangés
pendant la lixiviation. Dans un secteur retenu pour étude de 0,3-ha, nous
avons observé la salinité du sol et la microtopographie à plus de 700 points,
le niveau et la salinité d'eaux souterraines à 17 points, dans l’intervalle des
années 2002 et 2004. L'analyse spatiale a été employée pour déterminer les
corrélations entre la salinité du sol, le chemin suivi par l'eau d'irrigation, et
les eaux souterraines. Après lixiviation, la salinité du sol dans la zone de
racine a été réduite temporairement. Pendant la période d'observation, la
distribution de la salinité du sol n'a pas beaucoup changé. L'écoulement
latéral des eaux souterraines était tout à fait lent, et il y avait peu de
différence dans la salinité d'eaux souterraines tout au début et plus tard. Il y
avait une bonne corrélation entre la salinité d'eaux souterraines et la salinité
du sol. La distribution de la salinité du sol a été en grande partie affectée par
la microtopographie du champ. Car il y avait très peu de mouvement latéral
des eaux souterraines dans cette parcelle. La lixiviation par irrigation a
augmenté seulement le mouvement vertical du sel dans la zone de racine, et
n'a pas réduit la distribution hétérogène de salinité d’eaux souterraines, qui
est demeurée un risque potentiel de salinité. La distribution hétérogène de la
salinité d'eaux souterraines a été attribuée à la distribution inégale de l'eau
d'irrigation due au bas niveau de la terre. Les résultats indiquent que la
lixiviation ne sera pas efficace pour résoudre les problèmes de salinité du sol
dans les secteurs mal vidangés. La distribution hétérogène de la salinité du
sol peut être réduite si la terre est nivelée plus soigneusement. Néanmoins,
la contrainte principale demeure le manque de drainage dans de tels
secteurs. Une forte nécessité a été ressentie pour classifier l’ensemble de la
zone d'irrigation de Hetao selon le point où les secteurs sont vidangés, et
pour déterminer à grande échelle le mouvement fondamental des eaux
souterraines et de la salinité.

1. INTRODUCTION

The Hetao irrigation district in Inner Mongolia, China (Figure 1) is

located in the Yellow River basin. The district covers about 1.2 million
SYMPOSIUM – R.03 3

hectares and draws approximately 5 billion cubic meters of irrigation water

from the Yellow River annually (Wang, L et al, 1988), which is equivalent to
about 17% of the annual flow of the Yellow River (Yellow River Water Facility
Committee, 1989). The district is a semi-arid region and suffers from soil
salinity problems. A 1993 study reported that 50% of the district was affected
by soil salinization (KUME et al., 2003).

Figure 1. Maps of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Hetao

irrigation district (Cartes de la région autonome de l’intérieure de
Mongolie, et périmètre irrigué de Hetao)

In this area, leaching irrigation is practiced as a traditional desalinization

technique. At the end of the irrigation season in autumn, most fields are
covered with about 150 mm of leaching water, which accounts for one third
of the total irrigation. In recent years, critical water shortages in the Yellow
River have imposed a serious need to save water in the district.
Consequently, the efficiency of this large amount of water for leaching
irrigation is being questioned.

The most salt-affected fields are often found towards the end of
irrigation canals because of poor drainage owing to the district’s flat
topography. The efficiency of leaching irrigation is especially low in such
areas. From the viewpoint of water economy, it is important to assess the
salt dynamics in such areas and propose more efficient management
methods. Therefore, we conducted autumn ponding irrigation in a research
field and measured soil salinity, groundwater electrical conductivity (EC),
groundwater level, and micro-topography before and after irrigation to
evaluate the effect of leaching on the spatial distribution of soil salinity
quantitatively.

2. RESEARCH AREA AND RESEARCH DATA

Field observations were carried out in the lower part of the Hetao
irrigation district. Figure 2 shows details of the fields investigated. The total
area of the fields investigated was 0.28 ha, spread across three farms, F1,
F2, and F3, as shown in Figure 2. Investigations were carried out in Aug
2002 and from Aug to Sep, 2003. There was a drain on the opposite side of
4 SYMPOSIUM – R.03

the farm road from the field, but it did not drain the fields, which were poorly
drained as a result. The soil in these fields was homogeneous from the soil
surface to a soil depth of 1.0 m (KUME et al., 2003), the soil texture was SiC
to SiCL, and the representative soil hydraulic conductivity ranged from 10-5 to
10-7cm s-1.

Investigation area Groundwater observation point

Point of water intake Bank between fields
Water flow direction

Wb4
Wb9
Wb3

Irrigation ditch
Irrigation ditch
Wb8 F1
Farm Road
Drain

Wb2 Wb13 Wb17

52m
Wb7
F2
Wb1 Wb12 Wb16

Wb6 Wb11 Wb15

F3
Wb5 Wb10 Wb14

60m
Water intake point

Figure 2. Details of the fields investigated (Détails d’enquêtes menées sur

les champs)

Intensive investigations were conducted from Aug 28 to Sep 16, 2003,

to compare variation in the soil salinity and groundwater EC distributions.
The irrigation schedule for the fields is shown in Table 1. On Sep 9, 2003,
each field was submerged with 150 mm of irrigation water as ponding
irrigation. This paper reports the results of the investigation conducted from
Aug 28 to Sep 16, 2003.

Table 1. Date of ECa measurement, soil sampling and irrigation days

(N=number of samples) [Date du mesurage de l’Eau de l’ECa,
échantillonnage et jours d’irrigation (N=Nombre d’échantillons)]

Soil
Year Vegetation Date Irrigation ECa
sampling
Sep. 19 N=1681 N=17
2002 Sunflowers
Oct. 3 150 mm
May 5 65 mm
June 25 50 mm
Aug.8 60 mm
No-
2003 Aug. 28 N=713 N=50
vegetation
Sep. 2 150 mm
Sep. 9 N=713 N=50
Sep. 16 N=713 N=30
SYMPOSIUM – R.03 5

3. MATERIALS AND METHODS

Soil salinity was measured using the soil electrical conductivity of a soil
water extract, soil:water=1:5 (EC1:5), and as ECa (apparent electrical
conductivity) using an EM38-DD (McNeill, 1980). EC1:5 was measured using
soil samples taken randomly from the fields at depths of 0-0.3, -0.6, and -0.9
m. ECa was measured at over 700 points at 2-m intervals in the fields. Linear
regression analyses were done between the average EC1:5 for soil depths
of 0-0.9 m and ECa. Good correlations were obtained. A contour map of soil
salinity was drawn using the Kriging technique (Delhomme, JP, 1978) after
converting the ECa into the average EC1:5 for soil depths of 0-0.9 m using a
regression equation. The land level was also examined at 2-m intervals on
Sep 20, 2003. The groundwater level and EC were observed at 17 points
(Figure 2) between Aug 28 and Sep 16. These data were interpolated using
the inverse distance weighted (IDW) method.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Fluctuation of the groundwater level

Groundwater levels ranged from 989 to 1074 mm before irrigation on

Aug 28, 2003 and from 915 to 1038 mm two weeks after irrigation.
Groundwater flowed very slowly from left (inlet) to right (outlet) in Figure 2
and the average hydraulic gradient of the groundwater was 1/1,080.

4.2 Change in the spatial distribution of soil salinity and groundwater

EC after ponding irrigation

Figure 3 shows the results of an analysis of the oil salinity spatial

distribution of the fields before and after irrigation, on 28 Aug and 16 Sep,
respectively. After irrigation, the soil salinity at the center of the field and the
120 mS m-1 contour of F1 decreased. The soil salinity and distribution pattern
of other parts of the field changed very little. The relationship between soil
salinity and micro-topography is discussed in Section 4.4.

Figure 4 shows the distribution of the groundwater EC before and after

irrigation, on Aug 28 and Sep 16, respectively. Before irrigation, the
groundwater EC at the center of F2 was high and it decreased toward the
ends of the fields. After irrigation, the groundwater EC dropped. The
distribution of the groundwater EC did not change greatly and the pattern
was similar to the soil salinity distribution pattern.

The relationships between groundwater EC and soil salinity are shown

in Figures 5 and 6, where the x- and y-axes represent soil salinity and
groundwater EC, respectively. The relationship was good both before and
after irrigation, although, the correlation coefficient was greater before
irrigation. It is postulated that this was caused by the uneven supply of
irrigation water and uneven dilution of groundwater EC.
 6 SYMPOSIUM – R.03

m m
(a) Aug 28 Elevation 75
50
226-330mm
50 (b) Sep 16
90 170-226mm 90
140-170mm
124-140mm 75
115-124mm 60
40 75 110-115mm
90 120 101-110mm 40 75
86-101mm 75
75 90 56-86mm 105
0-56mm
105 90
30 105 30 75
120 105 90
105 90
105 120
135 105 105
20 135 20 120
135
120 120
90 90
75 45
10 60 75 60 10 60 75
45
45 60
60
60
0 m 0 m
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Figure 3. The spatial variability of soil salinity and the micro-topography of

the research fields on (a) Aug 28 and (b) Sep 16, 2003. The
EC1:5 is in mS m-1 (Variation de la salinité du sol dans l’espace, et
microtopographie des champs où sont menées des recherches
(a) le 28 août et (b) le 16 septembre 2003. L’EC1:5 est exprimée
en mS m-1)

50
m (a) Aug 28 50
m (b) Sep 16
900
1000
900 700
40 40 800
1000

1100 600
700
30 30
800

1200 1200 1100 1000

1000 1300 1200
1300 900 900
20 20
900

800
600
700 800 800 700
10 10 600 600

600

0 m 0 m
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Figure 4. Spatial variability of the groundwater EC on (a) Aug 28 and (b)

Sep 16, 2003 in mS m-1 [Variation de l’EC de l’eau souterraine
dans l’espace (a) le 28 août et (b) le 16 septembre 2003
(exprimée en mS m-1)]
SYMPOSIUM – R.03 7

Figure 5. Regression analysis of groundwater EC and EC1:5 (Aug 23,

2003) [Analyse de régression de l’EC de l’eau souterraine et
EC1:5 (le 23 août 2003)]

Figure 6. Regression analysis of groundwater EC and EC1:5 (Sep 16,

2003) [Analyse de régression de l’EC de l’eau souterraine et
EC1:5 (le 16 septembre 2003)]
8 SYMPOSIUM – R.03

From the results of the previous section and this section, it is clear that
the 150 mm of ponding irrigation mainly enhanced the vertical movement of
soil salinity, but did not reduce the heterogeneous salinity distribution
because of the lower hydraulic gradient and hydraulic conductivity.

4.3 Analysis of the inter-relationships of groundwater level, soil

salinity, and groundwater EC

Figures 7 and 8 show the differences in groundwater levels between

Aug 28 and Sep 9 and between Sep 9 and 16, respectively. Here, positive
(negative) values indicate an increase (decrease) in the groundwater level. A
large groundwater level increase was observed near the 220-mm contour in
F1. Here, the micro-topography of the field was relatively low, so the supply
and percolation of irrigation water were greater than at other locations. The
decrease in groundwater levels increased with distance from the inlet toward
the outlet.

m
50

Unit (mm)
158
40 169

169
220 158
30 178
195 184

20
158 169 178

10 169

178 158
184
0 m
0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Figure 7. Changes in groundwater levels between Aug 28 and Sep 9,

2003 (Changements dans les niveaux d’eau souterraine entre le
28 août et le 9 septembre 2003)

Figure 9 shows the decrease in soil salinity from Aug 28 to Sep 16

(represented as a positive value). The decrease in soil salinity itself
decreased with distance from the inlet to the outlet of the field. The soil
salinity at the center of F1 decreased by 50 mS m-1. It is thought that
leaching resulted from the larger supply of irrigation water owing to the low
micro-topography shown in Figure 3, and this result is supported by the high
groundwater level rise shown in Figure 7. The soil salinity in some parts of
F1 and at the center of F2 decreased by 30 mS m-1. However, the cause of
the large decrease in soil salinity in F2 is not clear.
SYMPOSIUM – R.03 9

m
50

-120 Unit (mm)

-113 -95
40

-113

30 -95
-120

20 -137

-128
-133 -133

10 -137

-128
-120
0 m
0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Figure 8. Changes in groundwater levels between Sep 9 and 16, 2003

(Changement de niveaux d’eau souterraine entre le 9 et le 16
septembre 2003)

m
50 10
10 Unit (mS m-1)

10
10
40
10 30 20
20 30 20
10 10
10
30 10
10 30 50
20
10 10
20 20
30 10
10
10 10
10

10 10
10
0 m
0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Figure 9. Decrease in EC1:5 from Aug 28 to Sep 16, 2003 (Diminution de

l’EC1:5 depuis le 28 août jusqu’au 16 septembre 2003)
10 SYMPOSIUM – R.03

The decrease in groundwater EC decreased with distance from the inlet

towards the outlet, as shown in Figure 10, because of greater leaching of soil
salinity near the inlet.

m
50 Unit (mS m-1)

50
40

350 400

250 200 150

250
300
30 150 200

200
20 50
50 300 50
150
250 250

10
250
300

0 m
0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Figure 10. Decrease in groundwater EC from Aug 28 to Sep 16, 2003

(Diminution de l’EC1:5 de l’eau souterraine depuis le 28 août
jusqu’au 16 septembre 2003)

4.4 Relationship between soil salinity and micro-topography

Ponding irrigation was conducted by rotation from F1 to F3. Each field

was compartmentalized by levees and surface water flow between fields was
not allowed. The irrigation water EC of F1, F2, and F3 was 163, 152, and
155 mS m-1, respectively. During the observation period, no agricultural work
that might alter the micro-topography was conducted. This section analyzes
the relationship between soil salinity and the micro-topography of the water
path and transects.

The water paths in F1 and F3 are shown in Figure 11. The calculation of
each water path started from the inlet of each field using the micro-
topography data. Two transects resulted, a high variation line (F1, Transect
A) and a low variation line (F3, Transect B); the relationship between soil
salinity and micro-topography was examined.
SYMPOSIUM – R.03 11

m
50
Water path
15m Transect
40
Water path of F1
30m 60m
45m
75m
30 Transect A

20

10
Water path of F3 Transect B
30m 60m
15m 45m
0 m
0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Figure 11. Water paths and transects of F1 and F3 (Chemins suivis par
l’eau et Sections transversales de F1 et F3)

Figures 12 and 13 show the relationships between soil salinity and the
micro-topography of the water paths in F1 and F3. The soil salinity of the
water path of F1 was below about 100 mS m-1. The soil salinity a distance of
10-20 m from the inlet was below 70 mS m-1. This difference from the inlet to
a distance of 20 m occurred because irrigation water was supplied smoothly.
The trends in the variation of soil salinity and micro-topography for F3 show
that the soil salinity increased with the micro-topography. It is thought that
the soil salinity of the water paths was low and roughly constant because
irrigation water could be supplied to leach soil salinity preferentially and
stably.

Figures 14 and 15 show the relationships between the soil salinity and
the micro-topography of Transects A and B. Transects A and B were
selected as they included high and low variation in the soil salinity,
respectively. For Transect A, the soil salinity over the first 8 m from the inlet
was not high irrespective of the undulation in the micro-topography. At
distances greater than 8 m, the variation in soil salinity matched the
undulations in the micro-topography. For Transect B, the variation in soil
salinity also corresponded with the micro-topography. It is thought that
irrigation water was not supplied preferentially and stably along both
transects and that the amount of irrigation water supplied was regulated by
the undulations along each transect, so that soil salinity remained high at
high points in the micro-topography.
12 SYMPOSIUM – R.03

250 200
180
Micro-topography (mm) 200 Micro-topography 160
1:5
140
EC

(EC15 (mSm-1)
150 120
100
100 80
60

50 40
20

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Distance from inlet to outlet (m)

Figure 12. Relationship between the micro-topography of the water path

and the soil salinity for F1 (Relation entre la microtopographie
du chemin suivi par l’eau et la salinité du sol pour F1)

250 200
180
200 160
Micro- topography (mm)

Micro-
1:5
topography
EC 140 -1
EC1:5 (mS m )
150 120
100
100 80
60
50 40
20
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Distance from inlet to outlet (m)

Figure 13. Relationship between the micro-topography of the water path

and the soil salinity for F3 (Relation entre la microtopographie
du chemin suivi par l’eau et la salinité du sol pour F3)
SYMPOSIUM – R.03 13

Figure 14. Relationship between micro-topography and soil salinity

(Transect A) [Relation entre la microtopographie et la salinité du
sol (Section transversale A)]

Figure 15. Relationship between micro-topography and soil salinity

(Transect B) [Relation entre la microtopographie et la salinité du
sol (Section transversale B)]

5. SUMMARY

The distribution of soil salinity and groundwater EC did not change

markedly with 150 mm of ponding irrigation water. The analysis of the
variation in groundwater levels, soil salinity, and groundwater EC showed
that the amount of leached soil salinity tended to decrease from the inlet of
the field towards the outlet. By contrast, the decrease in groundwater EC
14 SYMPOSIUM – R.03

tended to increase from the inlet toward the outlet owing to the addition of
leached soil salinity to the groundwater.

The analysis of the relationship between soil salinity and the micro-
topography of the water paths and transects showed that the soil salinity
along the water paths was constantly low, while the soil salinity along the
transects corresponded with the undulations in the micro-topography. The
analysis of the soil salinity along the transects showed that irrigation water
was supplied unevenly because of the undulations in the micro-topography,
which resulted in spatial variability in the soil salinity and groundwater EC.

The results of this study show that leaching irrigation is not efficient for
eliminating soil salinity in poorly drained fields. The heterogeneous
distribution of soil salinity may be reduced if land is better leveled.
Nevertheless, the main constraint remains the lack of adequate drainage in
such fields. There is an urgent need to identify such poorly drained areas for
the entire Hetao irrigation district and to identify the fundamental movements
of groundwater and salinity on a large scale.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This research was supported financially by the CREST Yellow River

Project (JST, representative: Professor Tetsuya KUSUDA of Kyushu
University, Japan) and the Project “Impact of Climate Changes on
Agricultural Production Systems in Arid Areas (ICCAP)”, administered by the
Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (RIHN) and the Scientific and
Technical Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK). The authors thank the
Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Administration of the Hetao Irrigation
District, and Shahaoqu Experimental Station.

REFERENCES

Delhomme, J.P. 1978. Kriging in the hydrosciences. Advances in Water Resources.

1, 251-266.
McNeill, J.D. 1980. Electromagnetic Terrain Conductivity Measurement at Low
Induction Numbers. Geonics Limited, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, Technical Note
TN-6.
Takashi Kume, Takao Amaya, and Toru Mitsuno. 2003. The effect of soil
desalinization in the Hetao irrigation district, Inner Mongolia, China. Transactions of
JSIDRE, Vol.223, 133-139.
Wang, L., A., Chen. And G. Zeng. 1988. Irrigation Drainage and Salinization Control
in Neimenggu Hetao Irrigation Area. Water Facility and Electric Power Pub.
Yellow River Water Facility Committee. 1989. Flood control and development, Kokin
Pub., pp 150.