This project is concerned with a study of the sustainability of irrigation agriculture in the
Minqin Basin in Gansu Province, China. In this region agriculture is dependent on water
supply from groundwater resources. However, recharge rates from precipitation are very low
and surface flow from the Tibetan Plateau is intercepted upstream to provide water for the
city ofWuwei and its region. Future climate change may further decrease supply. Already
many shallow wells have been exhausted or abandoned because of salinity problems, and
new wells are now being drilled to pump water from depths up to 300m
