Over-pumping of aquifers is a worldwide problem mainly caused by agricultural water use. Among
its consequences are the falling dry of streams and wetlands soil subsidence die-off of
phreatophytic vegetation saline water intrusion increased pumping cost and loss of storage
needed for drought relief. Stopping or reversing the trend requires management interventions.
The North China Plain serves as an example. A management system is set up for a typical county.
It contains three components: monitoring decision support based on modelling and
implementation in the field. Besides all monitoring data the decision support module contains
an irrigation calculator a box model and a distributed groundwater model to project the
outcomes of different water allocation scenarios. In view of grain security a solution
combines an adaptation of the cropping system with imports of surface water from the South. The
Open Access book does not only describe the problem and the path to its solution. It also gives
access to nine manuals concerning methods used. They include computer programs and the game
Save the Water. The Chinese experience should be of considerable interest to other regions in
the world which suffer from over-pumping of aquifers.
