The role of scientific research in the formulation of the double-control policy for groundwater management in China

Groundwater is a major source of water supply in China. However, groundwater levels have declined in many regions of China due to groundwater over-extraction, leading to adverse impacts on the eco-environment in China. It is urgent to formulate policy for sustainable groundwater management. In this study, we described and discussed the role of scientific research in China when creating a policy of double-control groundwater management. We used examples of three regions with the groundwater over-extraction problem, i.e., the Sanjiang Plain of northeast China, North China Plain, and the Xilin River Basin of northwest China, to demonstrate the support of scientific research in developing the policy. In addition, it was found that that the interactions between science and policy need to be further improved for the management of groundwater in China. Therefore, we developed a control-loop theory to enhance the interactions between science and policy in China.