Guizhou Province, endowed with abundant groundwater resources, will implement stricter regulatory measures on groundwater extraction starting from 2016 to prevent overexploitation, and will complete the delineation of land subsidence areas by the end of 2017.

The Guizhou Provincial People's Government recently issued the "Guizhou Province Water Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan Work Plan," which proposes that the development and utilization of groundwater resources, including shallow geothermal energy and deep confined water, will be strictly controlled. A dynamic monitoring, early warning, and supervision management system for groundwater will be established.

Specific control measures mainly include: the development and utilization of groundwater in areas prone to geological disasters such as land subsidence, ground fissures, and karst collapses must undergo geological hazard risk assessment. The development of geothermal water and mineral water will strictly implement water extraction and mining permits. In addition, Guizhou will standardize the management of motor-pumped wells, and all unauthorized private water wells within the coverage of public water supply networks will be closed.

According to preliminary surveys, there are currently over 1,000 underground rivers in Guizhou, with a total groundwater resource volume of about 25.8 billion cubic meters. In contrast to the abundant groundwater resources, "surface water is as precious as oil" due to the karst topography causing surface water infiltration, leading to severe engineering-related water shortages. However, the developed groundwater resources in Guizhou remain relatively small, accounting for only about 10% of the allowable groundwater extraction volume.

Next, while making groundwater development an important measure for water source construction, Guizhou will thoroughly ascertain geological conditions during the development process, complete the delineation of land subsidence areas by the end of 2017, and formulate groundwater extraction reduction plans for subsidence areas to prevent damage to groundwater resources caused by excessive extraction.