Groundwater Environmental Functional Zoning Using GIS and FAHP: A Case Study of an Overexploited Coastal Area in the North China Plain, NCP

Groundwater Environmental Functional Zoning Using GIS and FAHP: A Case Study of an Overexploited Coastal Area in the North China Plain, NCP | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Groundwater Environmental Functional Zoning Using GIS and FAHP: A Case Study of an Overexploited Coastal Area in the North China Plain, NCP Qiang Shan, Yuting Li, Zhiqiang Gong, Xizhao Tian, Jiahui Fang, and 6 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6174998/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Unreasonable groundwater exploitation has led to numerous ecological and social issues. Current groundwater management practices in China primarily focus on post-event remediation, lacking proactive and sustainable solutions. Existing guidelines for groundwater function zoning often overlook ecological functions and face challenges in indicator selection, weight determination, and evaluation system construction. Groundwater environmental function zoning is scarce in Hebei Province, particularly in Tangshan City, a national pilot for groundwater pollution prevention and control, where such zoning is urgently needed. This study aims to establish an evaluation index system using the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) and employ GIS technology for spatial analysis to delineate groundwater environmental function zones. The study comprises three thematic layers: development potential, current development status, and groundwater quality. The weighted sum analysis of these layers reveals: Northern mountainous areas as concentrated water supply source protection and recharge zones with robust environmental functions; Central plains as dispersed development and utilization areas (1 and 2) with moderate environmental functions; Southern coastal areas as unsuitable for development with weak environmental functions. The zoning results are validated against actual district boundaries to ensure their rationality. Earth and environmental sciences/Environmental sciences Earth and environmental sciences/Hydrology Groundwater functional zoning GIS FAHP sustainable management North China Plain Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files Dateprocessing.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6174998","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":435454429,"identity":"59ece482-cb4e-4fd7-b565-e2d136d6f591","order_by":0,"name":"Qiang Shan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hebei Geological Environment Monitoring Institute","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Qiang","middleName":"","lastName":"Shan","suffix":""},{"id":435454431,"identity":"dec3cc4a-3e93-4bbc-bac3-06b8b9824871","order_by":1,"name":"Yuting Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hebei GEO 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