Main progress and prospect for China's hydrogeological survey

This paper reviewed the main achievements of hydrogeological survey in China, summarized the significant progress of hydrogeological survey over the past decade, and forecasted the key responsibilities for hydrogeological survey in the "14th Five-year Plan". The significant progress includes: China established the 1: 50 000 standard hydrogeological survey system with Chinese characteristics and produced the new generation of high-quality hydrogeological maps; the national groundwater monitoring project was completed and accepted, which marks China taking the leading position in groundwater monitoring internationally; fruitful results were achieved in the national groundwater quality survey, and groundwater quality background values were basically identified and checked; hydrogeological and environmental geological survey was continuously promoted in karst areas and the ecological restoration of rocky desertification achieved remarkable results; China strengthened layer exploration techniques for groundwater, integrating the key and practical techniques of layer exploration and monitoring; the exploration of groundwater in the poverty-stricken regions and old revolutionary base areas were effectively promoted to strongly guarantee the poverty alleviation and drinking water safety; the mystery of desert groundwater was uncovered, making up for the shortage of 1: 250 000 hydrogeological survey in the Badain Jaran Desert; and more efforts were made to conduct survey on the water resources in the basin, and to finish the unified measurement of national-scale groundwater level.