Climate-induced hydrological impacts on the groundwater system of the Pingtung

Abstract The Pingtung Plain is one of the most important groundwater-resource areas in southwestern Taiwan. The overexploitation of groundwater in the last two decades has led to serious deterioration in the quantity and quality of groundwater resources in this area. Furthermore, the manifestation of climate change tends to induce the instability of surface-water resources and strengthen the importance of the groundwater resources. Southwestern Taiwan in particular shows decreasing tendencies in both the annual amount of precipitation and annual precipitation days. To effectively manage the groundwater resources of the Pingtung Plain, a numerical modeling approach is adopted to investigate the response of the groundwater system to climate variability. A hydrogeological model is constructed base