In Hebei, where a 20 percent decline in groundwater draft was reported, 1 million m3 of groundwater and US$40,000 (RMB250,000) of electricity were saved and the rate of decline in the water table fell from 2 m/year to 1 m/year (Zhimin and Baojun, no date). In Minquin the new groundwater regime served to expand the growing army of ‘ecological refugees’ who had begun leaving their farms for towns and cities to escape the groundwater crisis, reducing the farming area by 40 percent from the 2007 levels. In keeping with the government policy of ‘close the wells, abandon the land’, farmers moved on to non-farming livelihoods. The farmers surveyed had lost an average of 0.231 ha/household of farm land (Aarnoudse et al, 2012).