Simulation of the soil water balanc for the period 1978-2001 in the semi-humid Marchfeld area in Austria shows that the groundwater recharge of arable lands amounts to about 110 mm/a on low yielding shallow soils and decreases to about 75 mm/a on the higher values medium deep soils. Afforestation with pine plantations will halve the water yields on the shallow soils, while on the medium deep soils deep seepage will be cut down to one third.
