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Construction of River Channel‐wetland Networks for Controlling Water Pollution in the Pearl River Delta, China
Author(s) -
Fan Xiaoyun,
Cui Baoshan,
Zhang Kejiang,
Zhang Zhiming,
Zhao Hui
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
clean – soil, air, water
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.444
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1863-0669
pISSN - 1863-0650
DOI - 10.1002/clen.201100733
Subject(s) - wetland , environmental science , pollution , hydrology (agriculture) , channel (broadcasting) , river delta , water quality , delta , water pollution , water resource management , water resources , pollutant , environmental engineering , ecology , geology , geotechnical engineering , engineering , aerospace engineering , electrical engineering , biology
Water pollution has been a serious problem with rapid urban development in the Pearl River Delta. In the paper, a river channel‐wetland network (RCWN) was constructed to improve the situation of water pollution. At first, the assimilative capacity of each river was calculated for the main pollutants (biological oxygen demand and ammonia nitrogen selected) to investigate the water pollution degree; secondly, sites of wetlands used to alleviate the water pollution level of the heavily polluted rivers were identified according to original water bodies; then, the wetland areas connected with rivers were determined by analyzing wetland uptake rate, pollutant amount needed to reduce and the retention time. Based on the information above, the RCWN was constructed by connecting river channels with wetlands, here the wetlands and the confluences of river channels were used as the nodes, and river channels were used as the links between nodes. The results showed with the different retention time, the largest wetland areas required by the RCWN were also different for better improving the river water quality, and the wetland areas would be reduced with the retention time increased. The network composed of river channel and wetlands could efficiently control river water pollution. This study provides a useful tool for river water resources management based on the best available data and knowledge.