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A systematic assessment of watershed-scale nonpoint source pollution during rainfall-runoff events in the Miyun Reservoir watershed

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Abstract

The assessment of peak flow rate, total runoff volume, and pollutant loads during rainfall process are very important for the watershed management and the ecological restoration of aquatic environment. Real-time measurements of rainfall-runoff and pollutant loads are always the most reliable approach but are difficult to carry out at all desired location in the watersheds considering the large consumption of material and financial resources. An integrated environmental modeling approach for the estimation of flash streamflow that combines the various hydrological and quality processes during rainstorms within the agricultural watersheds is essential to develop targeted management strategies for the endangered drinking water. This study applied the Hydrological Simulation Program—Fortran (HSPF) to simulate the spatial and temporal variation in hydrological processes and pollutant transport processes during rainstorm events in the Miyun Reservoir watershed, a drinking water resource area in Beijing. The model performance indicators ensured the acceptable applicability of the HSPF model to simulate flow and pollutant loads in the studied watershed and to establish a relationship between land use and the parameter values. The proportion of soil and land use was then identified as the influencing factors of the pollution intensities. The results indicated that the flush concentrations were much higher than those observed during normal flow periods and considerably exceeded the limits of Class III Environmental Quality Standards for Surface Water (GB3838-2002) for the secondary protection zones of the drinking water resource in China. Agricultural land and leached cinnamon soils were identified as the key sources of sediment, nutrients, and fecal coliforms. Precipitation volume was identified as a driving factor that determined the amount of runoff and pollutant loads during rainfall processes. These results are useful to improve the streamflow predictions, provide useful information for the identification of highly polluted areas, and aid the development of integrated watershed management system in the drinking water resource area.

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Funding

Financial support for this study was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51579011) and the fund for Innovative Research Group of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51421065).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Water Environment Simulation, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, People’s Republic of China

    Jiali Qiu, Zhenyao Shen, Guoyuan Wei, Hui Xie & Guanping Lv

  2. China Waterborne Transport Research Institute, Beijing, 100088, People’s Republic of China

    Guobo Wang

Authors
  1. Jiali Qiu
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  2. Zhenyao Shen
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  3. Guoyuan Wei
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  4. Guobo Wang
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  5. Hui Xie
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Correspondence to Zhenyao Shen.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Qiu, J., Shen, Z., Wei, G. et al. A systematic assessment of watershed-scale nonpoint source pollution during rainfall-runoff events in the Miyun Reservoir watershed. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 6514–6531 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0946-6

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