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Linking hydraulic geometry, land use, and stream water quality in the Taihu Basin, China

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Abstract

Understanding the complexity of catchment-scale human activities, natural factors, and stream water quality is particularly important for basin water resources management. Thorough investigations on how multiple environmental factors quantitatively and simultaneously affect water quality are limited. This study employed Spearman’s correlation and ridge regression analysis (RRA) to disentangle the hydraulic geometry and land use contributions to water quality variables (WQVs). Nine and six indicators were used to describe the hydraulic geometry and land use characteristics, respectively, in the Taihu Basin. The results revealed significant correlations between the land use, hydraulic geometry, and stream water quality. Built-up land and cropland negatively impacted the stream water quality, while woodland had the opposite trend. The structure and morphological connectivity of the river network were associated with most WQVs. The hydrologic connectivity characteristics strongly influenced ammonia–nitrogen (NH3-N), permanganate index (CODMn), and dissolved oxygen (DO). Six equations that estimated the stream water quality were established through RRA. Human factors impose a greater impact on the stream water quality than natural factors in the Taihu Basin. Our findings provide quantitative insights to mitigate water pollution via reasonable management and control of the river structure and connectivity and land-use patterns.

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Data availability

The precipitation and air temperature data used in this study are freely available at the National Meteorological Information Center of the China Meteorological Administration (http://data.cma.cn/). The water quality data and streamflow data used in the study are provided by the Water Resources Conservation Bureau, Taihu Basin Authority of Ministry of Water Resources. Water quality data analyzed during this study are summarized in this published article and its electronic supplementary information material. The river network data and land use data are provided by the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Datasets will be made available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This study is supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2019M661422).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China

    Yaoyi Liu, Peng Zeng, Gen Li, Fengyun Sun & Yue Che

  2. Shanghai Key Lab for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200241, China

    Yaoyi Liu, Peng Zeng, Gen Li, Fengyun Sun & Yue Che

  3. Institute of Eco-Chongming (IEC), Shanghai, 200062, China

    Yaoyi Liu, Peng Zeng, Gen Li, Fengyun Sun & Yue Che

  4. Taihu Basin & East China Sea Ecology and Environment Supervision Authority, Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Shanghai, 200434, China

    Hongju Zhang

  5. Shanghai Investigation, Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd, 200050, Shanghai, China

    Yukun Wang

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  1. Yaoyi Liu
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  2. Hongju Zhang
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  3. Peng Zeng
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  4. Yukun Wang
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Correspondence to Yue Che.

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Liu, Y., Zhang, H., Zeng, P. et al. Linking hydraulic geometry, land use, and stream water quality in the Taihu Basin, China. Environ Monit Assess 193, 484 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09270-0

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