Abstract
Water transfer is an effective way to solve the unequal distribution of water resources to meet the needs of urban residents and industry. Annual wet weight data indicated that there may be algal blooms during water transfer. We explored the ecological risk of water transfer from Xiashan to the Jihongtan reservoir through algae growth potential (AGP) tests. The results showed that the Jihongtan reservoir had certain self-regulation abilities. When the total dissolved phosphorus (TDP) concentration was not more than 0.04 mg/L, the risk of algal bloom was low. When the N/P ratio (by mass) was less than 40, the ecological imbalance of algal growth may be caused. When the N/P ratio was 20, it was the best environment for algal growth. Under the current nutrient condition of the Jihongtan reservoir, the volume of ecological safety threshold in water transfer was 60% of the Jihongtan reservoir’s capacity. If the nutrient level was further increased, the water transfer threshold would rise to 75%. In addition, water transfer may cause the homogenization of water quality and accelerate the eutrophication process of reservoirs. Regarding risk assessment, we believe that controlling nitrogen and phosphorus are more consistent with the natural evolution of reservoirs than controlling phosphorus alone for solving the problem of eutrophication.
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Data availability
The datasets generated during and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences for offering standard algal species for test and field visit. Lastly, the authors also express their special thanks to Chunlin Xie for helping with upfront work.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (No. 30970550) and graduate innovation and Entrepreneurship Project of South-Central Minzu University (3212020sycxjj276).
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Methodology, formal analysis and writing—original draft: Liyang Xue and Junjie Hu. Investigation, data analysis and discussion: Liyang Xue, Junjie Hu and Zilong Wang. Visualization, validation and writing—review and editing: Zilong Wang and Guofeng Pei. Project administration and resource: Guofeng Pei and Liguo Chen.
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Xue, L., Hu, J., Wang, Z. et al. Assessing risks of algal blooms in water transfer based on algal growth potential. Environ Monit Assess 195, 871 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11514-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11514-0