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Response of water quality to land use in hydrologic response unit and riparian buffer along the Dan River, China

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Abstract

Land uses determine water quality within riparian environments to a certain extent and directly affect human health via drinking water. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the influences of land use, both in hydrologic response units (HRUs) and 200-m-wide buffer areas, on surface water quality. The variations and interrelationships between water physicochemical properties and land uses were assessed for better management of water environment. Nitrogen was the dominant nutrient and was significantly correlated with other water quality parameters. In the HRUs and buffer areas, the dominant landscape was grassland and farmland, respectively. Total organic carbon (TOC) and dissolved oxygen (DO) had negative correlation with land use factors; nitrate nitrogen, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, electrical conductivity, and temperature, in contrast, were positively correlated with them. Industrial and residential land was the critical land use for the aquatic environment in the Dan River, indicating that point pollution should receive more attention. Vegetation area had strong regression relationships with TOC and DO. Furthermore, more specific types of land use (subcategory classification) had a greater role in water quality. The land use in buffers can act on the water body more directly and effectively.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Abbreviations

WQSC:

Water quality standard of China

WHO:

World Health Organization

SOC:

Soil organic carbon

ATP:

Adenosine triphosphate

PCA:

Pearson correlation analysis

AN:

Ammonia nitrogen

NN:

Nitrate nitrogen

TN:

Total nitrogen

TP:

Total phosphorous

TOC:

Total organic carbon

EC:

Electrical conductivity

DO:

Dissolved oxygen

T:

Temperature

FAR:

Farmland

FOR:

Forest

GRA:

Grassland

WAT:

Waters

IRL:

Industrial and residential land

BAL:

Bare land

PAD:

Paddy field

DRY:

Dry land

HCA:

High coverage arbor forest

SHR:

Shrub

SPA:

Sparse forest

OFL:

Other forest land

HCG:

High coverage grassland

MCG:

Medium coverage grassland

LCG:

Low coverage grassland

CAN:

Canal

URB:

Urban

RUR:

Rural

BAR:

Bare lands

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Feifei Long for the help with experimental analysis. We also thank the reviewers for their useful comments.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51779204), the Shaanxi Province Innovation Talent Promotion Plan Project Technology Innovation Team (Grant No. 2018TD-037), and the Science and Technology Program of Education Department of Jiangxi Province (Grant No. GJJ170252).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Silviculture, College of Forestry, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, Jiangxi, China

    Xiaojun Liu

  2. State Key Laboratory Base of Eco-Hydraulic Engineering in Arid Area at XAUT, Xi’an, 710048, Shaanxi, China

    Yi Zhang, Zhanbin Li, Peng Li, Guoce Xu & Yuting Cheng

  3. Xi’an University of Technology, No. 5, South Jinhua Road, Xi’an, 710048, Shaanxi, China

    Peng Li

  4. Institute of Water Resources for Pastoral Area, MWR, Huhhot, 010020, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China

    Tiegang Zhang

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  1. Xiaojun Liu
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  4. Peng Li
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Xiaojun Liu, Yi Zhang, and Peng Li. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Xiaojun Liu and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Study concept and design: Xiaojun Liu, Peng Li, and Zhanbin Li.

Analysis and interpretation of data: Xiaojun Liu, Yi Zhang, and Guoce Xu.

Drafting of the manuscript: Xiaojun Liu.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Peng Li and Zhanbin Li.

Statistical analysis: Xiaojun Liu.

Obtained funding: Peng Li and Zhanbin Li.

Study supervision: Peng Li and Zhanbin Li.

Experimental operation: Yuting Cheng, Tiegang Zhang and Yi Zhang.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peng Li.

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Liu, X., Zhang, Y., Li, Z. et al. Response of water quality to land use in hydrologic response unit and riparian buffer along the Dan River, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 28251–28262 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-12636-z

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