Abstract
Restoration of urban streams and rivers has increased rapidly in developing countries in recent years. Estimating river health provides a new perspective on evaluating the ecological conditions of streams and rivers. The Suzhou Creek restoration project in Shanghai, China is a milestone for environmental protection. Based on the environmental and ecological data, including 17 indicators in five categories, collected from March 11 to April 20, 2007, the river health index (RHI) for Suzhou Creek was constructed and analysed to quantify the ecosystem of this urban river after a restoration project. The RHI scores of 34 sites ranged from 19.24 to 33.36, i.e. from poor to good. There were no significant RHI differences among stream orders, while differences in land use resulted in significant differences in channel flow status (B12), channel alteration (B21), channel sinuosity (B22), bank stability (B23), bank profile type (B25) and riparian vegetative zone width (B31). River restoration led to improved hydrological condition and channel physical form, while ammonia nitrogen (B44) and indicator scores of the presence of macro-invertebrate families (B51) were the lowest of any indicator. This case study supports the use of river health assessment as a supplement to water quality analysis in China.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aston, R. J. (1973). Tubificids and water quality: A review. Environmental Pollution, 5, 1–10.
Barbour, M. T., Gerritsen, J., Snyder, B. D., & Stribling, J. B. (1999). Rapid bioassessment protocols for use in streams and wadeable rivers: Periphyton, benthic macroinvertebrates, and fish (second edition). Washington: U S Environmental Protection Agency.
Barbour, M. T., Stribling, J. B., & Verdonschot, P. F. M. (2006). The multihabitat approach of USEPA’s rapid bioassessment protocols: Benthic macroinvertebrates. Limnetica, 25, 839–850.
Bash, J. S., & Ryan, C. M. (2002). Stream restoration and enhancement projects: Is anyone monitoring? Environmental Management, 29, 877–885.
Boon, P. J. (1998). River restoration in five dimensions. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 8, 257–264.
Bovee K. D. (1982). A guide to stream habitat analysis using the instream flow incremental methodology. Instream Flow Paper 12, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. FWS/OBS-82/26.
Bundi, U., Peter, A., Frutiger, A., Hütte, M., Liechti, P., & Sieber, U. (2000). Scientific base and modular concept for comprehensive assessment of streams in Switzerland. Hydrobiologia, 422(423), 477–487.
Che, Y., Yang, K., Lv, Y. P., Zang, H. W., Wu, J., & Yang, Y. C. (2009). Watershed management for water supply in developing world city. Journal of Central South University of Technology, 16, 313–321.
Davis, N. M., Weaver, V., Parks, K., & Lydy, M. J. (2003). An assessment of water quality, physical habitat, and biological integrity of an urban stream in Wichita, Kansas, prior to restoration improvements (phase I). Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 44, 351–359.
Gillilian, S., Boyd, K., Hoitsma, T., & Kauffman, M. (2005). Challenges in developing and implementing ecological standards for geomorphic river restoration projects: A practitioner's response to Palmer et al. Journal of Applied Ecology, 42, 223–227.
Girija, T. R., Mahanta, C., & Chandramouli, V. (2007). Water quality assessment of an untreated effluent impacted urban stream: The Bharalu Tributary of the Brahmaputra River, India. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 130, 221–236.
Goodnight, C. J. (1973). The use of aquatic macroinvertebrates as indicators of stream pollution. Transactions of the American Microscopical Society, 92, 1–13.
Higgs, E. S. (1997). What is good ecological restoration? Conservation Biology, 11, 338–348.
Hillman, M., & Brierley, G. (2005). A critical review of catchment-scale stream rehabilitation programmes. Progress in Physical Geography, 29, 50–76.
Hu, T. J., Wang, H. W., & Lee, H. Y. (2007). Assessment of environmental conditions of Nan-Shih stream in Taiwan. Ecological Indicators, 7, 430–441.
Jin, X. C., & Tu, Q. Y. (1990). Eutrophication investigation manual. Beijing: China Environmental Science Press.
Kondolf, G. M., & Micheli, E. R. (1995). Evaluating stream restoration projects. Environmental Management, 19, 1–15.
Ladson, A. R., White, L. J., Doolan, J. A., & Finlayson, B. L. (1999). Development and testing of an index of stream condition for waterway management in Australia. Freshwater Biology, 41, 453–468.
Lichtenberg, E., & Shapiro, L. K. (1997). Agriculture and nitrate concentrations in Maryland Community Water System Wells. Journal of Environmental Quality, 26, 145–153.
Maddock, I. (1999). The importance of physical habitat assessment for evaluating river health. Freshwater Biology, 41, 373–391.
Magurran, A. E. (1988). Ecological diversity and its measurement. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China. (2002). Standard methods for water and wastewater monitoring and analysis. Beijing: China Environmental Science Press.
Palmer, M. A., Bernhardt, E. S., Allan, J. D., Lake, P. S., Alexander, G., Brooks, S., et al. (2005). Standards for ecologically successful river restoration. Journal of Applied Ecology, 42, 208–217.
Purcell, A. H., Friedrich, C., & Resh, V. H. (2002). An assessment of a small urban stream restoration project in northern California. Restoration Ecology, 10, 685–694.
Shanghai Water Authority. (1998). Shanghai Water Resources Bulletin.
Shanghai Water Authority. (2006). Shanghai River Survey Report.
Smart, M. M., Jones, J. R., & Sebaugh, J. L. (1985). Stream-watershed relations in the Missouri Ozark Plateau Province. Journal of Environmental Quality, 14, 77–82.
Stromberg, J. C., Lite, S. J., Rychener, T. J., Levick, L. R., Dixon, M. D., & Watts, J. M. (2006). Status of the riparian ecosystem in the upper san Pedro River, Arizona: Application of an assessment model. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 115, 145–173.
Verdonschot, P. F. M. (2000). Integrated ecological assessment methods as a basis for sustainable catchment management. Hydrobiologia, 422(423), 389–412.
Woolsey, S., Capelli, F., Gonser, T., Hoehn, E., Hostmann, M., Junker, B., et al. (2007). A strategy to assess river restoration success. Freshwater Biology, 52, 752–769.
Xu, Z. X., & Liao, Z. L. (2006). Optimization of Suzhou Creek Rehabilitation project stage I: Based on water quality model. Environmental Engineering Science, 23, 253–262.
Yin, J., Yin, Z., Zhong, H., Xu, S., Hu, X., Wang, J., et al. (2011). Monitoring urban expansion and land use/land cover changes of Shanghai metropolitan area during the transitional economy (1979–2009) in China. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 177, 609–621.
Yuan, W., James, P., & Yang, K. (2006). Impact of urbanization on structure and function of river system—Case study of Shanghai, China. Chinese Geographical Science, 16, 102–108.
Zedler, J. B., & Weller, M. W. (1990). Overview and future directions. In J. A. Kusler & M. E. Kentula (Eds.), Wetland creation and restoration: The status of the science (pp. 405–413). Washington: Island Press.
Acknowledgements
The research was supported by the “National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.71073055, 40871016)” and the “Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities”.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Che, Y., Yang, K., Wu, E. et al. Assessing the health of an urban stream: a case study of Suzhou Creek in Shanghai, China. Environ Monit Assess 184, 7425–7438 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-011-2510-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-011-2510-z