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Insights into spatiotemporal variations of the water quality in Taihu Lake Basin, China

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Abstract

Taihu Lake Basin is highly developed but suffers from perennial water shortages due to pollution. Most studies have been limited to examining the water quality in specific areas, but few have investigated the entire basin. This study was based on official water quality data obtained from 565 sites in the monitoring network, thereby covering the entire basin. The water quality spatiotemporal variations were explored by statistical analysis, and the precise spatial distribution of the main pollutants was analyzed by heat maps. Only 29.09% of the water quality assessment results showed “drinkable,” whereas 28.63% showed “moderate” and “severe” pollution. The “severe” proportion had a significant declining trend (R2 = 0.933) and was affected by the variations of nitrogen that was related to rainfall and anthropogenic activities. The water quality spatial variation was most likely related to anthropogenic influence and land use. The water quality in the developed and densely populated urban areas was poor, especially in downtown Shanghai. NH3-N, TN, TP, BOD5, COD, CODMn, and DO were the main pollutants that affected the water quality. NH3-N and TN were major reduction targets. NH3-N was the main pollutant that deteriorated the water quality in most densely populated urban areas. Many lakes and reservoirs were highly polluted with TN. Controlling domestic sewage may be effective to improve the water quality. This study makes up for the limited research on the water quality spatiotemporal variations in the entire Taihu Lake Basin and provides beneficial information and suggestions for decision-making regarding the water management.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The Taihu Basin Authority of Ministry of Water Resources of the People’s Republic of China are greatly appreciated for providing the monitoring data of water quality. The authors are grateful to all the editors and reviewers for providing positive and constructive comments for this paper.

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant (grant number 41701380) and Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (grant number KYCX20_2375).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography, Geomatics and Planning, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Jiaxin Zhang, Lianpeng Zhang, Qi Chai, Li Ji, Qing Zhao, Xing Li, Wei Liu & Chunmei Li

  2. Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science and Technology, International Institute for Earth System Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Yang Shen

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  1. Jiaxin Zhang
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  2. Lianpeng Zhang
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  8. Wei Liu
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  9. Chunmei Li
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Jiaxin Zhang and Lianpeng Zhang and Qing Zhao. Methodology: Jiaxin Zhang and Lianpeng Zhang and Qi Chai and Yang Shen. Software: Jiaxin Zhang. Validation: Lianpeng Zhang, Xing Li, and Wei Liu. Formal analysis: Jiaxin Zhang. Resources: Yang Shen. Data curation: Qi Chai and Li Ji. Writing—original draft preparation: Jiaxin Zhang. Writing—review and editing: Lianpeng Zhang and Xing Li. Visualization: Jiaxin Zhang and Li Ji. Supervision: Lianpeng Zhang. Project administration: Lianpeng Zhang. Funding acquisition: Chunmei Li. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Lianpeng Zhang.

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Zhang, J., Zhang, L., Chai, Q. et al. Insights into spatiotemporal variations of the water quality in Taihu Lake Basin, China. Environ Monit Assess 193, 757 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-021-09554-5

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