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Long-term impacts of reservoir operation on the spatiotemporal variation in nitrogen forms in the post-Three Gorges Dam period (2004–2016)

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Abstract

Nitrogen (N) is an essential nutrient limiting life, and its biochemical cycling and distribution in rivers have been markedly affected by river engineering construction and operation. Here, we comprehensively analyzed the spatiotemporal variations and driving environmental factors of N distributions based on the long-term observations (from 2004 to 2016) of seven stations in the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR). In the study period, several water quality indexes of the river reach improved, whereas N pollution was severe and tended to be aggravated after the TGR impoundment. The anti-seasonal reservoir operation strongly affected the variations in N forms. The total nitrogen (TN) concentration in the mainstream of the Yangtze River continuously increased, although it was still lower than that in the incoming tributaries (Wu and Jialing rivers). Further analysis showed that this increase occurred probably because of external inputs, including the upstream (76%), non-point (22%), and point source pollution inputs (2%). Additionally, different N forms showed significant seasonal variations; among them, the TN and nitrate nitrogen concentrations were the lowest in the impoundment season (October–February), and the ammonia nitrogen concentrations were the highest in the sluicing season (March–May). Redundancy analysis revealed that the water level and distance to the Three Gorges Dam were significant contributors to N forms distribution. Our findings could provide a basis for managing and predicting the water quality in the Yangtze River.

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the valuable comments and suggestions of the journal editors and anonymous reviewers. The authors also thank the Changjiang Water Resources Commission for providing the unique research dataset.

Availability of data and materials

All the data and materials in the manuscript are available upon request.

Funding

This work was supported in part by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No.2016YFA0600901) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 518979197).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, 430072, Wuhan, China

    Bei Nie, Yuhong Zeng & Xiaofeng Zhang

  2. Three Gorges Bureau of Hydrological and Water Resources Survey, Changjiang Water Resources Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources, Yichang, 443000, China

    Lanhua Niu

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  1. Bei Nie
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  2. Yuhong Zeng
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  3. Lanhua Niu
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  4. Xiaofeng Zhang
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Contributions

Bei Nie: Conceptualization, formal analysis, visualization, writing - original draft preparation

Yuhong Zeng: Supervision, writing - reviewing and editing, funding acquisition

Lanhua Niu: Resources

Xiaofeng Zhang: Project administration, funding acquisition

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Correspondence to Yuhong Zeng.

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Nie, ., Zeng, Y., Niu, L. et al. Long-term impacts of reservoir operation on the spatiotemporal variation in nitrogen forms in the post-Three Gorges Dam period (2004–2016). Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 65633–65643 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15557-z

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