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Differences in water quality of four different types of water sources in the lower reaches of the Yellow River in China

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Abstract

To assess the water quality characteristics of different types of water sources and find their differences in water quality, quality of drinking water sources including reservoirs, rivers, springs, and groundwater in the lower reaches of Yellow River has been seasonally investigated during 2019 and 2021. The water quality varied greatly among different water bodies, and the four types of water bodies were divided into surface (reservoirs and rivers) and groundwater (groundwater and springs) based on the water quality characteristics. Five principal components were extracted, together explaining 84% of all the variance information by log-transformed principal component analysis, which represented that anions, formation potential of disinfection by-products precursors, nutrients, and phytoplankton biomass affected the water quality of these waterbodies. The matter sources of surface water and groundwater were quite different, with dominant by organic compounds and inorganic matters, respectively. However, the similar humus carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (HS-C/N) values indicated that the organic matter in groundwater is affected to a certain extent by the replenishing surface water. In the aspect of inorganic ions, these waterbodies were more affected by Na+–Cl–SO42− in the wet season, while Ca2+–HCO3–CO32− in the dry season. Gibbs diagram suggested that the anions and cations were mainly contributed by atmospheric precipitation for the surface water, while they were mainly derived from rock weathering for the groundwater. It is hoped that this study will help to evaluate the pollution risk and the feasibility of long-term implementation of artificial source remediation projects.

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The data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Focus on research and development plan in Shandong Province (2020CXG011406), Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2021ME166), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (51808512).

Funding

Funding was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2021ME166), National Natural Science Foundation of China (51808512), Focus on research and development plan in Shandong Province (2020CXG011406).

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Wei Hou and Zhenxing Yao wrote the main manuscript text, and Fang Hu collected water samples and analyzed the data. Angzhen Li, Shaohua Sun and Mingquan Wang provided advice and suggestions for the implementation of this work. Juibao Jia All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jia Ruibao.

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Wei, H., Fang, H., Zhenxing, Y. et al. Differences in water quality of four different types of water sources in the lower reaches of the Yellow River in China. Environ Earth Sci 82, 518 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-023-11198-2

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