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Sources and mass fluxes of the main contaminants in a heavily polluted and modified river of the North China Plain

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Abstract

Many rivers in China and other newly industrialized countries have suffered from severe degradation of water quality in the context of rapid economic growth. An accounting method was developed to investigate the source and mass fluxes of the main contaminants in the Ziya River, a severely polluted and heavily modified river in a semiarid area of the North China Plain, where chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen (NH4-N) were the most important indicators of pollution. The results showed that the urban sewage with high concentration of COD and NH4-N dominated the streams, contributing to 80.7 % of the streamflow, 92.2 % of COD, and 94.5 % of NH4-N. The concentrations of COD and NH4-N in streams varied from 24.0–195.0 to 5.8–43.8 mg/L, respectively. Mass fluxes of COD and NH4-N of all pathways were quantified. Much of the polluted water was diverted to irrigation, and some eventually flowed into the Bohai Sea. Installation of adequate wastewater treatment facilities and making strict discharge standards can help improve the water quality. Our findings imply that a simple accounting method provides an extremely well-documented example for load estimation and can be useful for intervention strategies in heavily polluted and modified rivers in newly industrialized countries.

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Abbreviations

COD:

Chemical oxygen demand

NH4-N:

Ammonia nitrogen

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Major Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Treatment of China (2012ZX07203003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shuangqing Road 18, Beijing, 100085, People’s Republic of China

    Wenzan Li, Xuyong Li, Jingjun Su & Hongtao Zhao

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Wenzan Li

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  1. Wenzan Li
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  2. Xuyong Li
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  3. Jingjun Su
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  4. Hongtao Zhao
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Correspondence to Xuyong Li.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Li, W., Li, X., Su, J. et al. Sources and mass fluxes of the main contaminants in a heavily polluted and modified river of the North China Plain. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 5678–5688 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-2461-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-2461-8

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