The Impacts of Land Use Patterns on Water Quality in a Trans-Boundary River Basin in Northeast China Based on Eco-Functional Regionalization

Peixuan Cheng, Fansheng Meng, Yeyao Wang, Lingsong Zhang, Qi Yang and Mingcen Jiang
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Peixuan Cheng: Beijing Key Laboratory of Water Resources & Environmental Engineering, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
Fansheng Meng: Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Yeyao Wang: China National Environmental Monitoring Center, Beijing 100012, China
Lingsong Zhang: Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Qi Yang: Beijing Key Laboratory of Water Resources & Environmental Engineering, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
Mingcen Jiang: Beijing Key Laboratory of Water Resources & Environmental Engineering, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 9, 1-29

Abstract: The relationships between land use patterns and water quality in trans-boundary watersheds remain elusive due to the heterogeneous natural environment. We assess the impact of land use patterns on water quality at different eco-functional regions in the Songhua River basin during two hydrological seasons in 2016. The partial least square regression indicated that agricultural activities associated with most water quality pollutants in the region with a relative higher runoff depth and lower altitude. Intensive grazing had negative impacts on water quality in plain areas with low runoff depth. Forest was related negatively with degraded water quality in mountainous high flow region. Patch density and edge density had major impacts on water quality contaminants especially in mountainous high flow region; Contagion was related with non-point source pollutants in mountainous normal flow region; landscape shape index was an effective indicator for anions in some eco-regions in high flow season; Shannon’s diversity index contributed to degraded water quality in each eco-region, indicating the variation of landscape heterogeneity influenced water quality regardless of natural environment. The results provide a regional based approach of identifying the impact of land use patterns on water quality in order to improve water pollution control and land use management.

Keywords: land use patterns; water quality variations; eco-functional regions; partial least square regression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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