Landscape Characteristics Affecting Spatial Patterns of Water Quality Variation in a Highly Disturbed Region

Xinqi Hu, Hongqi Wang, Yi Zhu, Gang Xie and Huijian Shi
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Xinqi Hu: Beijing Key Laboratory of Urban Hydrological Cycle and Sponge City Technology, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Hongqi Wang: Beijing Key Laboratory of Urban Hydrological Cycle and Sponge City Technology, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Yi Zhu: Beijing Key Laboratory of Urban Hydrological Cycle and Sponge City Technology, College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Gang Xie: Shandong Academy of Environmental Planning, Jinan 250101, China
Huijian Shi: Shandong Academy of Environmental Planning, Jinan 250101, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 12, 1-19

Abstract: Spatial patterns of water quality trends for 45 stations in control units of the Shandong Province, China during 2009–2017 were examined by a non-parametric seasonal Mann-Kendall’s test (SMK) for dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), permanganate index (COD Mn ), total phosphorus (TP) and ammonia nitrogen (NH 3 -N). The DO concentration showed significant upward trends at approximately half of the stations, while other parameters showed significant downward trends at more than 40% of stations. The stations with downward trends presented significant spatial autocorrelation, and were mainly concentrated in the northwest and southwest regions. The relationship between the landscape characteristics and water quality was explored using stepwise multiple regression models, which indicated the water quality was better explained using landscape pattern metrics compared to the percentage of land use types. Decreased mean patch area and connectedness of farmland will promote the control of BOD, COD and COD Mn , whereas the increased landscape percentage of urban areas were not conducive to the water quality improvement, which suggested the sprawling of farmland and urban land was not beneficial to pollution control. Increasing the grassland area was conducive to the reduction of pollutants, while the effect of grassland fragmentation was reversed.

Keywords: water quality trends; spatial analysis; landscape patterns; water quality management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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