The Risk of Water Quality Deterioration with Urban Flood Control—A Case in Wuxi

Pan Hu and Lan Feng ()
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Pan Hu: College of Civil Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Lan Feng: College of Civil Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: There is a demand for flood control in densely populated river network areas. Therefore, small floodgates are used for long-term and rapid water flow regulation in such contexts. However, people often disregard these floodgates’ potential interference with the natural water environment. This study focused on an urban floodgate-controlled reach and monitored the monthly data of four main pollutant indicators (TN, TP, COD Mn , and NH 3 -N) from 2016 to 2018 at six fixed sampling points (S1–S6). The difference analysis and cluster analysis results indicated that floodgate adjustments were the dominant driving factor of water quality changes in the reach, with pollutant concentration differences observed between the floodgate opening and closing periods. The results of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index evaluation showed that the water quality of the floodgate-controlled reach was categorized as “marginal” or “poor”. It is particularly important to note that the concentration of nitrogen compounds exceeded the allowable limits. The results of the Mann–Kendall trend and time series analyses revealed an overall upward trend in NH 3 -N concentration and a localized upward trend in TP concentration and presented periodic concentration fluctuations of four pollutants (TN, TP, COD Mn , and NH 3 -N). This study highlights that flood control management using small floodgates can pose a risk of deteriorating water quality. Therefore, it is necessary to develop scientific water quality management methods.

Keywords: water flow regulation; small floodgates; potential interference; risk of deteriorating water quality; management methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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