Anthropogenic Disturbances Have Contributed to Degradation of River Water Quality in Arid Areas

Li Ji,Guixiang Zhang,Yuan Li,Yonghong Bi

doi:10.3390/w13223305

Abstract

The earth has been reshaped for millennia. The accelerating pace of anthropogenic activities has generated enormous impacts on the water environment. As one of the main drivers of landscape change, anthropogenic disturbance has brought many negative effects on rivers. Studying the relationship between anthropogenic disturbances and river water quality is of significance for regional conservation and ecosystem management, while the relationship remains poorly understood in the current. In this study, we quantified anthropogenic disturbances by introducing the concept of the hemeroby index and evaluated rivers’ water quality in eight sub-watersheds on the Loess Plateau. The results indicated that 37.5% of the sub-watersheds were in Eutrophic status, and 62.5% were in Marginal water quality index. The river water quality was most poor in the southwestern region near the Yellow River with high-level anthropogenic disturbance. A correlation analysis between water quality indicators and hemeroby suggested that anthropogenic disturbance contributed to a significant water quality deterioration trend (p < 0.01). The river water quality was relatively sensitive to the changes of completely disturbed land-use covers, including urban and industrial land. Our findings provide theoretical guidance for regional water resources conservation and ecosystem management in arid areas.

Highlights

Intensive anthropogenic activities and rapid economic development are likely to lead to a vast increase in water resource use, and eventually, a water crisis in the long run [1]
We analyzed the characteristics of different land-use covers and quantiaddress this issue, we developed a strategy to quantify the impact of human activities fied the intensity of anthropogenic disturbance using remote sensing data and geographon surface water through a case study of a typical arid area, the Loess Plateau of northical information system technology
A land-use cover-based anthropogenic disturbance model was used to understand the correlation between anthropogenic activity intensity and rivers’ environment in Eastern

Summary

Introduction

Intensive anthropogenic activities and rapid economic development are likely to lead to a vast increase in water resource use, and eventually, a water crisis in the long run [1]. Anthropogenic activities (excessive pollution discharge, nutrient pollution from increased construction land, agricultural surface source pollution, and the industry discharge, including textile industry, metal mining industry, and pharmaceutical industry, etc.) [2,3,4] have led to irreversible changes in landscape structure, which have generated enormous impacts on river ecosystems [5]. Urban waste discharge and agricultural non-point source pollution substantially increased loadings of nutrients and organic pollutants into waters, thereby leading to eutrophication and deteriorating water quality [12,13]. One study found that anthropogenic fertilizer inputs and wastewater discharge were the leading cause of eutrophication upstream of the Three Gorges Reservoir [14], and the surface water quality was closely related to land-use type [15]. Anthropogenic activity has been looked at as a critical factor for the water environment

Methods

Results

Conclusion