Assessment of point and nonpoint sources pollution in Songhua River Basin, Northeast China by using revised water quality model

Abstract

Individual participation of pollutants in the pollution load should be estimated even if roughly for the appropriate environmental management of a river basin. It is difficult to identify the sources and to quantify the load, especially in modeling nonpoint source. In this study a revised model was established by integrating point and nonpoint sources into one-dimensional Streeter-Phelps (S-P) model on the basis of real-time hydrologic data and surface water quality monitoring data in the Jilin Reach of the Songhua River Basin. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) loads were estimated. Results showed that COD loads of point source and nonpoint source were 134 958 t/yr and 86 209 t/yr, accounting for 61.02% and 38.98% of total loads, respectively. NH3-N loads of point source and nonpoint source were 16 739 t/yr and 14 272 t/yr, accounting for 53.98% and 46.02%, respectively. Point source pollution was stronger than nonpoint source pollution in the study area at present. The water quality of upstream was better than that of downstream of the rivers and cities. It is indispensable to treat industrial wastewater and municipal sewage out of point sources, to adopt the best management practices to control diffuse pollutants from agricultural land and urban surface runoff in improving water quality of the Songhua River Basin. The revised S-P model can be successfully used to identify pollution source and quantify point source and nonpoint source loads by calibrating and validating.