Constructing a System for Water Quality Monitoring and Analysis in the Pearl River Delta Region

Abstract

Natural resources such as land, air, and water lay a critical foundation for the sustainable development of an urban community. The Pearl River Delta (PRD) is one of the most developed and rapidly developing regions in China, with abundant natural resources in water, intertidal zones, aquatic products, and a significant coastal estuary habitat. The PRD also covers two Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong and Macao) and two Special Economic Zones (Shenzhen and Zhuhai), critically positioning it domestically and abroad. However, the increasing development of the economy has put pressure on the security of its water resources. These resources have sharply deteriorated in the PRD as the result of a mass and unordered overuse of water and soil resources and the lack of coordinated efforts among different functional departments. Various problems related to the water environment (such as flooding, rapid development of the deposition, water pollution, saltwater intrusion, and waterway atrophy) have directly threatened the social stability, sustainable development of the economy, and the supply of water in the region. To date, the population affected by a shortage of high-quality water has reached 16 million due to pollution of the water supply source in Guangdong province. At this time, the water pollution in the PRD has resulted in ever-increasing economic and environmental losses. Pollution coverage includes Hong Kong, Macao, and Guangdong and, because governmental functions and scientific technologies among these regions differ, there is little in the way of efficient, cooperative efforts to fully make use of their individual advantages to protect the water environment in the PRD. Moreover, the diversity and complexity of the problems even interfere with the abilities of functional departments within one region (e.g., flood prevention, pollution abatement, and channel maintenance) to make decisions and formulate protection policies using advanced spatial technologies such as remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS). Consequently, the water environment in the PRD lacks unified and synergistic operations, and water resource protection is restricted to satisfying the demands of economic development and the requirements of sustainable development. To date, it is clear that cooperation amongst Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao should be strengthened. More research is also essential, specifically regarding the reduction of gross pollution emissions by 8 to 10 percent. In addition, the water environmental protection of the PRD has engaged with the Integrative Planning of the Environmental Protection in the PRD (2009-2020). This emphasizes strengthening the regional collaborative linkages, constructing an integrative platform of environmental monitoring, and realizing the shared and collaborative management of environmental information among different departments. With this in mind, the study on constructing a unified and synergistic system for water environment analysis in the PRD area are proposed as interdisciplinary and comprehensive research using multiple methods and fields. Based on the analysis of the fusion techniques of multisource, multi-date, and isomerous images, a database for integrating remote sensing monitoring data of water quality and quantity, actual measurement data, and relevant basic geographical data (watercourse data, section data, and a Digital Elevation Model) will be developed. Combining the research on general analytical methods and models, the capsulation mechanism of analytical methods and models will be designed. Lastly, using GIS integration techniques, an integrative monitoring demonstrative platform of water quality and quantity will be developed to assist collaborative research and decision making among the functional departments of the three regions. The goal is to promote the sustainable use of the water resources in the PRD, to achieve sustainable economic development and to increase the informatization of the PRD region. The construction of the system consists of four parts.