Abstract
Nutrients carried in upstream rivers to lakes are the main cause of eutrophication. Building near-natural estuarine wetlands between rivers and lakes is an effective way to remove pollutants and restore the ecology of estuarine areas. However, for the existing estuarine wetland ecological restoration projects, there is a lack of corresponding evaluation methods and index systems to make a comprehensive assessment of their restoration effects. By summarizing a large amount of literature and doing field research, an index system was constructed by combining the characteristics of the near-natural estuarine wetlands themselves. It covered environmental benefits, technical management and maintenance, and socio-economic functions, and contained 3 systems, 7 criteria, and 16 indicators. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was used to determine the weights of each indicator. The top 5 indicators in order of importance were habitat diversity, total phosphorus (TP), coverage of aquatic plants, ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), and adaptation to the surrounding landscape. The above evaluation system was used for the comprehensive evaluation of the water purification project in the Fuhe estuarine wetland, Hebei Province, as an example. The results showed that the comprehensive score of the Fuhe estuarine wetland at this stage was 4.1492, and the evaluation grade was excellent. The effect of water purification and ecological restoration was good, and the selected technology was suitable and stable in operation. It had a greater positive impact on the surrounding economy and society and can be promoted and applied. The research results were important for clarifying the advantages and defects of the project and developing efficient and advanced restoration technologies.
Highlights
Pei et al concluded that pollutants in the Fuhe River could threaten the water quality and ecosystem of Baiyangdian Lake [5]
A hierarchical structure model of the evaluation index system was established by using hierarchical analysis
In order to further analyze the benefits of each system layer of the estuarine wetland and accurately analyze the impact of water quality, technology, engineering, economy, and society on the evaluation results, the system layer was divided into three levels: poor, average, and excellent
Summary
Wetlands play an important role in protecting biodiversity and regulating regional climates [1]. With the rapid socio-economic development, more and more nutrients have entered the wetlands. The eutrophication of water bodies has become a worldwide problem attracted great concern [2,3]. The nutrients carried by upstream rivers into wetlands are the main exogenous pollution. Wang et al found that harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie were mainly caused by exogenous pollution from rivers [4]. Pei et al concluded that pollutants in the Fuhe River could threaten the water quality and ecosystem of Baiyangdian Lake [5]. The control of nutrients in rivers is essential to control eutrophication and restore the ecosystem
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.