Potential risk assessment for water pollution accident in Taipu River region, Taihu Basin

Abstract

太浦河是太湖流域重要跨省界河流，沿岸区域污染源众多，下游分布重要水源地，存在突发水污染潜在风险，迫切需要开展区域污染源潜在风险评估，为突发水污染事件的风险防控提供科学依据.本研究通过太浦河周边区域的污染源调研，明确污染源的空间分布与污染源强，确定评估区域的主要污染物（化学需氧量、氨氮、锑、重金属铬、油品、危险化学品），综合考虑污染源、河流水文、沿岸社会经济等因素，筛选突发水污染潜在风险评估指标，构建评估指标体系，评估突发水污染事件的综合风险，识别太浦河周边区域的主要突发水污染潜在风险源.研究结果表明：太浦河周边区域的高突发水污染风险区呈现片状或斑块状分布，主要包括大型污水处理厂区域、大型工业企业区域、加油站和危险化学品仓库集中分布区、太浦河沿岸工业企业区域、水源地周边工业企业区域，总面积为22 km²，占太浦河污染源风险评估范围总面积的1.4%，是突发水污染事件防控的重点区域.;River Taipu in China is an important river across three provinces with considerable pollution sources in its surrounding regions. These pollution sources pose threats for several drinking water intakes located at the lower reach of the river. Assessing the potential risk of water pollution accident for Taipu River can well support our controlling for water pollution accident. This study investigated the distribution and intensity of the pollution sources surrounding Taipu River. Chemical oxygen demand, ammonia, antimony, heavy metal chromium, oils and hazardous chemicals were identified as the critical pollutions for the river. By considering the factors related to pollution sources, river hydrology, social economy, critical indictors were selected for developing assessment index for risk assessment of water pollution accident. The high-risk area in the study area was identified. The assessment results showed that the high-risk region has an area of 22 km² (1.4%), mostly located at the region with large wastewater treatment plant or industrial factories, the region with many gas stations or warehouses of hazardous chemicals, the nearshore region with industrial factories, and the near region close to drinking water intakes with industrial factories. These regions are worth our concern in the risk controlling for water pollution accident.