Ecosystem health assessment of urban rivers and lakes-Case study of "the six lakes" in Beijing,China

The assessment of the ecosystem health of urban rivers and lakes is the scientific basis for their management and ecological restoration. This study developed a three-level indicator system for its assessment. The results indicated that: Zhonghai and Nanhai are in the state of transition from unhealthy to critical state and all the other lakes are in unhealthy states. Water environmental quality, structure and function of the aquatic ecosystem, and the structure of waterfront areas were the constraints. Nanhai was ranked as poor and the others were all ranked as very poor. However, the ecological environment of Zhonghai and Nanhai were better than the others, the sums of the degree of membership to the healthy state and critical state were all close to 0.6. and the restorations of these lakes were moderate. The sums of the degree of membership to the healthy state and critical state of the other lakes were under 0.3, as it was difficult to restore these lakes. Some suggestions on scientific management and ecological restoration of the six lakes were proposed: ①To control non-point pollution and to improve the water quality of six lakes and the water entering into these lakes; ②To improve the hydrological conditions of six lakes; ③To rehabilitate the aquatic ecosystem and waterfront areas. __________ Translated from Acta Ecologica Sinica, 2005, 25(11): 3019–3027[译自: 生态学报]     

三峡水库主要入库河流磷营养盐特征及其来源分析

以2004～2005年的三峡水库3条主要入库河流(长江、嘉陵江、乌江)中的水文、水质的调查参数为依据,研究了三峡水库入库河流中主要的水文变化特征、磷营养盐的季节性分布规律、形态组成及富营养化状态.结果表明,3条入库河流的流量、悬浮物呈现明显的季节性变化,丰水期的悬浮物含量明显高于枯水期.3条入库河流总磷的平均值在0.12～0.29 mg/L之间,均远远高于20世纪70年代的总磷含量,长江朱沱断面水体的磷含量高于嘉陵江北碚断面和乌江武隆断面的磷含量.总磷含量(TP)中以总颗粒态磷酸盐(TPP)为主,平均占75%以上;3个监测断面中流量、悬浮物与TP、TPP均呈显著正相关性,TPP和TP也呈显著正相关性.结果表明泥沙将颗粒态磷带入河流是主要的磷污染源,总磷的污染受面源污染影响较大.氮和磷都不是三峡水库入库河流中浮游植物的限制因子,3条入库河流中的N/P值较高(＞30),表明磷有可能被优先消耗到低值.     

Response of Algal Biomass to Large‐Scale Nutrient Controls in the Clark Fork River,Montana, United States1

Suplee, Michael W., Vicki Watson, Walter K. Dodds, and Chris Shirley, 2012. Response of Algal Biomass to Large‐Scale Nutrient Controls in the Clark Fork River, Montana, United States. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(5): 1008‐1021. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2012.00666.x Abstract: Nutrient pollution is an ongoing concern in rivers. Although nutrient targets have been proposed for rivers, little is known about long‐term success of programs to decrease river nutrients and algal biomass. Twelve years of summer data (1998‐2009) collected along 383 km of the Clark Fork River were analyzed to ascertain whether a basin‐wide nutrient reduction program lowered ambient total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) concentrations, and bottom‐attached algal biomass. Target nutrient and algal biomass levels were established for the program in 1998. Significant declines were observed in TP but not TN along the entire river. Downstream of the city of Missoula, TP declined below a literature‐derived TP saturation breakpoint and met program targets after 2005; TN was below targets since 2007. Algal biomass also declined significantly below Missoula. Trends there likely relate to the city’s wastewater facility upgrades, despite its 20% population increase. Upstream of Missoula, nutrient reductions were less substantial; still, TP and TN declined toward saturation breakpoints, but no significant reductions in algal biomass occurred, and program targets were not met. The largest P‐load reduction to the river was from a basin‐wide phosphate laundry detergent ban set 10 years before, in 1989. We document that nutrient reductions in rivers can be successful in controlling algal biomass, but require achievement of concentrations below saturation and likely close to natural background.     

Compensatory Mitigation for Streams Under the Clean Water Act: Reassessing Science and Redirecting Policy1

Doyle, Martin W. and F. Douglas Shields, 2012. Compensatory Mitigation for Streams Under the Clean Water Act: Reassessing Science and Redirecting Policy. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(3): 494-509. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2011.00631.x Abstract: Current stream restoration science is not adequate to assume high rates of success in recovering ecosystem functional integrity. The physical scale of most stream restoration projects is insufficient because watershed land use controls ambient water quality and hydrology, and land use surrounding many restoration projects at the time of their construction, or in the future, do not provide sufficient conditions for functional integrity recovery. Reach scale channel restoration or modification has limited benefits within the broader landscape context. Physical habitat variables are often the basis for indicating success, but are now increasingly seen as poor surrogates for actual biological function; the assumption “if you build it they will come” lacks support of empirical studies. If stream restoration is to play a continued role in compensatory mitigation under the United States Clean Water Act, then significant policy changes are needed to adapt to the limitations of restoration science and the social environment under which most projects are constructed. When used for compensatory mitigation, stream restoration should be held to effectiveness standards for actual and measurable physical, chemical, or biological functional improvement. To achieve improved mitigation results, greater flexibility may be required for the location and funding of restoration projects, the size of projects, and the restoration process itself.     

太湖西北部湖区入湖河流氮磷水质标准修正方案研究

氮磷污染一直是太湖流域的首要污染问题,有效遏制氮磷入湖量的增加是治理太湖的重要任务。然而由于我国现行的地表水环境质量标准(GB3838-2002)中河流和湖泊氮、磷水质标准存在差异,即河流无总氮控制指标、河湖总磷标准不一致的问题,往往造成通过控制入湖河流污染来改善太湖湖泊水质时,湖泊污染物浓度往往达不到治理目标。以太湖西北部湖区及其入湖河流为例,利用BATHTUB模型模拟入湖河流与湖泊TN、TP的关系,推算太湖在满足现行湖泊水质标准中TN和TP各类别目标值的情形下的环境容量并以此环境容量决定入湖河流的水质,进而提出相应的方案进行比选,从而提出太湖入湖河流氮磷水质标准修正方案。结果表明:(1)当太湖入湖河流执行现行河流水质TP标准时,对应湖泊的水质TP超标,并不能达到保护湖泊的目标;(2)当太湖西北部湖区入湖河流TN、TP执行现行湖泊水质标准,对应湖区水质均能达标并且优于目标限值,然而该方案对于污染较为严重的太湖区域的实际参考意义不足;(3)以现行湖泊水质标准TN、TP各类别为目标值反推计算入湖河流水质指标,既能保证湖泊水质达标,又不会使河流水质标准过于严格,因此其结果可作为入湖河流水质标准修正的参考,从而提出太湖入湖河流TN、TP水质标准建议方案。     

新疆某县河流水质现状评价及其变化趋势分析

利用新疆某县境内主要河流的水质监测资料,依据水质评价标准《地表水环境质量标准》(GB 3838-2002),评价了某县境内主要河流的环境质量,采用季节性肯达尔法进行趋势分析检验。结果表明,新疆某县境内河流水质总体优良,水质级别为Ⅰ、Ⅱ类,可以作为饮用水源地、农田灌溉用水、一般工业用水的水源。从趋势分析检验结果看,水质基本稳定,没有受到明显的人为污染。     

Hydrologic Landscape Characterization for the Pacific Northwest,USA

We update the Wigington et al. (2013) hydrologic landscape (HL) approach to make it more broadly applicable and apply the revised approach to the Pacific Northwest (PNW; i.e., Oregon, Washington, and Idaho). Specific changes incorporated are the use of assessment units based on National Hydrography Dataset Plus V2 catchments, a modified snowmelt model validated over a broader area, an aquifer permeability index that does not require preexisting aquifer permeability maps, and aquifer and soil permeability classes based on uniform criteria. Comparison of Oregon results for the revised and original approaches found fewer and larger assessment units, loss of summer seasonality, and changes in rankings and proportions of aquifer and soil permeability classes. Differences could be explained by three factors: an increased assessment unit size, a reduced number of permeability classes, and use of smaller cutoff values for the permeability classes. The distributions of the revised HLs in five groups of Oregon rivers were similar to the original HLs but less variable. The improvements reported here should allow the revised HL approach to be applied more often in situations requiring hydrologic classification and allow greater confidence in results. We also apply the map results to the development of hydrologic landscape regions.     

Identification of Putative Geographically Isolated Wetlands of the Conterminous United States

Geographically isolated wetlands (GIWs) are wetlands completely surrounded by uplands. While common throughout the United States (U.S.), there have heretofore been no nationally available, spatially explicit estimates of GIW extent, complicating efforts to understand the myriad biogeochemical, hydrological, and habitat functions of GIWs and hampering conservation and management efforts at local, state, and national scales. We used a 10‐m geospatial buffer as a proxy for hydrological or ecological connectivity of National Wetlands Inventory palustrine and lacustrine wetland systems to nationally mapped and available stream, river, and lake data. We identified over 8.3 million putative GIWs across the conterminous U.S., encompassing nearly 6.5 million hectares of wetland resources (average size 0.79 ± 4.81 ha, median size 0.19 ha). Putative GIWs thus represent approximately 16% of the freshwater wetlands of the conterminous U.S. The water regime for the majority of the putative GIWs was temporarily or seasonally flooded, suggesting a vulnerability to ditching or hydrologic abstraction, sedimentation, or alterations in precipitation patterns. Additional analytical applications of this readily available geospatially explicit mapping product (e.g., hydrological modeling, amphibian metapopulation, or landscape ecological analyses) will improve our understanding of the abundance and extent, effect, connectivity, and relative importance of GIWs to other aquatic systems of the conterminous U.S.     

Integrating Seasonal Information on Nutrients and Benthic Algal Biomass into Stream Water Quality Monitoring

Benthic chlorophyll a (BChl a) and environmental factors that influence algal biomass were measured monthly from February through October in 22 streams from three agricultural regions of the United States. At‐site maximum BChl a ranged from 14 to 406 mg/m² and generally varied with dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN): 8 out of 9 sites with at‐site median DIN >0.5 mg/L had maximum BChl a >100 mg/m². BChl a accrued and persisted at levels within 50% of at‐site maximum for only one to three months. No dominant seasonal pattern for algal biomass accrual was observed in any region. A linear model with DIN, water surface gradient, and velocity accounted for most of the cross‐site variation in maximum chlorophyll a (adjusted R² = 0.7), but was no better than a single value of DIN = 0.5 mg/L for distinguishing between low and high‐biomass sites. Studies of nutrient enrichment require multiple samples to estimate algal biomass with sufficient precision given the magnitude of temporal variability of algal biomass. An effective strategy for regional stream assessment of nutrient enrichment could be based on a relation between maximum BChl a and DIN based on repeat sampling at sites selected to represent a gradient in nutrients and application of the relation to a larger number of sites with synoptic nutrient information.     

巢湖入湖河流沉积物中有机磷的形态分级研究简

为识别巢湖流域污染物的特征、来源及其沉积物有机磷各形态分布与富营养化的关系，测定了7条巢湖入湖河流沉积物中有机磷各形态的含量，分析不同污染类型入湖河流沉积物中有机磷各形态分布的差异及与其他因素间的相关性。研究发现，不同污染类型入湖河流沉积物中水土保持控制型河流沉积物中有机磷各组分的相对含量顺序为残渣态P_o >富里酸-P_o >HCl-P_o >胡敏酸-P_o >NaHCO₃-P_o，平均的相对比例为7.5：3.1：1.9：1.5：1.0，而城市污染控制型和面源污染控制型河流沉积物中有机磷各组分的相对含量顺序恰好相同，面源污染控制型河流沉积物P_o各形态含量低于城市污染控制型和水土保持控制型河流。中活性P_o和OM、TP、P_i、P_o、TN、NaHCO₃-P_i、NaOH-P_i呈正相关，非活性P_o与P_o、NaOH-P_i呈显著正相关关系，反映了中活性P_o很容易转化为生物可利用磷和非活性P_o，且非活性P_o仍然具有潜在的生物活性。