Earth Science Frontiers ›› 2020, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (4): 332-339.DOI: 10.13745/j.esf.sf.2020.5.29

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Cause and control strategy of total phosphorus pollution in the Minjiang River Basin based on pollution load analysis

WEN Quan(), MA Yingqun, SHI Yao, CHI Minghui, QIN Yanwen*(), LIU Zhichao, YANG Chenchen   

  1. Institute of Water Eco-environment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
  • Received:2019-09-12 Revised:2019-12-15 Online:2020-07-25 Published:2020-07-25
  • Contact: QIN Yanwen

Abstract:

Total phosphorus (TP) is the main water environmental pollutant in the Yangtze River Basin. Serious TP pollution in the Minjiang River, the largest tributary of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, contributes greatly to the TP flux in the Yangtze River. In order to understand the TP pollution in the Minjiang River Basin, we used the discharge coefficient method to calculate the TP inflow of pollution sources in the basin in 2016, which turned out to be 1154 ton. The results also revealed that the main source of TP in the basin was rural life (51.3%), followed by urban life (28.7%), industrial (9.57%) and agricultural (8.24%) sources, livestock (1.12%), and urban runoff (0.99%). The pollution load order was middle reaches (64.2%)>lower reaches (32.6%)>upper reaches (3.1%), consistent with TP concentration change in the main stream of the Minjiang River. The highest load was found in Chengdu (51.2%), related to its high population density, intensive production and living activities. Based on collected data and field investigation, we consider the main causes of TP pollution in the Minjiang River are insufficient treatment for rural living waste, lack of infrastructure for urban waste treatment, dense industrial enterprise, serious TP pollution in some tributaries, and lack of guidance for water pollution control. In consideration of the characteristics and causes of TP pollution in the Minjiang River Basin, we concluded that in order to improve the level of environmental protection and control in the river basin, we need to develop different strategies for the upstream, midstream and downstream of the Minjiang River Basin, as well as an overall strategy for the entire river basin.

Key words: Minjiang River Basin, total phosphorus (TP), pollution load, pollution causes, control strategy

CLC Number: