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Optimal control of nonpoint source pollution in the Bahe River Basin, Northwest China, based on the SWAT model

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Abstract

This study conducts in the Bahe River Basin, an agricultural basin in Northwest China. We use the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model to identify the spatial distribution characteristics of non-point source (NPS) pollution and determine the critical source areas (CSA). Then the relationship between landscape pattern and NPS pollution is analyzed by spearman correlation analysis and redundancy analysis (RDA). On this basis, we set up eight landscape management practices in the CSA and evaluate their reduction effects on NPS pollution loads. The results show that the spatial distribution of nitrogen and phosphorus loss intensity has a certain correlation with rainfall and runoff, and the correlation between phosphorus loss intensity and sediment loss intensity is more significant. The NPS pollution load is closely related to the landscape pattern of the river basin, and is affected by the fragmentation, aggregation and complexity of the landscape. Farmland, forest land, and grassland are the main landscape components of the river basin. Farmland is the main source of NPS pollution, whereas forest land and grassland can effectively inhibit the output of NPS pollution, and the reduction effect of forest land is significantly better than that of grassland. The largest patch index (LPI), landscape shape index (LSI), patch density (PD) are the main landscape factors that affect the output of NPS pollution load. Among all the scenarios, the reduction effect of returning farmland to forest land in slopes above 15° is the best, and the reduction rates of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) loads have reached about 25%. This study provides some reference for the management of NPS pollution in the Bahe River Basin and other similar basins.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully thank all the members of the research group on Non-point Source Pollution Control and Sponge City of the State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China for their efforts.

Funding

The study is financially supported by the key research and development project of Shaanxi Province (2019ZDLSF06-01) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51879215).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Eco-hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an, 710048, China

    Shu Li, Jiake Li & Gairui Hao

  2. State Key Laboratory of Water Resources & Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Jun Xia

  3. Key Laboratory of Water Cycle & Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Jun Xia

Authors
  1. Shu Li
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  2. Jiake Li
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  3. Jun Xia
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  4. Gairui Hao
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Contributions

JL and JX contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by SL and GH. The first draft of the manuscript was written by SL, JL, and GH. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jiake Li or Jun Xia.

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Availability of data and materials

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due [REASON WHY DATA ARE NOT PUBLIC] but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Responsible Editor: Xianliang Yi

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Li, S., Li, J., Xia, J. et al. Optimal control of nonpoint source pollution in the Bahe River Basin, Northwest China, based on the SWAT model. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 55330–55343 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14869-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14869-4

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