Effects of landscape development intensity on river water quality in Urbanized Areas

Abstract

Urban development and human activities have greatly changed the appearance of urban landscapes, and also affect urban river water environments. Rapidly urbanized regions in China face particularly severe pressures and challenges in alleviating degradation of river water quality. Information is needed on which indexes of landscape development intensity in rapidly-urbanized areas are the key factors affecting the quality of river water environments, and how these factors affect water quality. In order to answer these questions, this research selected six indexes belonging to three dimensions for landscape development intensity evaluation. Based on five water quality parameters of 20 rivers and the land use data of 20 small watersheds of Liangjiang New Area, Chongqing, China in 2014, this research explored the correlation between the landscape development intensity indexes and river water quality through redundancy analysis. We found that the impervious surface rate and the land average fixed asset investment are the key indexes to affect river water quality. Regulating the corresponding indexes at the urban planning and design level, as well as the decision making level, can effectively achieve the goal of improving urban river water quality. The conclusions inspire strategies in planning and design, and are helpful for government decision making to effectively protect river water environment in rapidly urbanized areas in the developing countries.