Remote Sensing Monitoring and Evaluation of Water Source Environmental Quality in Sanya

Abstract

We addressed rising drinking water risks in tropical tourism catchments by selecting Sanya as a representative case and developing an integrated 10–16 m remote sensing framework (Sentinel-2, GF-1) with a fuzzy evaluation, combining NDVI, WET, and NDBSI, K–T + NDVI eutrophication mapping, and event-sensitive RUSLE (30 m DEM, nonlinear LS, monthly NDVI-driven C, localized R). Land use mapping shows orchards at 736.46 km2 (38.37%) and tourism land at 2.64% (mostly golf), with 86.52% overall accuracy (Kappa 0.84). Basin-wide, 91% of the area experiences slight–mild erosion, intensified near reservoirs; relative to forests (FVC > 80%), orchards (FVC 60–70%) have a 3.2× higher median erosion risk (IQR 2.8–3.6, 95% CI 2.7–3.7). On 10–25° slopes during flood seasons, orchard pesticide/nutrient runoff indices rise 28–46%, and in the Dalong watershed, high-erosion orchard pixels co-locate with pesticide residues by 62% (95% CI 58–66%). Tourism is associated with elevated nearshore chlorophyll-a (Chl-a); the area is generally mesotrophic (0.25–0.75 mg/L), with localized nearshore hotspots > 1.0 mg/L; across monthly composites, nearshore Chl-a exceeds center waters by 130–210%, and in the Dalong Reservoir, the shoreline-to-center ratio is 2.3–3.1 (median 2.7, 95% CI 2.1–3.3) during 2023–2024 flood seasons. Overall, this source-to-sink framework supports forward-looking governance of drinking water sources under dual monsoon and tourism pressures.