The impact of urban development upon the quality of drinking water sources: Evidence from China

Abstract

The extent of urban development and human activities may affect the water quality of drinking water sources in different ways. In this study, drinking water sources in different districts and counties of Qingyuan City, China were determined as the study areas, and the correlation between urban development and water quality index was analyzed by Spearman rank correlation analysis and regression analysis. The results showed that: 1) A statistically significant correlation was found between the extent of urban development and part of the water quality index. Specifically, the correlation between the gross annual value of industrial and agricultural production, household registration index and water quality index was the strongest. The fecal coliform index was most affected by the extent of urban development; 2) A function describing the relation between the urban development index and the water quality index was obtained by multiple regression analysis; 3) A certain significant correlation was found among the water quality indexes of drinking water sources in Qingyuan. Most of the water quality parameters were strongly correlated, which could provide a scientific basis for parameter selection in the future water source automatic monitoring.