Potential risk assessment for water pollution accident in Taipu River region, Taihu Basin

Abstract

River Taipu in China is an important river across three provinces with considerable pollution sources in its surrounding regions. These pollution sources pose threats for several drinking water intakes located at the lower reach of the river. Assessing the potential risk of water pollution accident for Taipu River can well support our controlling for water pollution accident. This study investigated the distribution and intensity of the pollution sources surrounding Taipu River. Chemical oxygen demand, ammonia, antimony, heavy metal chromium, oils and hazardous chemicals were identified as the critical pollutions for the river. By considering the factors related to pollution sources, river hydrology, social economy, critical indictors were selected for developing assessment index for risk assessment of water pollution accident. The high-risk area in the study area was identified. The assessment results showed that the high-risk region has an area of 22 km2 (1.4%), mostly located at the region with large wastewater treatment plant or industrial factories, the region with many gas stations or warehouses of hazardous chemicals, the nearshore region with industrial factories, and the near region close to drinking water intakes with industrial factories. These regions are worth our concern in the risk controlling for water pollution accident.