Buffer zone versus whole catchment approaches to studying land use impact of river water Quality

摘要

Secondary databases, GIS and multivariate analysis tools were used to determine whether there was a correlation between water quality and landscape characteristics within three olocal southern Ontario watersheds. Whole catchment and 100 m buffer zone influences on water quality over three seasons were compared. Chemical fluxes were also calculated and used to compare the loading of pollutants to downstream environments.