Water environment planning for the Xianghe Segment of China's Grand Canal

摘要

China's Grand Canal is one of the oldest man-made waterways in the world and has been historically viewed as the link connecting Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei Provinces. Presently, under the rapidly urbanizing conditions, the water quality of the Grand Canal has been deteriorating seriously, resulting in great ecological threats to the local environment. New and comprehensive planning of the water environment on the Grand Canal is necessary and urgent. This study took the Xianghe Segment of China's Grand Canal (XSCGC) as a case study, and a comprehensive planning of the water environment was conducted based on the principles of landsenses ecology. The water quality upstream of the Xianghe Segment were analyzed. The results revealed that the water quality is being degraded by the tail water from sewage plants and agricultural nonpoint-source pollution. The concentrations of ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) and total phosphorus (TP) reached six to seven times the limits of class V surface waters, which causes several negative observable consequences, such as odor and an ugly view. Effective control measures to implement comprehensive management upstream of the XSCGC basin were proposed. In addition, water purification processes on the XSCGC were presented by constructing necessary riverine wetlands and constructed wetlands to improve the water quality and eliminate the peculiar smell of river water. After implementation, improvement of the water quality in the Grand Canal could be expected, which would undoubtedly promote the ecological environment in the area.