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Influence of socioeconomic development on river water quality: a case study of two river basins in China

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Abstract

Social and economic development processes require large amounts of natural resources and in some cases seriously deteriorate river water quality. Since the reform and expansion era began, China has vigorously pursued socioeconomic development but neglected environmental protection. However, in recent years, improvements in environmental awareness and the implementation of environmental protection measures have led to a balanced relationship between economic development and the environment. In this study, the Yangtze River Basin and the Yellow River Basin were selected as research areas. We used a combination of canonical correlation analysis (CCA) and a distance-based influence assessment method to quantitatively assess the influence of socioeconomic development on river water quality. The results revealed a strong correlation between socioeconomic development and river water quality. The degree of influence of socioeconomic development on water quality varied not only temporally but also spatially due to differences in socioeconomic development and hydrometeorology in the two basins in North and South China. The average degree of influence in the Yangtze River Basin was between 0.22 and 0.27, and that in the Yellow River Basin was between 0.2 and 0.36. Moreover, the degree of influence in the Yangtze River Basin in the wet season was greater than that in the dry season, whereas the opposite pattern was observed in the Yellow River Basin. The degree of influence in both basins gradually declined after 2011, indicating that the coupling and coordination between socioeconomic development and environmental protection have continuously improved and that the water quality has gradually improved. By analysing the influences of various socioeconomic indicators on water quality, we found that the main factors that influence water quality are per capita GDP and urbanization rate in the Yangtze River Basin and urbanization rate in the Yellow River Basin. The results provide a basis for future sustainable development in the Yangtze River Basin and the Yellow River Basin.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the editors of Environmental Science and Pollution Research and all reviewers for their contributions to this paper.

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The data sets used and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Funding

This work was sponsored by the key research and development project of Yunnan Province under permission number 2020QT004-2019BC002 and the fund of Sichuan Province under permission number 2018SZYZF0001.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, China

    Shiwei Yang, Yuanming Wang, Ruifeng Liang & Kefeng Li

  2. POWERCHINA Kunming Engineering Corporation Limited, Kunming, 650051, China

    Hongsheng Hao

  3. Emergency Response Centre, Ecology and Environment Bureau of Suining, Suining, 629000, China

    Bing Liu

  4. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, China West Normal University, Nanchong, 637009, China

    Yongan Yang

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  1. Shiwei Yang
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Contributions

Hongsheng Hao, Bing Liu and Yongan Yang participated in the data collection of this manuscript. Yuanming Wang and Kefeng Li participated in the data analysis and provision of ideas of this manuscript. Ruifeng Liang was primarily responsible for preparation and process of this manuscript. Shiwei Yang conceived of the study design and data analysis with input from all co-authors. All the authors read and contributed to the submitted version of the manuscript.

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Yang, S., Hao, H., Liu, B. et al. Influence of socioeconomic development on river water quality: a case study of two river basins in China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 53857–53871 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-14338-y

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