A system for setting water quality criteria and standards for China’s lakes
- When?
- Monday 9 July 2012, 13:00 to 14:30
- Where?
- 39 AA 03
- Open to:
- Staff, Students
- Refreshments:
Dr Jing Su
Dr Jing Su is currently a visiting researcher based in the Centre for Environmental and Health Engineering. She works as an Environmental science lecturer at the Chinese Research Academy for Environmental Sciences and is mainly involved in water resource management.
Summary:
There are more than a thousand lakes in China, and their natural conditions and human activities vary a lot depending on geographical location and climatic conditions. Most of these lakes are currently experiencing different degrees of eutrophication. However, a single standard is currently used in establishing the water quality standards for China’s lakes which do not offer adequate source water protection. Thus, there is a need to have a better understanding of the eutrophication problems in China’s lakes, and of vital importance to eco-regions delimitation, eco-regional nutrient criteria, and standards.
We investigated about 100 lakes in different regions of China. An eutrophication database, including data checking, modelling and simulation system, was setup based on sampling and data collection. Further studies focused on the methodology of setting lake nutrient criteria and standards on regional scale. Statistical analysis methods were proposed for setting lake nutrient criteria and sediment dating and modelling techniques were used for verification. Finally, a methodology for setting lake nutrient standards was developed. The Structure Equation Model (SEM) was used for setting up suggested standards based on the criteria. In order to evaluate if the suggested standards could be supported and accepted by local economic development, it is necessary to pass economic assessment through primary test and secondary tests, to obtain lake nutrient standards. The results indicate that the proposed method is reasonable and acceptable when compared to USEPA standard procedure, and it could be widely introduced to other regions in China.
