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Water Quality Changes during Rapid Urbanization in the Shenzhen River Catchment: An Integrated View of Socio-Economic and Infrastructure Development

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  • Hua-peng Qin

    (Key Laboratory for Urban Habitat Environmental Science and Technology, School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, China)

  • Qiong Su

    (Key Laboratory for Urban Habitat Environmental Science and Technology, School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, China)

  • Soon-Thiam Khu

    (Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Civil Engineering (C5), Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK)

  • Nv Tang

    (Key Laboratory for Urban Habitat Environmental Science and Technology, School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, China)

Abstract

Surface water quality deterioration is a serious problem in many rapidly urbanizing catchments in developing countries. There is currently a lack of studies that quantify water quality variation (deterioration or otherwise) due to both socio-economic and infrastructure development in a catchment. This paper investigates the causes of water quality changes over the rapid urbanization period of 1985–2009 in the Shenzhen River catchment, China and examines the changes in relation to infrastructure development and socio-economic policies. The results indicate that the water quality deteriorated rapidly during the earlier urbanization stages before gradually improving over recent years, and that rapid increases in domestic discharge were the major causes of water quality deterioration. Although construction of additional wastewater infrastructure can significantly improve water quality, it was unable to dispose all of the wastewater in the catchment. However, it was found that socio-economic measures can significantly improve water quality by decreasing pollutant load per gross regional production (GRP) or increasing labor productivity. Our findings suggest that sustainable development during urbanization is possible, provided that: (1) the wastewater infrastructure should be constructed timely and revitalized regularly in line with urbanization, and wastewater treatment facilities should be upgraded to improve their nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiencies; (2) administrative regulation policies, economic incentives and financial policies should be implemented to encourage industries to prevent or reduce the pollution at the source; (3) the environmental awareness and education level of local population should be increased; (4) planners from various sectors should consult each other and adapt an integrated planning approach for socio-economic and wastewater infrastructure development.

Suggested Citation

  • Hua-peng Qin & Qiong Su & Soon-Thiam Khu & Nv Tang, 2014. "Water Quality Changes during Rapid Urbanization in the Shenzhen River Catchment: An Integrated View of Socio-Economic and Infrastructure Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(10), pages 1-19, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:6:y:2014:i:10:p:7433-7451:d:41551
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Zhenhuan Liu & Haiyan Yang, 2018. "The Impacts of Spatiotemporal Landscape Changes on Water Quality in Shenzhen, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-14, May.
    2. Bing Xue & Mario Tobias, 2015. "Sustainability in China: Bridging Global Knowledge with Local Action," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-7, March.
    3. Qiang Sheng & Wang Xu & Long Chen & Lei Wang & Yudong Wang & Yihong Liu & Linshen Xie, 2022. "Effect of Urban River Morphology on the Structure of Macroinvertebrate Communities in a Subtropical Urban River," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-16, August.
    4. Krzysztof Stępniewski & Maksym Łaszewski, 2021. "Spatial and Seasonal Dynamics of Inorganic Nitrogen and Phosphorous Compounds in an Orchard-Dominated Catchment with Anthropogenic Impacts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-19, October.
    5. Edson Turibamwe & Rapheal Wangalwa, 2020. "A Comparative Study Of Two Biological Monitoring Systems In Assessing Water Quality: A Case Of River Birira, Sheema District, Uganda," Water Conservation & Management (WCM), Zibeline International Publishing, vol. 4(1), pages 7-14, January.
    6. Chamara P. Liyanage & Koichi Yamada, 2017. "Impact of Population Growth on the Water Quality of Natural Water Bodies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-14, August.
    7. Lei Liu & Tong Wu & Zhihang Xu & Xiaofeng Pan, 2018. "The Water-Economy Nexus and Sustainable Transition of the Pearl River Delta, China (1999–2015)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-15, July.
    8. Jovana Brankov & Ana Milanović Pešić & Dragana Milijašević Joksimović & Milan M. Radovanović & Marko D. Petrović, 2020. "Water Quality Estimation and Population’s Attitudes: A Multi-Disciplinary Perspective of Environmental Implications in Tara National Park (Serbia)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-18, December.
    9. Jin Guo & Yingzhi Xu & Zhengning Pu, 2016. "Urbanization and Its Effects on Industrial Pollutant Emissions: An Empirical Study of a Chinese Case with the Spatial Panel Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-15, August.
    10. Sheng Zhang & Meng Xu & Yifu Yang & Zeyu Song, 2021. "Technological Innovation, Production Efficiency, and Sustainable Development: A Case Study from Shenzhen in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-12, September.
    11. Wei Wang & Hualin Xie & Tong Jiang & Daobei Zhang & Xue Xie, 2016. "Measuring the Total-Factor Carbon Emission Performance of Industrial Land Use in China Based on the Global Directional Distance Function and Non-Radial Luenberger Productivity Index," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-19, April.

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