Cross-Medium Control of Water and Soil Environmental Pollution in Watershed

Abstract

Pollutants have complex source-sink relationships in water and soil environments at a catchment scale, and the transformation of pollutants in water and soil environments is primarily controlled by various water-soil interface processes. Therefore, the control of water and soil environmental pollution should consider water and soil environments as a whole, identify the real pollution source through cross-medium attribution analysis, and then control the pollution with cross-medium treatment. We first analyze the crossmedium migration processes of pollutants and the major influencing factors. Then we propose the principle and key process of crossmedium regulation, namely, cross-medium attribution identification and cross-medium treatment of water and soil environmental pollution. Moreover, we expound the important role of the processes of the following interfaces in cross-medium removal of pollutants: soil-water and slope-channel interfaces outside river channels, as well as water-sediment and water-suspended particulate matter interfaces in river channels (including water-solid interfaces in the riverbed and lateral shore hyporheic zones). Furthermore, cross-medium control of non-point source pollutants in watershed, cross-medium removal of nitrogen-containing compounds from rivers, and cross-medium removal of nitrogen and phosphorus from lakes are illustrated with practical cases. The research results can provide a scientific basis for the control and treatment of water and soil pollution.

Keywords

• watershed
• water and soil pollution control
• water and soil environment
• water-sediment interface
• water environment quality
• cross-medium treatment