ORIGINAL RESEARCH
A SWAT Model-Based Simulation of the Effects
of Non-Point Source Pollution Control Measures
on a River Basin
Jiake Li1, Juan Du2, Huaien Li1, Yajiao Li3, Zengchao Liu1
More details
Hide details
1State Key Laboratory Base of Eco-Hydraulic Engineering in Arid Area, Xi’an University of Technology,
Xi’an, Shaanxi 710048, China
2Department of Construction Engineering, Yulin College, Yulin 719000, China
3School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Xi’an University of Science and Technology,
Xi’an, Shaanxi 710054, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2015;24(3):1133-1146
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
The Weihe River Basin above the Hua-xian hydrological station, a section of about 10.65×104 km2, was
selected as the study area. Based on the identification of critical source areas of non-point source (NPS)
pollution output, six schemes and 34 scenarios were set, and the effects of various management measures of
NPS under different hydrological years (wet, normal, and dry) were simulated. NPS loads of nitrogen and
phosphorus were closely related with rainfall, and the distribution of sediment load had good correlations
with that of attached nitrogen and phosphorus NPS loads. The effect of soil and water conservation measures
on the reduction of nitrogen and phosphorus was the most obvious among the single measures. The effect of
reducing the proportion of surface layer soil fertilizer rate and total fertilization on the reduction of mineral
phosphorus and total phosphorus was obvious. The effect of improving irrigation methods and reducing
irrigation water use on the control of nitrogen and phosphorus losses was more obvious than fertilization.
Comprehensive measures significantly contributed in the reduction of all NPS polluttants. With the control
of comprehensive measures, the maximum load reduction rates of organic nitrogen, organic phosphorus,
ammonia nitrogen, nitrite nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, mineral phosphorus, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus
were, respectively, 29.42%, 32.90%, 24.99%, 21.18%, 20.23%, 29.45%, 22.69%, and 30.67% in the
normal year.