Industrial and agricultural effects on water environment and its optimization in heavily polluted area in Taihu Lake Basin, China

The deteriorating water quality in the Taihu Lake Basin has attracted widespread attention for many years, and is correlated with a sharp increase in the quantity of pollutant discharge such as agricultural fertilizers and industrial wastewater. In this study, several factors were selected for evaluating and regionalizing the water environmental capacity by ArcGIS spatial analysis, including geomorphologic characteristics, water quality goals, water body accessibility, water-dilution channels, and current water quality. Then, the spatial optimization of agriculture and industry was adjusted through overlay analysis, based on the balance between industrial space and water environmental capacity. The results show that the water environmental capacity gradually decreases from the west to the east, in contrast, the pollution caused by industrial and agricultural clustering is distributes along Taihu Lake, Gehu Lake and urban districts. The analysis of the agricultural space focuses on optimizing key protected areas of the Taihu Lake Basin, and the shores of Gehu Lake, optimally adjusting the second protected areas of the Taihu Lake Basin, and generally adjusting the urban areas of Changzhou and Wuxi cities. The analysis of industrial space focuses on optimizing the downtowns of Changzhou and Wuxi cities, optimally adjusting key protected areas and second protected areas of the Taihu Lake Basin, and generally adjusting the south and southwest of Gehu Lake. Lastly, some schemes of industrial and agricultural layouts and policies for the direction of industrial and agricultural development were proposed, reflecting a correlation between industry and agriculture and the water environment.