Long-term Circulation and Eutrophication Model for Tolo Harbour,Hong Kong

Since the early 1980s excessive discharges of organic waste into Tolo Harbour have created serious problems through nutrient enrichment. A number of eutrophication related problems have been reported which incurred financial losses of billions of dollars and serious ecological imbalance. This work addresses the development, verification and application of a water quality model to synthesize the available large database of water quality and to study water quality management issues of Tolo Harbour. Since detrimental water quality problems usually occur during summer when there is stratification and the water temperature is high, the tidally-averaged hydrodynamics and the relative contribution of gravitational circulation and tidal exchanges in Tolo Harbour have been studied. Gravitational circulation is found to be the dominant mixing process for most of the year, accounting for 70 percent of the mixing. A simple and tractable predictive two-layer mass transport and diagenetic dynamic eutrophication model has been developed. The model computes daily variation of key water quality variables in the water column: algal biomass, dissolved oxygen, organic-nitrogen, ammonium-nitrogen, nitrate-nitrogen, and carboneous oxygen demand. In addition, to study the response and impact of the seabed to the overall eutrophication process a sediment sub-model is developed. The diagenetic sediment sub-model computes explicitly the amount of nutrient recycled and the sediment oxygen demand exerted on the water column. The calibrated model has been validated against a 20 year water quality data base under a wide range of hydro-meteorological and environmental conditions. Both spatial and seasonal variation of observed water quality variables are reproduced. The verified model shows that a significant reduction of total nitrogen loading would be required to meet the water quality objectives, with a recovery time of three months for water column and more than two years for sediment.     

香港一富营养河港内的底泥耗氧和营养盐释放

Tolo Harbour has received massive discharges of municipal sewage, agricultural wastes and cottage industrial effluents, via three river systems, in the past two decades before the mid Eighties. The Harbour is almost land locked and poorly flushed. The soft sediment acted as a sink for nutrients and organic pollutants. After a decade of efforts in establishing and enforcing water pollution control legislations and upgrading wastewater treatment facilities, the sediments have turned into sources of nutrients and exert a measurable oxygen demand upon the overlying waters. In vitro measurements showed that the sediments oxygen demand (SOD) was between 17.6 and 54.3 mgo₂ · m^-2 · h^-1. The maximum rates of release of ortho-phosphate phosphorus and ammonia nitrogen were 15.0 and 206.0 mg · m^-2 · h^-1, respectively.     

The Relationships between Chemical Measures and Potential Predictors of the Eutrophication Status of Inlets

Measurements of nutrients, dissolved oxygen and trace metals in bottom waters, taken just before the fall turnover, have been evaluated as indicators of eutrophication in inlets. Samples for these analyses were collected in 34 inlets in eastern Canada. The dominant factor (31% of the variance of the dataset) from a principal component analysis of the resulting data was clearly related to eutrophication. This factor included phosphate, ammonia, silicate, dissolved oxygen, iron and manganese, but not cadmium and zinc. It was used to rank inlets according to eutrophication. Comparisons of these rankings with measures of inlet shape revealed that several measures of the significance of sills were good predictors of the eutrophication status. Tidal prism flushing times, and other geometric measures, were poor predictors of eutrophication. Measures of anthropogenic inputs to the inlets were also poor predictors of the eutrophication status: apparently natural processes dominate anthropogenic inputs in these inlets.     

云南程海和阳宗海季节性分层及其消退对冬季水华的潜在影响

基于2014年10月2016年7月在云南程海和阳宗海开展了4个季度(秋季,10月;冬季,1月;春季,4月;夏季,7月)的调查,研究了两个湖泊的水体分层特征,探讨了热力分层及其变化与其他环境因子对浮游植物生物量的潜在影响,结果显示:程海和阳宗海水体分层的特征均为冬季混合、春季形成分层、夏秋季分层稳定,两湖均属暖单次混合型湖泊;程海分层期温跃层的平均深度(顶界)、厚度和强度分别为17.70±3.89 m、5.54±4.44 m和0.67±0.43℃/m,阳宗海的分别为12.53±3.35 m、8.25±4.85 m和0.53±0.43℃/m.在热力分层稳定期,两湖底层达到缺氧甚至厌氧状态,底层的电导率总体较表层高.调查期间,两个湖泊水柱表层浮游植物生物量(以叶绿素a浓度表征)均在冬季出现峰值,程海和阳宗海的分别为19.22±11.08和45.82±9.41μg/L;进一步分析发现,热力分层的消退可能是导致水体表层无机营养盐升高(底层供给)的重要原因,加之适宜的光热条件可诱导两湖冬季水华的发生;在其他季节转化期间,浮游植物生物量变化的主要影响因子亦具有一定的共性及湖泊与季节异质性.     

Some Observations on the Changes of Physico-Chemical and Biological Factors in Victoria Harbour and Vicinity, Hong Kong, 1988–1996

This study analysed monthly physico-chemical and biological data collected from 18 marine monitoring stations in Victoria Harbour and its vicinity in Hong Kong, from 1988 to 1996. Cluster analysis based on all water quality parameters measured shows that the 18 monitoring stations can be grouped into four clusters: Cluster I consists of stations located in the Harbour proper; Cluster II consists of stations located west of the Harbour and along the Rambler Channel; Cluster III consists of stations located east of the Harbour near Junk Bay and Cluster IV consists of stations located west of the Harbour and near the Ma Wan, Kap Shui Mun and Western Fairways. Factor analysis shows high positive loadings for nutrients in the first two factors of the four clusters. This suggests that effluents from the 11 outfalls of sewage screening plants influence the water quality of Victoria Harbour and its vicinity. Other factors such as storm water runoff, marine traffic, construction and industrial activities and the Pearl River discharges also appear to play an important role in determining local water quality. Five stations located along an east–west transect across the Harbour were selected for trend analysis. The three stations located in the Harbour exhibit an increasing trend for temperature and levels of total phosphorus (TP), ortho-phosphate phosphorous (PO₄-P) and faecal bacteria and a decreasing trend for pH and levels of total nitrogen (TN), total kjeldahl-nitrogen (TKN), 5-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD₅) and chlorophyll a. For the station located east of the Harbour, an increasing trend is observed for levels of TP, PO₄-P, but no decreasing trend in TN and TKN is detected. For the station located west of the Harbour, no decreasing trend in TN, TKN and chlorophyll a is observed. Changes in levels of phosphorus and nitrogen in Victoria Harbour and the immediate vicinity have led to significant increases in the ratios of Total Silica (TSi) to TN, as well as a decrease in TN to TP and TSi to TP in most stations. Results of the present study show that Victoria Harbour and its immediate vicinity remain polluted.     

Influence of the biomass content in sediment on the sediment nutrient flux for a pulsed organic load

A laboratory study was carried out to investigate the influence of the biomass content in the sediment on the rate of diagenesis of particulate organic materials (POM) and the consequent sediment oxygen demand (SOD) and nutrient fluxes. Fish food pellets were loaded into the sediment to simulate a sudden POM input. Three types of sediments with different biomass contents were tested, including a raw marine sediment, the marine sediment after one month of cultivation and an artificial sediment of sand and clay without any biomass. There was little difference in organic flux from the three different sediments. However, compared to the artificial sediment, the marine sediments had much higher SOD and ammonia flux. A mathematical model also has been developed for the SOD dynamics and nutrient fluxes. Both the experimental and simulation results indicate the important role of the biomass in the sediment in POM diagenesis, SOD and nutrient fluxes.     

Artificial neural network modelling of concentrations of nitrogen,phosphorus and dissolved oxygen in a non‐point source polluted river in Zhejiang Province,southeast China

A back‐propagation algorithm neural network (BPNN) was developed to synchronously simulate concentrations of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and dissolved oxygen (DO) in response to agricultural non‐point source pollution (AGNPS) for any month and location in the Changle River, southeast China. Monthly river flow, water temperature, flow travel time, rainfall and upstream TN, TP and DO concentrations were selected as initial inputs of the BPNN through coupling correlation analysis and quadratic polynomial stepwise regression analysis for the outputs, i.e. downstream TN, TP and DO concentrations. The input variables and number of hidden nodes of the BPNN were then optimized using a combination of growing and pruning methods. The final structure of the BPNN was determined from simulated data based on experimental data for both the training and validation phases. The predicted values obtained using a BPNN consisting of the seven initial input variables (described above), one hidden layer with four nodes and three output variables matched well with observed values. The model indicated that decreasing upstream input concentrations during the dry season and control of NPS along the reach during average and flood seasons may be an effective way to improve Changle River water quality. If the necessary water quality and hydrology data are available, the methodology developed here can easily be applied to other case studies. The BPNN model is an easy‐to‐use modelling tool for managers to obtain rapid preliminary identification of spatiotemporal water quality variations in response to natural and artificial modifications of an agricultural drainage river. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.