Degrading flood regulation function of river systems in the urbanization process

Xiaojun Deng; Youpeng Xu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.12.088

Degrading flood regulation function of river systems in the urbanization process

Sci Total Environ. 2018 May 1:622-623:1379-1390. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.12.088. Epub 2017 Dec 13.

Authors

Xiaojun Deng¹, Youpeng Xu²

Affiliations

¹ School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance & Economics, Hangzhou 310018, China. Electronic address: mijun45@163.com.
² School of Geographic and Oceanographic Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China.

PMID: 29890603
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.12.088

Abstract

This study developed the potential regulation capacity (PRC) and actual regulation capacity (ARC) to characterize the flood regulation function of river systems in the delta plains. Spatial autocorrelation and the grey relational analysis were then employed to investigate the spatial-temporal change of the flood regulation function in the urbanization process, of which the results revealed its spatial coupling and quantitative relation with the urbanization process and river systems changes in the Taihu Plain. The results indicated that: (1) the PRC exhibited a 20.3%-decrease during the 1960s to the 2010s, though its change exhibited significant structural and hierarchical differences. The global distributions of the PRCs all presented insignificant clustered characteristics, and the local distribution of smaller PRC regions with a high flood risk was stable; (2) the ARC exhibited a 33.2%-reduction in the recent 50years, and its decrement also exhibited an accelerating trend. The global ARC distribution changed from significant clusters to insignificant aggregations, and the local distribution range of the smaller ARC regions with a high flood risk gradually increased; (3) the spatial coupling degree between the change in the PRC and the urbanization process was greater than that between the change in the ARC and the urbanization process, and the effect of urbanization on the change in the PRC was also larger than the change in the ARC; (4) the spatial coupling degree between the changes in the ARC and the river systems was greater than that between the changes in the PRC and the river systems, though the impacts of the river systems changes on the change in the PRC were larger than that on the change in the ARC. Therefore, the developed indicators based on limited and available information can serve as references for planning effective flood control strategies in the delta plains.

Keywords: Flood regulation function; River systems; Taihu Plain; Urbanization process.