Spatial-temporal distribution and evolutionary characteristics of water environment sudden pollution incidents in China from 2006 to 2018

Jing Xu; Min Xu; Yanxin Zhao; Shaofei Wang; Minghui Tao; Yonggui Wang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149677

Spatial-temporal distribution and evolutionary characteristics of water environment sudden pollution incidents in China from 2006 to 2018

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Dec 20:801:149677. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149677. Epub 2021 Aug 18.

Authors

Jing Xu¹, Min Xu², Yanxin Zhao³, Shaofei Wang⁴, Minghui Tao⁵, Yonggui Wang⁶

Affiliations

¹ Hubei Key Laboratory of Critical Zone Evolution, School of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China; Geological Survey of Anhui Province (Anhui Institute of Geological Sciences), Heifei 230001, China.
² Institute of Chemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
³ Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning, Beijing 10012, China.
⁴ Yantai Productivity Promotion Center, Yantai 264000, China.
⁵ Hubei Key Laboratory of Critical Zone Evolution, School of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China.
⁶ Hubei Key Laboratory of Critical Zone Evolution, School of Geography and Information Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China. Electronic address: wangyg@cug.edu.cn.

PMID: 34418617
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149677

Abstract

Sudden water pollution incidents (SWPI) are random and harmful, which is a problem that cannot be ignored in ecological environment governance and economic development. Identifying spatial-temporal distribution characteristics of SWPI is essential for the disaster prevention and the early warning of water environment. The Kernel Density (DE) and spatial mean center of SWPI transfer curve were used to explore the characteristics with the dataset of 1174 cases from 2006 to 2018 in China. Results showed that: (1) From the time point of view, there was an overall upward trend in the overall number of SWPI. (2) At a regional scale, Eastern China, Southwest China, and Southern China underwent a high frequency with 69.93% of SWPI. The Fujian, Guangdong and Chongqing provinces were specified as the top 3 provinces with incident frequencies. The Yangtze River Basin and the Pearl River Basin were two regions where water pollution incidents occur more often, more than 50% of incidents among basins in China every year. (3) In general, SWPI presents a northeast-southwest distribution pattern and center of SWPI moves in the direction of west by south. (4) More than half of the incidents (57.24% of the total) were induced by illegal pollutant discharge and production safety accidents.

Keywords: China; Spatial-temporal distribution; Spatial-temporal evolution; Sudden water pollution incidents (SWPI).

MeSH terms

China
Economic Development
Rivers*
Water
Water Pollution*

Substances

Water