Health Assessment for Mountainous Rivers Based on Dominant Functions in the Huaijiu River, Beijing, China

Abstract

Dominant functions usually vary greatly in different reaches of mountainous rivers and are influenced by different adjacent land uses. Assessing river health based on dominant functions is of great practical value to river management. To reveal the health status of different reaches in Beijing's northern mountainous rivers, 60 investigated plots (river length 38.1 km) were surveyed in 2016 in the Huaijiu River, which is a typical mountainous river in northern Beijing, and a hierarchy-comprehensive analysis method was employed. Based on the degree of human influences, the Huaijiu River could be classified into six types, including natural reaches, near-natural reaches, artificial bank plant reaches, artificial bank ornamental plant reaches, artificial bank sparse plant dry-stone reaches and artificial bank masonry reaches. The river health assessment index system was established based on flood control, landscape, hydrology and water quality, and ecological functions. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used to determine the weights of the function layer and indicator layer. The assessment results showed that healthy, subhealthy, slightly damaged, damaged and severely damaged plots accounted for 20.0%, 26.7%, 26.7%, 15.0% and 11.6% of the total plots, respectively. In summary, all plots in natural reaches, artificial bank plant reaches and artificial bank ornamental plant reaches were either healthy, subhealthy or slightly damaged. Plots in artificial bank masonry reaches were either subhealthy, slightly damaged, damaged or severely damaged, accounting for 9.1%, 27.3%, 27.3% and 36.4% of the total plots, respectively. The study proposed a method to assess mountainous river health based on dominant functions, which is a multiobjective approach and is not based solely on natural river functions. The assessment method is appropriate for the socioeconomic development and management of river basins.

Keywords: Assessment index system; Hierarchy-comprehensive analysis method; Mountainous river; Natural function; Social and economic function.