Study of the distribution of non-point source pollution in the watershed of the Miyun Reservoir, Beijing, China

Abstract

Nitrogen and phosphorus are major nutrients to cause eutrophication to degrade the water quality of the Miyun Reservoir, a very important drinking water source of Beijing in China. These are mainly from non-point sources. The watershed in Miyun County is selected as the study region with a total area of 1400 km2. Four typical monitoring catchments and two experimental units were used to monitor the precipitation, runoff, sediment yield and pollutant loading related to various land uses in the meantime. The results show that the total nutrient loss amount of TN and TP is 898.07 t/a, and 40.70 t/a, respectively, in which nutrient N and P carried by runoff is 91.3% and 77.3%, respectively. There is relatively heavier soil erosion at the northern mountain area whereas the main nutrient loss occurs near the northeast rim of the reservoir. Different land uses influence the loss of non-point source pollutants. The amount of nutrient loss from agricultural land per unit is the highest, nutrient loss from forestry is the second highest and that from grassland is the lowest. However, due to the variability of land use areas, agricultural land contributes the greatest amount of TP and forestry lands the greatest amount of TN.