Self-Purification Mode of Still-Water Ponds in Urban Parks Based on In Situ Ecological Remediation Design

Abstract

Still-water ponds in urban parks are often eutrophic; hence, these ponds are typically at risk of algal blooms, which have a negative impact on landscapes and visitor experiences. Instead of adopting the current mainstream methods of ex situ ecological remediation with flowing water bodies, such as the construction of a circulating filtration system or an artificial wetland system around the pond, this research adopted in situ ecological remediation in still-water ponds to suppress algal blooms. The plan was implemented through a small-scale engineering design and plant configuration inside the pond. Using six still-water ponds in Beijing Yu Park as experimental sites, different mini-engineering designs and plant configurations were implemented at different ponds to perform comparative experiments, and the water quality of each pond was monitored for three consecutive years. By summarizing the variation in key water quality indices for each pond, we found that a mini-engineering design of “multilevel” pond revetments and lakebeds combined with a “multilayer” aquatic macrophyte configuration of floating-leaved plants, emergent plants, and submerged plants could effectively inhibit algal blooms. Thus, an effective ecological self-purification model and corresponding landscape design principles for still-water ponds in urban parks were proposed.