Research on Fine Ship Sewage Generation Inventory Based on AIS Data and Its Application in the Yangtze River

Abstract

Inland waterway transport is an essential element of integrated transport systems, and the inland waterway freight volume accounts for about 50% of the total waterway freight volume in China. During the navigation, anchoring, and operation of ships, various water pollutants are generated, and the pollution generated by sewage is receiving more and more attraction. To prevent and control pollution from ships, it is important to estimate the amount of sewage and pollutants involved. In this study, the data preparation process is established to generate the Degree of Ship Activity (DSA) data pool after cleaning and thinning the massive original Automatic identification System (AIS) data, and then the data fusion method of a fine GIS grid is established to integrate the DSA data into each grid. The total DSA in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River is 37.14 million h/a. The sewage and pollutant generation inventories for the lower reaches of Yangtze River are estimated and analyzed spatiotemporally. It is estimated that the generations of sewage are 1,768,600 t/a in total. After spatial analysis, it is revealed that the water areas with a relatively large amount of pollutant generation are mainly related to ports distributed along the channel and the DSA density. Finally, based on the spatial distribution characteristics of the estimated inventories, the countermeasures of “zero discharge” for inland ships, the receiving facility system improving, and prevention and control at the river basin level are proposed.