4.6 Article

Eco-Compensation Schemes for Controlling Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution in Maoli Lake Watershed

Journal

WATER
Volume 13, Issue 11, Pages -

Publisher

MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/w13111536

Keywords

eco-compensation; SWAT; non-point pollution; lake watershed; scenarios simulation; multi-criteria spatial evaluation

Funding

  1. National Key Research and Development Program of China [2017YFC0405303]
  2. Foundation of Humanity and Social Science of China Ministry of Education [20YJC630231]
  3. Scientific Research Project of Education Department of Hunan Province of China [18K059]
  4. Science and Technology Research and Development Program of China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd. [CSCEC-2021-Z-26, CSCEC-2020-Z-43]

Ask authors/readers for more resources

This study used the SWAT model to simulate and evaluate the impact of different agricultural activity adjustment scenarios on water quality improvement, showing that the fallow scenario had the best reduction in nutrient loss from agricultural land. Considering the environmental, economic, and social effects, the fallow scenario was regarded as the best choice for rice land and dry land.
Maoli Lake is the water source for local residents and a national nature protected area. However, due to intensive agriculture development, the water quality has deteriorated over the past decades. An effective measure to improve water quality is to control the agricultural non-point source (NPS) pollution through elaborate schemes based on eco-compensation. In order to develop such eco-compensation schemes, three scenarios of agricultural activity adjustment were designed: S1 (halving fertilization every year), S2 (fallow every other year), and S3 (returning agricultural land to forest). A Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was adopted to simulate runoff, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus. Based on SWAT results, a multi-criteria spatial evaluation model considering the environmental, economic, and social effects of eco-compensation was created for best scenario decision. The results reveal the following: (1) the total nutrients loss of agricultural land reduces in all scenarios, but S2 has more reduction compared to S1 and S3; (2) from the comprehensive perspective of environment-economy-society effects, S2 is the best scenario for rice land and dry land; (3) the comprehensive effect of eco-compensation at the grid scale has a significant spatial difference, and therefore, we highlight the necessity and significance of controlling agricultural NPS pollution by eco-compensation on a precise spatial scale. This study can broaden the application field of the SWAT model and provide a scientific basis and experience for the evaluation and spatial design of agriculture eco-compensation.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.6
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available