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Impact of Population Growth on the Water Quality of Natural Water Bodies

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  • Chamara P. Liyanage

    (Department of Information Science and Control Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, 1603-1, Kamitomioka, Nagaoka 940-2188, Japan)

  • Koichi Yamada

    (Department of Information Science and Control Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, 1603-1, Kamitomioka, Nagaoka 940-2188, Japan)

Abstract

Human activities pose a significant threat to the water quality of rivers when pollution exceeds the threshold limit. Urban activities in particular are highlighted as one of the major causes of contamination in surface water bodies in Asian countries. Evaluation of sustainable human population capacities in river watersheds is necessary to maintain better freshwater ecosystems in a country while achieving its development goals as a nation. We evaluated the correlation between the growth rate of the population in a watershed area and water quality parameters of a river ecosystem. The Kelani River in Sri Lanka was selected for the study. The highest correlation coefficients of 0.7, 0.69, 0.69 ( p < 0.01) corresponding to biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), dissolved oxygen (DO) and total coliform (TC) were obtained with the population in watersheds of the Kelani river in Sri Lanka. Thus, we propose a quantitative approach to estimating the population capacity of watersheds based on water quality classification standards (WQCS), employing the Bayesian network (BN) classification model. The optimum population ranges were obtained from the probability distribution table of the population node in the BN. The results showed that the population density should be approximately less than 2375 to keep the water quality in the watershed for bathing and drinking purposes and approximately less than 2672 for fish and other aquatic organisms. This research will offer a means that can used to understand the impact of population on water quality in river basins and confer direct influence on natural water bodies.

Suggested Citation

  • Chamara P. Liyanage & Koichi Yamada, 2017. "Impact of Population Growth on the Water Quality of Natural Water Bodies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-14, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:8:p:1405-:d:107684
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Long Zhou & Yao Wu & Tom Woodfin & Rong Zhu & Tian Chen, 2018. "An Approach to Evaluate Comprehensive Plan and Identify Priority Lands for Future Land Use Development to Conserve More Ecological Values," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-16, January.
    3. Yi Wu & Rong Dai & Yongfeng Xu & Jiangang Han & Pingping Li, 2018. "Statistical Assessment of Water Quality Issues in Hongze Lake, China, Related to the Operation of a Water Diversion Project," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-12, June.
    4. Mirzaei, Mohsen & Jafari, Ali & Gholamalifard, Mehdi & Azadi, Hossein & Shooshtari, Sharif Joorabian & Moghaddam, Saghi Movahhed & Gebrehiwot, Kindeya & Witlox, Frank, 2020. "Mitigating environmental risks: Modeling the interaction of water quality parameters and land use cover," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    5. Yuan Lei & Chen Guoping & Wang Jiasheng & Zhao Junsan & Yang Kun, 2022. "A quantitative analysis method for the degree of coupling coordination between drinking water carrying capacity and population spatial aggregation," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(9), pages 11392-11423, September.
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    7. Godfred Owusu-Boateng & Pious Kwame Nkuah, 2022. "The Effect Of Anthropogenic Activities On The Quality Of River Fanoma In Sefwi Akontombra In The Western Region Of Ghana," Journal Clean WAS (JCleanWAS), Zibeline International Publishing, vol. 6(2), pages 54-61, September.
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