Pollution Control in the Yellow River Basin: Monitoring, Restoration, and Management

A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Toxicity Reduction and Environmental Remediation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 7827

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Water Conservancy and Transportation, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
Interests: human–water harmony; climate change adaptation; integrated water resource management; interconnected river system network; high-quality development for Yellow River; water environment protection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
College of Water Resources, North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou, China
Interests: water ecological environment; river health assessment; eutrophication; water environment protection

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Guest Editor
School of Ecology and Environment, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
Interests: water treatment; environmental functional materials

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Yellow River, recognized as “the cradle of Chinese civilization”, has played an important role in China’s social cultural, economic, and political development. As is known, the Yellow River is considered one of the most complicated and challenging rivers in terms of pollution control, due to its higher sediment content and complex water environment. Several tributaries of the Yellow River, e.g., Fenhe River, Huangshui River, Sushui River, Wuliangsu Lake, Dongping Lake, etc., still have the potential problems of environmental pollution. More efforts should be made to prevent/control agricultural non-point source pollution, industrial pollution, and urban/rural domestic pollution. What is more, the increasing applications of synthesis chemical in daily lives, industrial, and agricultural production result in the presence of emerging pollutants (such as antibiotics, micro plastics, perfluorinated compounds, etc.) in the river. Those emerging pollutants have brought more challenges for the Yellow River pollutant prevention. The in-depth research on the monitoring, restoration, and management of pollutants in the Yellow River Basin will be urgently needed.

This Special Issue focuses on the current state, challenges, and suggestions for the pollution control of the Yellow River Basin, aiming to help improve its ecological protection. We invite submissions in, but not limited to, the following topics:

  • Advanced technology for protection and restoration in the Yellow River Basin;
  • Emerging pollutants characterization and degradation/removal;
  • The source and migration of pollutants in the Yellow River Basin;
  • Interface interaction mechanism between sediment and pollutants;
  • Comprehensive improvement of the ecological environment in mining areas.

Prof. Dr. Qiting Zuo
Dr. Wei Zhang
Dr. Jing Liu
Dr. Lin Gong
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • protection & restoration in the Yellow River Basin
  • emerging pollutants
  • pollutants degradation and characterization
  • advanced technology for treatment of pollutants
  • interface interaction between sediment and pollutants
  • ecological environment in mining areas
  • integrated water environment management

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 2170 KiB  
Article
Research on the Optimal Regulation of Sudden Water Pollution
by Honglei Ren, Fei Lin, Yuezan Tao, Ting Wei, Bo Kang, Yucheng Li and Xian Li
Toxics 2023, 11(2), 149; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11020149 - 03 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1090
Abstract
For the needs of the whole region’s emergency regulation of the nullah sudden water pollution event, the emergency regulation strategy of the accident section and upstream and downstream of the sudden water pollution event is studied. For the accident section, the duration of [...] Read more.
For the needs of the whole region’s emergency regulation of the nullah sudden water pollution event, the emergency regulation strategy of the accident section and upstream and downstream of the sudden water pollution event is studied. For the accident section, the duration of the whole emergency event is calculated using the parameter quantification method; for the upstream of the accident section, the NSGA-II is used to adjust the gate opening to ensure the water level stability of the upstream pools; for the downstream section, the optimized partition method is used to identify the unfavorable pools and close the unfavorable pool to extend the water supply time. Based on the example of an emergency event in the section of the Liyanghe gate–Guyunhe gate of the middle line project, the research results are as follows: the accident section is identified as the Xiaohe gate–Hutuohe gate, the upstream of the accident section is the Liyanghe gate–Xiaohe gate, and the downstream of the accident section is the Hutuohe gate–Gangtou Tunnel gate. The duration of the emergency event in the accident section is 7.9 h; the maximum average water level deviation before the gate upstream of the accident section is 0.05 m; two unfavorable canal pools are identified in the stream of the accident section, and the water supply time of the unfavorable pools is extended by 6.13 and 5.61 d. Full article
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17 pages, 5261 KiB  
Article
A Comprehensive Exploration on Occurrence, Distribution and Risk Assessment of Potentially Toxic Elements in the Multi-Media Environment from Zhengzhou, China
by Jialu Li, Qiting Zuo, Hao Hu, Feng Feng, Hongtao Jia and Yingxin Ji
Toxics 2023, 11(2), 140; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11020140 - 31 Jan 2023
Viewed by 1308
Abstract
Road dust (RD), roadside soils (RS) and river surface sediments (sediments) are important materials for evaluating contaminant levels in urban areas. This study aims to investigate the contaminant characteristics, pollution levels and ecological risks of RD, RS and sediments of potentially toxic elements [...] Read more.
Road dust (RD), roadside soils (RS) and river surface sediments (sediments) are important materials for evaluating contaminant levels in urban areas. This study aims to investigate the contaminant characteristics, pollution levels and ecological risks of RD, RS and sediments of potentially toxic elements (PTEs), including Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Hg and Pb, in the central urban area of Zhengzhou. Results reveal that RD shows a higher concentration of PTEs when compared to the other two environments. The spatial distribution characteristics suggest that PTEs in RD, RS and sediments may come from different sources. The geo-accumulation index (Igeo) was used to describe that the RD was moderately to extremely contaminated with Cd and Hg, while both RS and sediments were significantly enriched with Cd and Hg. For RD, RS and sediments, the potential ecological risk (RI) demonstrates a high potential ecological risk from Cd and Hg. Overall, PTEs in Zhengzhou road dust present a moderate risk. Full article
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16 pages, 5447 KiB  
Article
Experimental and Numerical Calculation Study on the Slope Stability of the Yellow River Floodplain from Wantan Town to Liuyuankou
by Hao Wang, Qing Hu, Weiwei Liu, Liqun Ma, Zhiying Lv, Hongyu Qin and Jianbo Guo
Toxics 2023, 11(1), 79; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11010079 - 14 Jan 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1459
Abstract
More than two million people live on the floodplains along the middle and lower streams of the Yellow River. The rapid development of industry and agriculture on both sides of the Yellow River has caused serious pollution of the floodplain soil. Erosion by [...] Read more.
More than two million people live on the floodplains along the middle and lower streams of the Yellow River. The rapid development of industry and agriculture on both sides of the Yellow River has caused serious pollution of the floodplain soil. Erosion by water has led to the destruction of the floodplain which has not only compressed people’s living space but also resulted in a large amount of sediment containing heavy metals entering the river, aggravating water pollution. To further study the law governing the release of pollutants in soil, this work, based on field surveys of the Yellow River floodplain slopes from Wantan town to Liuyuankou, was focused on determining the failure mechanism and laws for the floodplain slope through the combination of a flume experiment and numerical calculations. The results showed that the floodplain slopes, composed of clay and silty sand, presented an interactive structure. Under the action of water erosion, the slope was first scoured to form a curved, suspended layer structure, and then the upper suspended layer toppled. The bank stability coefficient decreased by about 65% when the scour width increased from 0.07 m to 0.42 m, and the water content increased from 20% to 40%. For the failure characteristics, the angle of the failure surface was negatively correlated with the scour width, and the distance from the top failure surface to the bank edge was about 2.5 times that of the scour width. Full article
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13 pages, 4793 KiB  
Article
A Combined Catalytic Ozonation-MBR Approach to Remove Contaminants from the Mature Landfill Leachate in the Yellow River Basin
by Cui Ma, Panfeng Ma, Zhengguang He and Xiao Mi
Toxics 2022, 10(9), 505; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics10090505 - 28 Aug 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1552
Abstract
The mature landfill leachate (MLL) is characterized by a large number of fulvic acids and humic acids, which is refractory organic matter and can be cleaned by ozone oxidation. However, the poor property of mass transfer prohibits the widespread use of ozone oxidation [...] Read more.
The mature landfill leachate (MLL) is characterized by a large number of fulvic acids and humic acids, which is refractory organic matter and can be cleaned by ozone oxidation. However, the poor property of mass transfer prohibits the widespread use of ozone oxidation in actual leachate treatment. Meanwhile, some combined processes are adopted to treat the mature landfill leachate, which places catalytic ozonation before the membrane bioreactor (MBR) process to enhance the biodegradability of MLL. Thus, this research is conducted to investigate the practicability of applying nano-Fe3O4 loaded cow-dung ash (Fe3O4@CDA) and biological post-treatment with MBR for the effective removal of pollutants from MLL and puts forward the variation of organics in leachate between catalytic ozonation and MBR. The addition of catalytic ozonation not only improved the removal of hazardous organics but also enhanced the biodegradability of the leachate and favored the subsequent MBR process. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal in the catalytic ozonation step was optimized, and 53% removal was obtained at pH = 7, catalyst dosage = 1.0 g/L, and O3 dosage = 3.0 g/L. After the MBR process, COD in effluent stabilized in the range of 57.85–65.38 mg/L, and the variation range of the ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) concentration was 5.98–10.24 mg/L. The catalytic ozonation-MBR integrated process showed strong feasibility in dealing with the biologically pre-treated leachate. Full article
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16 pages, 2387 KiB  
Article
Potential Heavy Metals Pollution Contribution from Wash-Off of Urban Road-Dust
by Muhammad Faisal, Zening Wu, Huiliang Wang, Xiaoying Lin, Zafar Hussain and Muhammad Imran Azam
Toxics 2022, 10(7), 397; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics10070397 - 18 Jul 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1253
Abstract
Based on the different particle sizes of street dust, the potential pollution load of heavy metals from dry and wet atmospheric deposition to surface runoff in different functional areas of Zhengzhou city was estimated by using the rain-scour heavy metal index model. Compared [...] Read more.
Based on the different particle sizes of street dust, the potential pollution load of heavy metals from dry and wet atmospheric deposition to surface runoff in different functional areas of Zhengzhou city was estimated by using the rain-scour heavy metal index model. Compared to the EA, IA, and CA areas, RA and PA have a higher potential contribution to heavy metal runoff pollution from Road deposited sediments (RDS) than the other watersheds. Zhengzhou utilized the RDS index model to calculate pollution loads in various areas around Zhengzhou (EA, IA, CA, PA, and RA). In the different land-use areas, the RDS indices for pollutant load (RDSindex,load) and pollutant strength (RDSindex,strength) varied greatly, and the RDS index strength values increased. RDSindex,load fell in the following order: IA > RA > PA > EA. Because the RDS index incorporates RDS characteristics such as the amount of RDS, grain sizes present, RDS mobility, and associated metals, the RDSindex,load and RDSindex,strength results did not merely match variability in the amounts of RDS found or metal concentrations in the RDS in various land-use areas. Metal’s presence in the dust is a direct health risk for humans and warrants immediate and effective pollution control and prevention measures in the city. Full article
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