Restoring small water bodies to improve lake and river water quality in China

Wangzheng Shen; Liang Zhang; Emily A Ury; Sisi Li; Biqing Xia; Nandita B Basu

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-55714-9

Restoring small water bodies to improve lake and river water quality in China

Nat Commun. 2025 Jan 2;16(1):294. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-55714-9.

Authors

Wangzheng Shen^{1

2

3}, Liang Zhang^{4

5}, Emily A Ury^{6

7}, Sisi Li^{1

3}, Biqing Xia^{1

3}, Nandita B Basu^{8

9

10}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Environment and Disaster Monitoring and Evaluation of Hubei, Jianghan Plain-Honghu Lake Station for Wetland Ecosystem Research, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 430077, Wuhan, China.
² Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.
³ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory for Environment and Disaster Monitoring and Evaluation of Hubei, Jianghan Plain-Honghu Lake Station for Wetland Ecosystem Research, Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 430077, Wuhan, China. [email protected].
⁵ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China. [email protected].
⁶ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada.
⁷ Environmental Defense Fund, New York, NY, 10010, USA.
⁸ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada. [email protected].
⁹ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada. [email protected].
¹⁰ Water Institute, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada. [email protected].

Abstract

Climate change, population growth, and agricultural intensification are increasing nitrogen (N) inputs, while driving the loss of inland water bodies that filter excess N. However, the interplay between N inputs and water body dynamics, and its implications for water quality remain poorly understood. Analyzing data from 1995 to 2015 across China, here, we find a 71% reduction in the area of small (<10^4.5 m²) water bodies (SWB), primarily in high-N-input agricultural regions. Preferential loss of SWBs, the most efficient nutrient filters, places 42% of China at high water quality risk due to increasing N inputs and declining SWB density. Currently, N removal by water bodies is 986 kilotonnes year^-1, but restoring 2.3 million hectares of SWB could increase removal by 21%, compared to just 5% for equivalent restoration of large water bodies. Targeted SWB restoration is crucial for improving water quality and mitigating N pollution in China.

Abstract

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