An Overview of China’s Agricultural Non-point Source Issues and the Development of Related Research

Abstract

Non-point Source (NPS) pollution has become an important concern in the protection of the aquatic environment and has received increased attention in recent years. In China, NPS pollution control is one of most important issues that need to be addressed to protect the aquatic environment in the next few decades. This paper reviewed and summarized three aspects of current agricultural NPS pollution studies in China: mechanisms, simulation models, and control technologies. This review outlines some shortcomings of previous research and the opportunities for future research. The results of this study indicated that the present research on NPS pollution mechanisms is not adequate. The lack of a database system, the uncertainty of models, and other issues have an effect on model applications. Control technology is still the only technique used for minimizing NPS pollution. For future studies, understanding and absorbing foreign NPS models, modifying related processes, and using related key parameters that are modified using Chinese characteristics are necessary for NPS pollution modeling in China. Furthermore, research on NPS mechanisms and system control technologies at a watershed scale will also be a key issue.