Evaluating the relationship between temporal changes in land use and resulting water quality

Abstract

Changes in land use have a direct impact on receiving water quality. Effective mitigation strategies require the accurate prediction of water quality in order to enhance community well-being and ecosystem health. The research study employed Bayesian Network modelling to investigate the validity of using cross-sectional and longitudinal data on water quality and land use for predicting water quality in a mixed use catchment and the role it plays in the generation of blue-green algae in the receiving marine environment. Bayesian Network modelling showed that cross-sectional and longitudinal data analyses generate contrasting information about the influence of different land uses on surface water pollution. The modelling outcomes highlighted the lack of reliability in cross-sectional data analysis, based on the indication of spurious relationships between water quality and land use. On the other hand, the longitudinal data analysis, which accounted for changes in water quality and land use over a ten-year period, informed how catchment water quality varies in response to temporal changes in land use. The longitudinal data analysis further revealed that the types of anthropogenic activities have a more significant influence on pollutant generation than the change in the area extent of different land uses over time. Therefore, the careful interpretation of the findings derived solely from cross-sectional data analysis is important in the design of long-term strategies for pollution mitigation.

Influences of Land-Use Dynamics and Surface Water Systems Interactions on Water-Related Infectious Diseases—A Systematic Review

“…It is worth noting that the various linkages between LULC and surface water quality and the resultant influences on the transmission of infectious diseases were identified; however, the studies focused entirely on the negative aspects of land-use change. The potential positive influences of LUC on water quality and disease ecology was found missing in the literature [21,53,54,56,59]. This indicates a potential direction for future research investigations to explore the positive influences of LUC on water quality at different scales in relation to WRID ecology [7].…”

“…On average, it was observed that a higher number of the included studies were countries classified as developing regions, such as sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where there is limited potable drinking-water, poor wastes management, poor water quality monitoring, unsustainable agricultural practices, and limited access to funds for scientific research. There are many studies on water quality and diseases; however, these studies lacked explicit linkages to WRID [53,54].…”

“…These included both point-source and non-point-source pollution of water from cultivated lands and livestock raising sites [55]. Human settlement expansion, including urban sprawl and expansion of peri-urban and rural areas, were factors that resulted in the conversion of natural forestlands, grasslands, and wetland reserves into residential areas [54,56]. Urbanization has formed the center for most land-use studies due to its contribution to the pollution of surface water systems, notably in poor countries, where sanitation and sewage systems were poorly developed [57,58].…”

Effects of Landscape Development Intensity on River Water Quality in Urbanized Areas

“…Some studies focus on the spatial effects of human activities on water quality, and the effects of landscape pattern and structure of land use in adjacent water bodies or of the reservoirs on water quality are studied [23][24][25]. Extensive studies highlight the impacts of different land use types on water quality, such as areal proportion [26,27], topographic characteristics [28][29][30], multi-spatial scales [31,32], and seasonal and temporal changes [33,34]. However, some scholars argued that even with similar or same land use types and proportions, different land use intensities may result in a wide range of water quality [35,36]; only using the quantitative proportion of land use in the watershed to explain the water quality performance will often lead to different findings [10][11][12][13]37,38].…”

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“…When Filth is thrown in water the toxins travel from the water and when the animals drink that water they get contaminated and when humans tend to eat the meat of the animals is infected by toxins it causes further damage to the humans. Infectious diseases such as cholera and typhoid can be contracted from drinking contaminated water [2]. These may include organic and inorganic substances.…”