Department of Biological Sciences, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou 215123, China.
School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 May 16;16(10):1739. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16101739.
Urbanization is increasing worldwide and is happening at a rapid rate in China in line with economic development. Urbanization can lead to major changes in freshwater environments through multiple chemical and microbial contaminants. We assessed the impact of urbanization on physicochemical characteristics and microbial loading in canals in Suzhou, a city that has experienced rapid urbanization in recent decades. Nine sampling locations covering three urban intensity classes (high, medium and low) in Suzhou were selected for field studies and three locations in Huangshan (natural reserve) were included as pristine control locations. Water samples were collected for physicochemical, microbiological and molecular analyses. Compared to medium and low urbanization sites, there were statistically significant higher levels of nutrients and total and thermotolerant coliforms (or fecal coliforms) in highly urbanized locations. The effect of urbanization was also apparent in the abundances of human-associated fecal markers and bacterial pathogens in water samples from highly urbanized locations. These results correlated well with land use types and anthropogenic activities at the sampling sites. The overall results indicate that urbanization negatively impacts water quality, providing high levels of nutrients and a microbial load that includes fecal markers and pathogens.
城市化正在全球范围内加速发展，中国也紧随经济发展的步伐快速推进城市化进程。城市化会通过多种化学物质和微生物污染物导致淡水环境发生重大变化。我们评估了城市化对苏州运河理化特性和微生物负荷的影响，苏州是一个近几十年来经历快速城市化的城市。在苏州选择了 9 个采样点，涵盖了三个城市强度等级（高、中、低），并包括黄山（自然保护区）的 3 个地点作为原始对照点。采集水样进行理化、微生物和分子分析。与中低城市化地区相比，高度城市化地区的营养物质、总耐热大肠菌群（或粪大肠菌群）水平显著更高。城市化的影响在高度城市化地区水样中人类相关粪便标志物和细菌病原体的丰度上也很明显。这些结果与采样点的土地利用类型和人为活动密切相关。总体结果表明，城市化对水质产生负面影响，提供了高浓度的营养物质和包括粪便标志物和病原体在内的微生物负荷。
