Exploring wastewater nitrogen and phosphorus flows in urban and rural areas in China for the period 1970 to 2015

China has experienced rapid population growth and increasing human N and P discharge from point sources. This paper presents a new spatial and temporal model-based, province-scale inventory of N and P in wastewater using detailed information on the location and functioning of 4436 WWTPs covering China for the period 1970–2015. 

China's nutrient discharge to surface water increased 22-fold from 177 to 3908 Gg N yr−1 and 29-fold from 20 to 577 Gg P yr−1 in urban areas between 1970 and 2015. The ten strongly urbanised and industrialised provinces along the Eastern coast contributed 43% of China's total N and P discharge to surface water in 2015. At present, the contribution of rural areas to total wastewater discharge (2082 Gg N yr−1 and 434 Gg P yr−1) is 35% for N and 43% for P. The model approach and sensitivity analysis of this study indicate that policies aiming at improving water quality need to consider these regional differences. In other words, attention has to be paid particularly to the improvement of the wastewater treatment technology level in Eastern regions and increasing both the sewage connection and wastewater treatment in Central and Western regions.

Authors

PBL Authors
Arthur Beusen Peter van Puijenbroek Lex Bouwman
Other authors
X. Liu
X. Zhang
J. Wang
W.J. van Hoek

Specifications

Publication title
Exploring wastewater nitrogen and phosphorus flows in urban and rural areas in China for the period 1970 to 2015
Publication date
24 October 2023
Publication type
Article
Publication language
English
Magazine
Science of the total environment
Issue
vol 907
Product number
5373