A Preliminary Study On The Water Pollution In Rural Areas

Along with the economic development in rural areas, the advancement of the urbanization process and the rapid development of the township enterprises, the rural water pollution has become increasingly acute in China. It has become an important factor restricting the rural ecological environment, the sustainable development of agriculture, and the health of rural residents. So it’s urgent to understand the specific situation of China’s rural water environment, and then to improve and control the rural water environmental issues. But as the rural China is characterized by vast areas, small and widespread water area, scattered population, and weak economy and technology, the study on overall water environment in rural China becomes even more difficult. To get a comprehensive and specific understanding of the overall situation of the rural water environment, we must carry on long-term practice and analysis. In this process, we summarize the problems and shortcomings of every survey and then improve the research programs through our experience, so as to get a more comprehensive and specific understanding of the water environment in rural China. So in order to get a preliminary understanding of the pollution situation of China’s rural water environment, the study is conducted under the support of the "Green Seedling Plan" which is carried out by the China Environmental Protection Foundation.Preliminary data analysis is conducted based on the water samples and questionnaires collected from rural areas so as to understand the basic situation of the water environment in rural China. Apart from the data analysis, moreover, this paper attempts to sum up the problems and shortcomings which exist in this rural water environment study, and to learn from the experiences so as to provide reference for the further study of the water environmental issues in rural China. In this paper, China is divided into six regions ranging from the northeast, east, north, south, north west to the southwest, to carry out the preliminary study on the rural water environment. The study includes the questionnaire survey and water sample analysis. The questionnaires are conducted in all six regions and water samples are collected from the northeast, east, north and the south. The analysis of the questionnaires mainly include the data statistics of survey results about the local rural water environmental situation; water samples includes the chemical analysis of the local drinking water, the surface water and the groundwater samples. The main results of the investigation and research areas follows:（1） The mainly factors of water pollution in rural areas are: Domestic pollution > farming pollution > pesticides and fertilizers > others. The rural residents in different regions choosing the groundwater（well） as the drinking water account for an average of 0.41 with little difference between each region. The regression analysis result about the water quality change and the rural residents’ health show that the deterioration of water quality would affect the health of the local rural residents.（2） The rural residents in different regions mainly treat the domestic sewage by direct emissions（average ratio is 0.83）. The main treatment of domestic waste is as follows:No treatment > burning > simple landfill. The average ratio of the regions without sewage treatment equipment reaches 0.94 with little difference between each region.（3） The ratio of the regions advocating environmental protection is as follows:The east（0.18） > northeast > south > northwest > southwest > north, with an average ratio of 9.8%. Although the enthusiasm of rural residents to participate in environmental protection will increase with the degree of environmental degradation and local environmental advocacy efforts, the positive growth rate isn’t obvious.（4） The over standard rate of the rural drinking water samples from four regions is higher than 50.0%, and the substandard water accounts for 62.50% of the overall samples. The over standard rate ranges as follows from the highest to lowest:The northeast > east = north > south. The main limiting factors are Ni and Pb. The water samples from northwest is relatively higher.（5） The over standard rate of the surface water samples from four regions is 71.25%, with the main limiting factors as TN and COD_Mn. The water quality pollution degree ranges as follows from the highest to lowest: The northeast > east > north > south. Water samples worse than class Ⅴ account for 22.50% of all water samples. The TN, TP and COD_Mn of water samples from northern regions（east, northwest） are relatively higher.（6） The average over standard rate of the groundwater samples from four regions is 43.75%, with the main limiting factors as Ni and COD_Mn. The water quality pollution degree ranges as follows from the highest to lowest:The northeast > north > east > south. The pollution of groundwater from northwest and north is more serious compared with other regions, and the heavy metal pollution is also very acute.