Analysis of water source contributions and their impacts on hydrological structural connectivity in plain urban river network areas based on stable isotopes (δ²H, δ¹⁸O)

Abstract

Water sources carry chemicals that can have a significant impact on the water environment of a river network, and understanding the contribution of different water sources to the river network can help to manage the pollution of the river network at its source. The hydrological connectivity of a river network affects the self‐purification capacity and flood prevention capacity of the river. Therefore, an isotope tracer approach was applied to determine the contribution rate of different water bodies to a river network and hydrological connectivity was quantified by introducing the retention rate. Changzhou city was selected as the study area because it is an urbanized city with the characteristics of a plain river network and it is faced with poor hydrological connectivity due to artificial constructions (dams and pumps) and human activity (urbanization). River water, well water (shallow groundwater), lake water and rainfall were collected during the flood season and nonflood season, and hydrogen and oxygen isotopes were determined. The temporal and spatial variations in hydrogen and oxygen isotopes in different water bodies and the state of the water cycle in different water bodies were analysed. IsoSource and MixSIAR models were established to analyse the contribution rate of river network water sources in the study area, and their effectiveness was compared. The results of the MixSIAR model were selected to evaluate the hydrological connectivity of the river network in the study area, providing a method to quantify the hydrological connectivity of specific rivers of the river network in Changzhou city. This method could also be applied to other urban plain river network areas to study river connectivity.