Network-Based Topological Exploration of the Impact of Pollution Sources on Surface Water Bodies

Abstract

We developed a digital water management toolkit to evaluate the importance of the connections between water bodies and the impacts caused by pollution sources. By representing water bodies in a topological network, the relationship between point loads and basic water quality parameters is examined as a labelled network. The labels are defined based on the classification of the water bodies and pollution sources. The analysis of the topology of the network can provide information on how the possible paths of the surface water network influence the water quality. The extracted information can be used to develop a monitoring- and evidence-based decision support system. The methodological development is presented through the analysis of the physical-chemical parameters of all surface water bodies in Hungary, using the emissions of industrial plants and wastewater treatment plants. Changes in water quality are comprehensively assessed based on the water quality data recorded over the past 10 years. The results illustrate that the developed method can identify critical surface water bodies where the impact of local pollution sources is more significant. One hundred six critical water bodies have been identified, where special attention should be given to water quality improvement.

An advection-reaction model of emerging contaminants in ground and surface waterbodies with known topology: a data-based approach

“…This is specifically done through the use of the Laplacian matrix, which captures the network topology and the interaction between adjacent sites through the advection process. The use of spatial (topological) relationships is not new, notably, the well-known Moran [4] and Geary [5] spatial correlation coefficients, as well as, their recent updated developments [ 6 , 7 ] have been widely used in many domains, including the aquatic environment [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] . Our approach allows obtaining relevant quantitative information relative to the dynamics of the measured contaminants such as the relative importance of the two main processes involved, i.e., the conservative transport across the aquifer vs. the local depletion, which gives a glimpse into their persistence.…”

Data-based interpretation of emerging contaminants occurrence in rivers using a simple advection-reaction model

“…Although the use of spatial (topological) relationships in the study of rivers is not new [21][22][23][24][25][26][27] , here, we explore new possibilities for exploitation of experimental data available from river monitoring networks, and their interpretation in the light of simple reactive-transport (or advection-reaction) that can be readily derived therefrom. To do so, we make use of some graph-theoretical concepts recently used in the development of models (oscillation models) applied in other domains such as social networks (Internet networks, etc.)…”