The non-point source pollution in livestock-breeding areas of the Heihe River basin in Yellow River

A GIS-based distributed soil and water assessment tools (SWAT) model was used to simulate the runoff, sediment yield and the load of the non-point source pollution in the Heihe River basin, which is a tributary and main water supply source of the Yellow River. It is a typical stockbreeding area, and its industry and agriculture are not well developed. The main pollution source of the Heihe River was livestock related non-point source pollution. With GIS and remote sensing techniques, a database of non-point source pollution in the Heihe River basin was established. The SWAT model was parameterized for this area. The pollution load and transportation rules such as nitrogen were illustrated. After several years of hard work, the situations of point source pollution were more and more accurate. This paper provided an effective way to assess and calculate the pollution load in the wide agriculture area in China. With the help of historical data formulated parameters, the non-point source load and the theory of pollution load distribution were illustrated about the Heihe River basin. In 2000, the soluble N load in this area was 1.06 × 106 kg. By the simulation, the main pollution sources were in the south east of the basin, where the pasturing areas located in the south-east of Ruoergai County and in north of the Hongyuan County.