VEGETATION BUFFER ZONES FOR RIVER WATER ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION BY REDUCING WATERSHED RUNOFF

Watershed surface runoff potentially induced serious river water environmental problems. To effectively achieve river water environmental protection, this study conducted vegetation buffer zones to reduce watershed surface runoff based on the VFSMOD model. The Dagu River watershed, Qingdao, China was selected as the case study area. Results showed that tall arbors, shrubs, and herbaceous plants constitute the chief vegetation buffer zones in the Dagu River watershed. These vegetation strips cover a myriad of watershed earth surface, which effectively intercepts sediment and greatly reduce surface runoff by increasing watershed surface roughness. The sediment interception rate and the runoff reduction efficiency highly depend on the vegetation types and large spacing. The sediment interception rate increased with the increasing width and length of the vegetation buffer zone but decrease with the vegetation spacing, slope, and roughness. This study provides an effective method for catchment soil loss reduction in the Dagu River and can be implied in similar river catchments worldwide.