ABSTRACT
Urbanization brings substantial changes to the Earth’s surface in the physical and biophysical environments. One of the major human activities that has an impact on the environment is quality of inland water environments. Direct environmental impacts of increasing urban land use include the degradation of water resources and water quality from either point or nonpoint sources. Point sources can be traced to a single source, such as a pipe or a ditch. Non-point sources are distributed when surface runoff transports nonpoint source pollutants from their source areas to receiving lakes and streams (Gove et al. 2001; USEPA 2001; Peng 2012) and are associated with the landscape and its response to water movement, land use and management, and/or other human and natural activities on the watershed. Agriculture, industrial, and urban areas are anthropogenic sources of point and nonpoint substances. Pollutants either dissolved or suspended in water or associated with sediment, including nutrients, heavy metals, and oil and grease, can accumulate and wash away from impervious surface areas, and lead to deterioration of water quality, which affects most freshwater and estuarine ecosystems in the world.
