Unveiling the Benefits of Artificial Ecological Measures: Water Conveyance Improves the Water Quality of the Taitema Lake, Northwestern China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article fully corresponds to the profile of the journal. The pressing issue of improving the water quality of an arid region lake, due to increasing inflow, area and water level is addressed. In general, there is a positive trend towards the improved water quality in terms of several chemical parameters. At the same time, the article also highlights several challenges and outlines potential avenues for future research and activities. There are a number of comments on the paper.

1.     In the section "Data and Methods" there is no information on the location of water sampling stations and the seasons of collection. The section "Results" is missing data on the spatial and seasonal distribution of indicators. However, the section "Discussion" includes a subsection titled "Spatial variability in water quality", but what is it based on?

2.     Lines 162 and 163: "Positive or negative coefficients indicate the nature of the relationship between ion concentrations and lake area, providing insights into how chemical changes in the lake influence its physical size." The second part of the sentence should be corrected, since it is not the chemical changes in the lake that influence its physical size, but vice versa.

3.     Lines 208 and 209: "The characteristics of salt content in lake water and its changes after water transport are shown in Figure 3." but there are no changes in parameters over time.

4.     Figure 4: there is no data on changes in water salinity, although lines 214 and 215 it is stated: "The changes of lake water salinity and various ion concentrations in Taitema Lake are shown in Figure 4.", in lines 218 and 219 - "Figure 4 illustrates the variation in water quality of Taitema Lake from 2000 to 2014, particularly focusing on the total salt content and concentrations of different ions.".

5.     Unfortunately, there is no analysis of the statistical significance of the differences between the means, which does not give a clear idea of the fairness of the conclusions about the improvement of water quality.

6.     It is useful to conduct a stepwise regression analysis, including not only the area of the water body, but also other available information such as precipitation, flooded land area, extent of overgrowth of coasts and shorelines (which can also be obtained from satellite imagery), inflow volumes or discharge of the feeder river. This will allow a broader set of factors that potentially influence water chemistry to be included in the analysis.

Conclusion. The article is devoted to a topical problem and contains important information. However, the full potential of the available results is not realized; it lacks an assessment of the statistical significance of differences in means, descriptions of spatial and seasonal distribution. After revision, the article can be resubmitted.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper titled "Integrated Evaluation of Inland Lake Water Quality under the Influence of Ecological Water Conveyance in Arid Areas" presents a work focusing on the ecological impacts of water management in arid environments. The research utilizes remote sensing data and water quality analysis to investigate changes in lake area and associated water quality parameters. Overall, the study is relevant and contributes appropriate insights into the challenges of ecological water conveyance in arid regions. However, there are some concern that authors should focus on them. Specifically, the manuscript could have more detailed explanations in the methodology. I have a deeper discussion of the results in necessary. Below you can see my details comments:

1- P1L3:  The title is appropriate but could be more precise by mentionig "Taitema Lake" to immediately clarify the study's focus.

2- P1L8-24: The abstract summarizes the study well but would benefit from including specific numerical data, such as the exact changes in lake area and water quality parameters.

3- P2L28-34: In the introduction the specific research objectives has not been properly presented. Moving the statement about the study's focus on Taitema Lake's dynamic changes to the first paragraph would help set the scope more clearly.

4- P2L34-45: The background is comprehensive, but the manuscript does not show the novelity of the work. For instance, it is not clear how does the work build upon earlier studies on ecological water conveyance, especially in the Tarim River Basin?

5- P4L84-139: The methodology is well-described, particularly the use of Landsat remote sensing. However, more detail is needed on the limitations of remote sensing, particularly regarding its ability to capture fine-scale water quality variations. Additionally, the manuscript should discuss whether any tests were conducted to check the assumptions of the linear regression models (P6L158-166).

6- P4L141-150: While the manuscript discusses integrating various remote sensing data sources, it would benefit from addressing any challenges encountered during this process and how these were mitigated.

7- P5L181-205: The results section is clear and well-organized, but the ecological implications of the changes in lake area and water quality should be discussed more thoroughly.

8- P8L243-273: The correlation coefficients between lake area and water quality parameters are significant, but the manuscript should caution against over-interpreting these results. Other confounding factors, such as agricultural runoff or groundwater inflow, could influence these relationships. Discussing these potential confounders would provide a more nuanced interpretation.

9-P10L305-333: The discussion effectively ties the study's findings to broader ecological issues, but it could be strengthened by including specific recommendations for future research or water management practices.

 

10-P12L403-429: The conclusion effectively summarizes the study's key findings, but it could be enhanced by discussing the broader implications for other terminal lakes in arid regions. Additionally, the conclusion should reflect on the potential long-term sustainability of the water management practices discussed.

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

There are a few grammatical issues and some sentences that could be phrased more clearly. I found some of them and write them below, however, I am almost sure you can find more mistakes:

• P1L11"analyze" to "analyzed"
• P2L34Add "is of" before "paramount importance"
• P4L141Add commas after "sources" and "CBERS"; add "and" before "supported"
• P5L190"The subsequent years saw further fluctuations" to "The lake area continued to fluctuate"
• P5L15Adjust tense in "ranging from... to... before increasing" to "ranging from... dropping to... and then increasing"
• P10L348 "underscore" to "highlight"
• P11L377: Add "the" before "nutrient loading"
• P6L202"demonstrated considerable variability" to "varied considerably"

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article is recommended for publication.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I should thanks authors for through revision of this work. They answer to my concerns properly. Now, I am happy to suggest to work for publication