Revolutionizing China’s Water Ecological Monitoring and Assessment: A Research Framework for Water Health Clinical Diagnosis System

Water ecological health is crucial for sustainable ecosystems and human well-being. However, China’s complex water environments present significant challenges for precise health assessments. After analyzing global water ecological practices, we identify specific challenges to China’s water ecological monitoring and assessment, including cognition, observation, and analysis gaps. To address these challenges, we propose a holistic, dynamic, and intelligent assessment framework that integrates water quality and ecological indicators to shape a clinical diagnosis paradigm. The framework incorporates assessments of trophic status, water clarity, and ecosystem resilience to enhance the ability of evaluating water ecological health. Additionally, we recommend strengthening stereoscopic monitoring networks using environmental optics to improve monitoring effectiveness. A notable advancement in our methodology is the incorporation of self-adaptive capacity, which enables the rapid detection of deteriorating water quality or emerging health threats while optimizing the diagnosis process through bidirectional grading. Overall, the assessment framework helps improve the monitoring and assessment systems, which can significantly enhance the systematization and objectivity of traditional approaches, deepen the understanding dynamic evolution processes, and identify potential warning signals of water health. • The integration of water quality and biological indicators offers novel assessment insights. • Stereoscopic monitoring networks based on environmental optics are suggested being enhanced. • Assessment model integrates trophic status, water clarity, and ecosystem resilience. • A new assessment framework is proposed to improve the precision and efficiency of China’s water ecological health diagnostics and management.