Effectiveness of unfertilized buffer strips for reducing nitrogen loads from agricultural lowland to surface waters
| Autor: | Piet Groenendijk, Marius Heinen, I.G.A.M. Noij, Jac T. N. M. Thissen, Hanneke I. M. Heesmans |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2012 |
| Předmět: |
Conservation of Natural Resources
retention Environmental Engineering Peat Denitrification Groundwater flow Nitrogen Ditch Buffer strip Management Monitoring Policy and Law Poaceae nitrate removal vegetative filter strips stream riparian zones Wageningen Environmental Research CB - Bodemfysica en Landgebruik constituents Waste Management and Disposal attenuation Water Science and Technology Hydrology groundwater-flow geography field-scale geography.geographical_feature_category Water Agriculture landscape CWK - Integraal Waterbeheer Pollution CWK - Integrated Water Resources Management Biometris transport Environmental science CWC - Integrated Water Resources Management Surface runoff Surface water Groundwater SS - Soil Physics and Land Use |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Environmental Quality 41 (2012) 2 Journal of Environmental Quality, 41(2), 322-333 |
| ISSN: | 0047-2425 |
| DOI: | 10.2134/jeq2010.0545 |
| Popis: | Unfertilized buffer strips (BS) are widely accepted to reduce nitrogen (N) loads from agricultural land to surface water. However, the relative reduction of N load or concentration (BS effectiveness, BSE), varies with management and local conditions, especially hydrogeology. We present novel experimental evidence on BSE for 5-m-wide grass BS on intensively drained and managed plain agricultural lowland with varying hydrogeology. We selected characteristic sites for five major hydrogeological classes of the Netherlands and installed paired 5-m-wide unfertilized grass (BS) and reference (REF) treatments along the ditch. The REF was managed like the adjacent field, and BS was only harvested. Treatments were equipped with reservoirs in the ditch to collect and measure discharge and flow proportional N concentration for 3 or 4 yr. In addition, N concentration in upper groundwater was measured. We found a statistically significant BSE of 10% on the peat site. At the other sites, BSE for N was low and statistically insignificant. Low BSE was explained by denitrification between adjacent field and ditch, as well as by the site-specific hydrologic factors including low proportion of shallow groundwater flow, downward seepage, low residence time in the BS, and surface runoff away from the ditch. We emphasize that a REF treatment is needed to evaluate BSE in agriculture and recommend reservoirs if drainage patterns are unknown. Introduction of a 5-m-wide BS is ineffective for mitigating N loads from lowland agriculture to surface waters. We expect more from BS specifically designed to abate surface runoff. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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