North East Scotland River Catchment Nitrate Loading in Relation to Agricultural Intensity

Modern agricultural practices have been strongly linked with increased NO₃-N loadings in surface waters. Nitrate leaching increases as land use progresses from forest and moorland through grassland, to arable agriculture. There are, within the UK, few studies on a regional scale capable of displaying a relationship between land cover (agricultural intensity) and water quality. This relationship can be investigated using computer manipulation of spatial geographic information together with conventional river and agricultural census data.

Simple regression analysis against primary land cover suggests that agriculture is reponsible for annual losses of nitrate in North East Scotland river catchments. Further multi-linear regression analysis, using the GIS data and agricultural census returns indicate that most of the outstanding variation can be accounted for if the agricultural variable is related to agricultural practice, such as spring, winter and grass cropping.