UNCERTAINTY ANALYSIS OF BMP EFFECTWENESS FOR CONTROLLING NITROGEN FROM URBAN NONPOINT SOURCES1

ABSTRACT: The effectiveness of urban Best Management Practices (BMPs) in achieving the No-Net-Increase Policy (NNTP), a policy designed to limit nonpoint nitrogen loading to Long Island Sound (US), is analyzed. A unit loading model is used to simulate annual nitrogen exported from the Norwalk River watershed (Connecticut) under current and future conditions. A probabilistic uncertainty analysis is used to incorporate uncertainty in nitrogen export coefficients and BMP nitrogen removal effectiveness. The inclusion of uncertainty in BMP effectiveness and nitrogen export coefficients implies that additional BMPs, or BMPs with a greater effectiveness in nitrogen removal, will be required to achieve the NNIP. Even though including uncertainty leads to an increase in BMP implementation rates or BMP effectiveness, this type of analysis provides the decision maker with a more realistic assessment of the likelihood that implementing BMPs as a management strategy will be successful. Monte Carlo simulation results indicate that applying BMPs to new urban developments alone will not be sufficient to achieve the NNIP since BMPs are not 100 percent effective in removing the increase in nitrogen caused by urbanization. BMPs must also be applied to selected existing urban areas. BMPs with a nitrogen removal effectiveness of 40–60 percent, probably the highest level of removal that can be expected over an entire watershed, must be applied to at least 75 percent of the existing urban area to achieve the NNIP This high rate of application is not likely to be achieved in urbanized watersheds in the LIS watershed; therefore, additional point source control will be necessary to achieve the NNIP     

EFFECTS OF BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON FOREST STREAMWATER QUALITY IN EASTERN KENTUCKY1

ABSTRACT: Forest land managers are concerned about the effects of logging on soil erosion, streamflow, and water quality and are promoting the use of Best Management Practices (BMPs) to control impacts. To compare the effects of BMP implementation on streamwater quality, two of three small watersheds in Kentucky were harvested in 1983 and 1984, one with BMPs, the other without BMPs. There was no effect of clearcutting on stream temperatures. Streamflow increased by 17.8 cm (123 percent) on the BMP watershed during the first 17 months after cutting and by 20.6 cm (138 percent) on the Non-BMP watershed. Water yields remained significantly elevated compared to the uncut watershed 8 years after harvesting. Suspended sediment flux was 14 and 30 times higher on the BMP and Non-BMP Watersheds, respectively, than on the uncut watershed during treatment, and 4 and 6.5 times higher in the 17 months after treatment was complete. Clearcutting resulted in increased concentrations of nitrate, and other nutrients compared to the uncut watershed, and concentrations were highest on the non-BMP watershed. Recovery of biotic control over nutrient losses occurred within three years of clearcutting. The streamside buffer strip was effective in reducing the impact of clearcutting on water yield and sediment flux.     

ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF RIPARIAN BUFFERS IN AN AGRICULTURAL WATERSHED1

ABSTRACT: This study determines the most cost effective spatial pattern of farming systems for improving water quality and evaluates the economic value of riparian buffers in reducing agricultural nonpoint source pollution in a Midwestern agricultural watershed. Economic and water quality impacts of alternative farming systems are evaluated using the CARE and SWAT models, respectively. The water quality benefits of riparian buffers are estimated by combining experimental data and simulated water quality impacts of fanning systems obtained using SWAT. The net economic value of riparian buffers in improving water quality is estimated by total watershed net return with riparian buffers minus total watershed net return without riparian buffers minus the opportunity cost of riparian buffers. Exclusive of maintenance cost, the net economic value of riparian buffers in reducing atrazine concentration from 45 to 24 ppb is $612,117 and the savings in government cost is $631,710. Results strongly support efforts that encourage farmers to develop or maintain riparian buffers adjacent to streams.     

MODELING OF NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION OF NITROGEN AT THE WATERSHED SCALE1

ABSTRACT: The Watershed Nutrient Transport and Transformation (NTT-Watershed) model is a physically based, energy-driven, multiple land use, distributed model that is capable of simulating water and nutrient transport in a watershed. The topographic features and subsurface properties of the watershed are refined into uniform, homogeneous square grids. The vertical discretization includes vegetation, overland flow, soil water redistribution and groundwater zones. The chemical submodel simulates the nitrogen dynamics in terrestrial and aquatic systems. Three chemical state variables are considered (NO₃^-_-, NH₄⁺, and Org-N). The NTT-Watershed model was used to simulate the fate and transport of nitrogen in the Muddy Brook watershed in Connecticut. The model was shown to be capable of capturing the hydrologic and portions of the nitrogen dynamics in the watershed. Watershed planners could use this model in developing strategies of best management practices that could result in maximizing the reductions of nitrogen export from a watershed.     

ANALYSIS OF NITROGEN MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES USING EPIC1

ABSTRACT: This paper illustrates a method of using a hydrologic/water quality model to analyze alternative management practices and recommend best management practices (BMPs) to reduce nitrate-nitrogen (NO₃^--N) leaching losses. The study area for this research is Tipton, an agriculturally intensive area in southwest Oklahoma. We used Erosion Productivity Impact Calculator (EPIC), a field-scale hydrologic/water quality model, to analyze alternative agricultural management practices. The model was first validated using observed data from a cotton demonstration experiment conducted in the Tipton area. Following that, EPIC was used to simulate fertilizer response curves for cotton and wheat crops under irrigated and dryland conditions. From the fertilizer response functions (N-uptake and N-leaching), we established an optimum fertilizer application rate for each crop. Individual crop performances were then simulated at optimum fertilizer application rates and crop rotations for the Tipton area, which were selected based on three criteria: (a) minimum amount of NO₃^--N leached, (b) minimum concentration of NO₃^--N leached, and (c) maximum utilization of NO₃^--M. Further we illustrate that by considering residual N from alfalfa as a credit to the following crop and crediting NO₃^--N present in the irrigation water, it is possible to reduce further NO₃^--N loss without affecting crop yield.     

COMPARING SAMPLING SCHEMES FOR MONITORING POLLUTANT EXPORT FROM A DAIRY PASTURE1

ABSTRACT: Dairy cow pastures and feeding areas around barns can be a significant source of nonpoint source pollutants to nearby streams. To help document the significance of these sources, nutrient export in streamfiow from a 56.7-ha, mostly agricultural, watershed located in southwestern North Carolina was monitored from August 1994 to January 1996. Total nitrogen and phosphorus export rates from the upper, predominantly pasture, part of the watershed were 18.0 and 1.4 kg/ha/yr, respectively, as measured by weekly grab sampling and 18.7 and 4.9 kg/halyr, respectively, as measured from storm event monitoring. Nitrogen and phosphorus export rates for the area between the monitoring sites, which included overgrazed cow holding and feeding areas and farm buildings, were 376 and 86 kgfhalyr, respectively, for grab sampling and 351 and 160 kg/ha/yr, respectively, for storm event monitoring. To estimate the amount of reduction from nonpoint source controls necessary to effect a significant reduction in pollutant loading, statistical analyses of the load data were conducted. The analyses for the five pollutants monitored showed that total suspended solids would require the greatest reduction (34.6 percent for weekly grab and 33.6 percent for storm) in loading after the implementation of controls for statistical significance. Nitrate plus nitrite was found to require the least reduction (12.6 percent for weekly grab). Pollutant export rates computed from weekly grab samples and storm event samples used separately were compared to corresponding export rates computed from combining grab and storm event samples to assess the differences in monitoring schemes.     

注水残渣固化修路技术研究

针对注水残渣含碱量大,盐、油及其它杂质含量高,处理困难等特点,研究出注水残渣固化修路工艺技术。注水残渣固化后,既消除了污染源,保护了周围环境的土壤及地下水资源,又减少了土地占用面积,从而取得了显著的经济效益。     

NEAR‐STREAM LANDUSE EFFECTS ON STREAMWATER NUTRIENT DISTRIBUTION IN AN URBANIZING WATERSHED1

ABSTRACT: We investigated spatial and temporal relationships among surface and subsurface watershed attributes and stream nutrient concentrations in urbanizing Johnson Creek watershed in northern Oregon. We sampled stream water at eight urban and five nonurban locations from March 1998 through December 1999. We sampled eight wells distributed over the two primary aquifers in the watershed. Using a Geographic Information System (GIS), percentages of landuse attributes within a radius of 30, 91, and 152 m from each sample site were quantified. We analyzed relationships between (1) nutrient concentrations and percentage cover of different landuse attributes, and (2) nutrient concentrations and underlying hydrologic units. We did not find a significant relationship between ground water chemistry and stream water chemistry. We found elevated levels of phosphorus (P) concentrations correlated with urban landuse, while higher nitrogen (N) concentrations were correlated with nonurban (primarily agricultural) landuse. We concluded that elevated levels of N in nonurban areas of Johnson Creek watershed were associated with agricultural practices. We further concluded that urban development factors such as increases in storm drains, dry wells, and impermeable surfaces may be responsible for higher input of P to the stream in urbanizing areas of the Johnson Creek watershed.     

工业污水水质在线监测系统研究与推广应用

为了加强对污染源的监控,准确地掌握污染物排放情况,中国石油天然气股份有限公司组织开展了水质在线监测系统研究,并逐步建立了污染源在线监测系统。文章介绍了有关水质在线监测系统的研究现状以及研究成果应用和推广情况。     

Soil erosion and non-point source pollution impacts assessment with the aid of multi-temporal remote sensing images

Soil erosion associated with non-point source pollution is viewed as a process of land degradation in many terrestrial environments. Careful monitoring and assessment of land use variations with different temporal and spatial scales would reveal a fluctuating interface, punctuated by changes in rainfall and runoff, movement of people, perturbation from environmental disasters, and shifts in agricultural activities and cropping patterns. The use of multi-temporal remote sensing images in support of environmental modeling analysis in a geographic information system (GIS) environment leading to identification of a variety of long-term interactions between land, resources, and the built environment has been a highly promising approach in recent years. This paper started with a series of supervised land use classifications, using SPOT satellite imagery as a means, in the Kao-Ping River Basin, South Taiwan. Then, it was designed to differentiate the variations of eight land use patterns in the past decade, including orchard, farmland, sugarcane field, forest, grassland, barren, community, and water body. Final accuracy was confirmed based on interpretation of available aerial photographs and global positioning system (GPS) measurements. Finally, a numerical simulation model (General Watershed Loading Function, GWLF) was used to relate soil erosion to non-point source pollution impacts in the coupled land and river water systems. Research findings indicate that while the decadal increase in orchards poses a significant threat to water quality, the continual decrease in forested land exhibits a potential impact on water quality management. Non-point source pollution, contributing to part of the downstream water quality deterioration of the Kao-Ping River system in the last decade, has resulted in an irreversible impact on land integrity from a long-term perspective.