Improving Water Quality in the Mississippi River Basin and Northern Gulf of Mexico

2012 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Mississippi River ◽  
Mississippi River Basin ◽  
Northern Gulf Of Mexico

scholarly journals Integrating Multi-Media Models to Assess Nitrogen Losses from the Mississippi River Basin to the Gulf of Mexico

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongping Yuan ◽  
Ruoyu Wang ◽  
Ellen Cooter ◽  
Limei Ran ◽  
Prasad Daggupati ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Mississippi River ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Large River ◽  
System Level ◽  
Mississippi River Basin ◽  
Large River Basins

Abstract. This study describes and implements an integrated, multimedia, process-based system-level approach to estimating nitrogen (N) fate and transport in large river basins. The modeling system includes the following components: 1) Community Multi-Scale Air Quality (CMAQ); 2) Water Research and Forecasting (WRF); 3) Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC); and 4) Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The previously developed Fertilizer Emission Scenario Tool for the Community Multiscale Air Quality (FEST-C) system integrated EPIC with the WRF model and CMAQ. FEST-C, driven by process-based WRF weather simulations, includes atmospheric N additions to agricultural cropland, and agricultural cropland contributions to ammonia emissions. Watershed hydrology and water quality models need to be integrated with the system (FEST-C), however, so it can be used in large river basins to address impacts of fertilization, meteorology, and atmospheric N deposition on water quality. Objectives of this paper are to describe how to expand the previous effort by integrating a watershed model with the FEST-C (CMAQ/WRF/EPIC) modeling system, as well as demonstrate application of the Integrated Modeling System (IMS) to the Mississippi River Basin (MRB) to simulate streamflow and dissolved N loadings to the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). IMS simulation results generally agree with USGS observations/estimations; the annual simulated streamflow is 218.9 mm and USGS observation is 211.1 mm and the annual simulated dissolved N is 2.1 kg/ha. and the USGS estimation is 2.8 kg/ha. Integrating SWAT with the CMAQ/WRF/EPIC modeling system allows for its use within large river basins without losing EPIC’s more detailed biogeochemistry processes, which will strengthen assessment of impacts of future climate scenarios, regulatory and voluntary programs for nitrogen oxide air emissions, and land use and land management on N transport and transformation in large river basins.

scholarly journals A Potential Integrated Water Quality Strategy for the Mississippi River Basin and the Gulf of Mexico

2001 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 976-983 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzie Greenhalgh ◽  
Paul Faeth
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Mississippi River ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Dead Zone ◽  
Cash Flows ◽  
Nutrient Pollution ◽  
Mississippi River Basin ◽  
Municipal Wastewater Treatment

Nutrient pollution, now the leading cause of water quality impairment in the U.S., has had significant impact on the nation’s waterways. Excessive nutrient pollution has been linked to habitat loss, fish kills, blooms of toxic algae, and hypoxia (oxygen-depleted water). The hypoxic “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico is one of the most striking illustrations of what can happen when too many nutrients from inland watersheds reach coastal areas. Despite programs to improve municipal wastewater treatment facilities, more stringent industrial wastewater requirements, and agricultural programs designed to reduce sediment loads in waterways, water quality and nutrient pollution continues to be a problem, and in many cases has worsened. We undertook a policy analysis to assess how the agricultural community could better reduce its contribution to the dead zone and also to evaluate the synergistic impacts of these policies on other environmental concerns such as climate change. Using a sectorial model of U.S. agriculture, we compared policies including untargeted conservation subsidies, nutrient trading, Conservation Reserve Program extension, agricultural sales of carbon and greenhouse gas credits, and fertilizer reduction. This economic and environmental analysis is watershed-based, primarily focusing on nitrogen in the Mississippi River basin, which allowed us to assess the distribution of nitrogen reduction in streams, environmental co-benefits, and impact on agricultural cash flows within the Mississippi River basin from various options. The model incorporates a number of environmental factors, making it possible to get a more a complete picture of the costs and co-benefits of nutrient reduction. These elements also help to identify the policy options that minimize the costs to farmers and maximize benefits to society.

scholarly journals Integrating multimedia models to assess nitrogen losses from the Mississippi River basin to the Gulf of Mexico

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (23) ◽  
pp. 7059-7076 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongping Yuan ◽  
Ruoyu Wang ◽  
Ellen Cooter ◽  
Limei Ran ◽  
Prasad Daggupati ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Mississippi River ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Large River ◽  
System Level ◽  
Mississippi River Basin ◽  
Large River Basins

Abstract. This study describes and implements an integrated, multimedia, process-based system-level approach to estimating nitrogen (N) fate and transport in large river basins. The modeling system includes the following components: (1) Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ), (2) Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF), (3) Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC), and (4) Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The previously developed Fertilizer Emission Scenario Tool for CMAQ (FEST-C), an advanced user interface, integrated EPIC with the WRF model and CMAQ. The FEST-C system, driven by process-based WRF weather simulations, includes atmospheric N additions to agricultural cropland and agricultural cropland contributions to ammonia emissions. This study focuses on integrating the watershed hydrology and water quality model with FEST-C system so that a full multimedia assessment on water quality in large river basins to address impacts of fertilization, meteorology, and atmospheric N deposition on water quality can be achieved. Objectives of this paper are to describe how to expand the previous effort by integrating the SWAT model with the FEST-C (CMAQ/WRF/EPIC) modeling system, as well as to demonstrate application of the Integrated Modeling System (IMS) to the Mississippi River basin (MRB) to simulate streamflow and dissolved N loadings to the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). IMS simulation results generally agree with US Geological Survey (USGS) observations/estimations; the annual simulated streamflow is 218.9 mm and USGS observation is 211.1 mm and the annual simulated dissolved N is 2.1 kg ha−1 and the USGS estimation is 2.8 kg ha−1. Integrating SWAT with the CMAQ/WRF/EPIC modeling system allows for its use within large river basins without losing EPIC's more detailed biogeochemistry processes, which will strengthen the assessment of impacts of future climate scenarios, regulatory and voluntary programs for N oxide air emissions, and land use and land management on N transport and transformation in large river basins.

scholarly journals Water Quality Effects of Economically Viable Land Use Change in the Mississippi River Basin under the Renewable Fuel Standard

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 1566-1575 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelsie M. Ferin ◽  
Luoye Chen ◽  
Jia Zhong ◽  
Sarah Acquah ◽  
Emily A. Heaton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Mississippi River ◽  
Mississippi River Basin ◽  
Renewable Fuel Standard ◽  
Renewable Fuel
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