scholarly journals Potential Unintended Consequences Associated with Urban Fertilizer Bans in Florida—A Scientific Review

2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 600-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Hochmuth ◽  
Terril Nell ◽  
J. Bryan Unruh ◽  
Laurie Trenholm ◽  
Jerry Sartain
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Algal Blooms ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Water Bodies ◽  
Nutrient Losses ◽  
Local Ordinance

Degraded inland and coastal water quality is a critical statewide concern in Florida and other states. Nutrients released from land-based human activities are present in water bodies resulting in algal blooms and increased eutrophication that impairs water bodies for their intended uses. There are differing approaches to addressing eutrophication, including voluntary adoption of current best management practices (BMPs) for nutrients, state regulation, or local county or municipal ordinances. The local ordinance, some including a summer (or so-called “wet season”) fertilizer ban or “blackout,” has been the chosen approach in some Florida counties and municipalities to address local water quality issues. Many components of these ordinances follow published BMPs, and there is agreement in the literature on the effectiveness of these practices for preventing nutrient losses from the landscape. However, there has been disagreement among stakeholders regarding the inclusion of a total fertilizer ban in a local ordinance. Regulators are asking about the best approach to controlling urban pollution and if banning fertilizer in the growing season would achieve the desired environmental protection and whether there are any potential unintended consequences associated with removing fertilizer from turfgrass growing in the summer months. The scientific literature documents the nature and scope of the water pollution problem, and numerous research reports have addressed fertilizer BMPs to prevent nutrient losses from the landscape. This article discusses the increased rate of eutrophication and reviews the pertinent national literature regarding managing urban landscape fertilization to protect water quality. Particular attention is given to fertilization practices during the active landscape plant (especially turfgrass) growth period that corresponds to the summer fertilizer bans in some Florida local ordinances. Therefore, special attention is paid to the question of what information is in the scientific literature and whether a fertilizer ban is the best way of achieving the goal of improving urban water quality. Research summarized in this review points to potential unintended consequences of increased nutrient losses from urban landscapes, particularly turfgrass, when proper, recommended fertilization and irrigation practices are not followed.

Effectiveness of Stormwater Best Management Practices in Headwater Streams to Mitigate Harmful Algal Blooms

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Braswell Alford ◽  
Elizabeth Caporuscio
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Harmful Algal Blooms ◽  
Algal Blooms ◽  
Outdoor Recreation ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Headwater Streams ◽  
Best Management

Pollution inputs in surface waters have resulted in extensive impairments to water resources; however, the effectiveness of stormwater best management practices (BMPs) in reducing pollution inputs related to harmful algal blooms (HABs) in headwater streams has not been widely reported. Skypark, Santa’s Village, is an outdoor recreation area in the semiarid San Bernardino National Forest, California. Recreational activities and impervious surfaces at the site contribute pollution to Hooks Creek, a first-order headwater tributary of the Mojave River. The Natural Resources Conservation Service designed and constructed a stormwater sediment erosion control basin system to reduce site gully erosion and improve surface water quality in situ and downstream. Basin water quality was tested biweekly for parameters associated with HABs including temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, conductivity, nitrate (NO3−), and ammonium (NH4+) in situ during wet and dry seasons, with periodic testing for total suspended solids (TSS), total dissolved solids (TDS), total coliform (TC), and Escherichia coli (EC). The BMP structure was effective in lowering temperature and pH and reducing NO3−, TDS, and turbidity during precipitation events, and increased pH levels and lower concentrations of TSS, TC, and EC were present during the dry season. Despite these advantages, the BMP was ineffective in reducing (NH4+) concentrations, a primary contributor to HABs, with 100% of the samples exceeding regulatory criteria throughout the study period. Results highlight the benefits and limitations of stormwater BMPs in protecting water resources from downstream HABs to ensure water resources are protected for current and future generations.

Guiding BMP adoption to improve water quality in various estuarine ecosystems in Western Australia

2008 ◽  
Vol 57 (11) ◽  
pp. 1749-1756 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Keipert ◽  
D. Weaver ◽  
R. Summers ◽  
M. Clarke ◽  
S. Neville
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Algal Blooms ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Nutrient Pollution ◽  
Investment Planning ◽  
Management Interventions ◽  
New Information ◽  
Receiving Waters

The Australian Government's Coastal Catchment Initiative (CCI) seeks to achieve targeted reductions in nutrient pollution to key coastal water quality hotspots, reducing algal blooms and fish kills. Under the CCI a Water Quality Improvement Plan (WQIP) is being prepared for targeted estuaries (Swan–Canning, near Perth, and the Vasse–Geographe, 140 km south of Perth) to address nutrient pollution issues. A range of projects are developing, testing and implementing agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) to reduce excessive loads of nutrients reaching the receiving waters. This work builds on progress-to-date achieved in a similar project in the Peel–Harvey Catchment (70 km south of Perth). It deals with the necessary steps of identifying the applicability of BMPs for nutrient attenuation, developing and promoting BMPs in the context of nutrient use and attenuation on farm and through catchments and estimating the degree to which BMP implementation can protect receiving waters. With a range of BMPs available with varying costs and effectiveness, a Decision Support System (DSS) to guide development of the WQIP and implementation of BMPs to protect receiving waters, is under development. As new information becomes available the DSS will be updated to ensure relevance and accuracy for decision-making and planning purposes. The DSS, calibrated for application in the catchments, will play a critical role in adaptive implementation of the WQIP by assessing the effect of land use change and management interventions on pollutant load generation and by providing a tool to guide priority setting and investment planning to achieve agreed WQIP load targets.

A Survey of Nursery Water Quality Best Management Practices

HortScience ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 501e-502
Author(s):  
Cody J. White ◽  
Michael A. Schnelle ◽  
Gerrit W. Cuperus
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Plant Materials ◽  
Best Management ◽  
Employee Safety ◽  
Current Water ◽  
Management Approaches ◽  
Environmentally Sound

A survey was designed to assess high-risk areas with respect to environmental contamination, specifically how it relates to water quality. Oklahoma growers of all economic levels, retail and/or wholesale, were queried at their place of business for their current state of implementing best management practices (BMPs) and other strategic actions that could potentially affect current and future water quality standards. Specific areas such as the physical environment of the nursery, primary pesticides and fertilizers used, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices, and employee safety training were covered as well as other aspects germane to preserving and protecting current water quality and related environmental issues. More than 75 nurseries were surveyed and given the opportunity to participate in future training at Oklahoma State Univ. Results indicated that nurseries have not fully implemented many BMPs, but have adopted fundamental IPM approaches. The stage is set for the implementation of the next phase of expansion and refinement into ecologically based programs such as propagation and sale of low pesticide input plant materials, improved cultural practices, and the integration of environmentally sound management approaches. As an example, many growers are in the process of phasing out calendar-based pesticide application programs in favor of aesthetic and/or economic threshold-driven pesticide spray programs.

Pesticide Contamination of Groundwater in Virginia: BMP Impact Assessment

1993 ◽  
Vol 28 (3-5) ◽  
pp. 379-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Mostaghimi ◽  
P. W. McClellan ◽  
R. A. Cooke
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Water Samples ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Water Quality Monitoring ◽  
Pesticide Contamination ◽  
Cropping Patterns ◽  
Creek Watershed ◽  
Surface And Groundwater

The Nomini Creek Watershed/Water Quality monitoring project was initiated in 1985, as part of the Chesapeake Bay Agreement of 1983, to quantify the impacts of agricultural best management practices (BMPs) on improving water quality. The watershed monitoring system was designed to provide a comprehensive assessment of the quality of surface and groundwater as influenced by changes in land use, agronomic, and cultural practices in the watershed over the duration of the project. The primary chemical characteristics monitored include both soluble and sediment-bound nutrients and pesticides in surface and groundwater. Water samples from 8 monitoring wells located in agricultural areas in the watershed were analyzed for 22 pesticides. A total of 20 pesticides have been detected in water samples collected. Atrazine is the most frequently detected pesticide. Detected concentrations of atrazine ranged from 0.03 - 25.56 ppb and occurred in about 26 percent of the samples. Other pesticides were detected at frequencies ranging from 1.6 to 14.2 percent of all samples collected and concentrations between 0.01 and 41.89 ppb. The observed concentrations and spatial distributions of pesticide contamination of groundwater are compared to land use and cropping patterns. Results indicate that BMPs are quite effective in reducing pesticide concentrations in groundwater.

scholarly journals Comparison of Forecasting Models for Real-Time Monitoring of Water Quality Parameters Based on Hybrid Deep Learning Neural Networks

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 1547
Author(s):  
Jian Sha ◽  
Xue Li ◽  
Man Zhang ◽  
Zhong-Liang Wang
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Deep Learning ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Input Data ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Quality Parameters ◽  
Water Quality Parameters ◽  
Real Time Monitoring

Accurate real-time water quality prediction is of great significance for local environmental managers to deal with upcoming events and emergencies to develop best management practices. In this study, the performances in real-time water quality forecasting based on different deep learning (DL) models with different input data pre-processing methods were compared. There were three popular DL models concerned, including the convolutional neural network (CNN), long short-term memory neural network (LSTM), and hybrid CNN–LSTM. Two types of input data were applied, including the original one-dimensional time series and the two-dimensional grey image based on the complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition algorithm with adaptive noise (CEEMDAN) decomposition. Each type of input data was used in each DL model to forecast the real-time monitoring water quality parameters of dissolved oxygen (DO) and total nitrogen (TN). The results showed that (1) the performances of CNN–LSTM were superior to the standalone model CNN and LSTM; (2) the models used CEEMDAN-based input data performed much better than the models used the original input data, while the improvements for non-periodic parameter TN were much greater than that for periodic parameter DO; and (3) the model accuracies gradually decreased with the increase of prediction steps, while the original input data decayed faster than the CEEMDAN-based input data and the non-periodic parameter TN decayed faster than the periodic parameter DO. Overall, the input data preprocessed by the CEEMDAN method could effectively improve the forecasting performances of deep learning models, and this improvement was especially significant for non-periodic parameters of TN.

Long-term Water Quality Trends after Implementing Best Management Practices in South Florida

2009 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 1683-1693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samira H. Daroub ◽  
Timothy A. Lang ◽  
Orlando A. Diaz ◽  
Sabine Grunwald
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
South Florida ◽  
Best Management ◽  
Water Quality Trends

scholarly journals Using Video Messages to Promote Residential Adoption of Fertilizer Best Management Practices

EDIS ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda D. Ali ◽  
Laura A. Sanagorski Warner ◽  
Peyton Beattie ◽  
Alexa J. Lamm ◽  
Joy N. Rumble
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Diffusion Of Innovations ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Relative Advantage ◽  
Water Quantity ◽  
Extension Programs ◽  
Best Management ◽  
Homeowner Associations ◽  
Quality Water

Residents are inclined to over-irrigate and over-fertilize their lawns to uphold landscape appearances influenced by homeowner associations and neighborhood aesthetics (Nielson & Smith (2005). While these practices affect water quantity and quality, water quality is most impacted by fertilizer runoff (Nielson & Smith, 2005; Toor et al., 2017). Supporting water programs and engagement in fertilizer best management practices (BMPs) can have positive impacts on water quality. The Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory can be used to explain how a population accepts and adopts fertilizer best management practices (BMPs) over time (Rogers, 2003). Adoption can be understood through a population's perception of relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, observability, and trialability of fertilizer BMPs. The information presented here is an exploration of how extension can use video messages to influence residents' perception of these factors which influence adoption. The videos positively influence residents' perceptions of fertilizer BMPs, and recommendations are offered for applying this research to extension programs. 

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