scholarly journals High resolution modeling of agricultural nitrogen to identify private wells susceptible to nitrate contamination

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 702-714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendalynn Hoppe ◽  
Denis White ◽  
Anna Harding ◽  
George Mueller-Warrant ◽  
Bruce Hope ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Nutrient Loading ◽  
Nitrogen Loading ◽  
Nitrate Contamination ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Animal Feeding Operations ◽  
Agricultural Enterprise ◽  
Nitrogen Inputs ◽  
Private Wells

Given the lack of data on private wells, public health and water quality specialists must explore alternative datasets for understanding associated exposures and health risks. Characterizing agricultural nitrogen inputs would be valuable for identifying areas where well water safety may be compromised. This study incorporated existing methods for estimating nutrient loading at the county level with datasets derived from a state permitting program for confined animal feeding operations and agricultural enterprise budget worksheets to produce a high resolution agricultural nitrogen raster map. This map was combined with data on soil leachability and new well locations. An algorithm was developed to calculate nitrogen loading and leachability within 1,000 meters of each well. Wells with a nonzero nitrogen total linked to soils with high leachability were categorized and displayed on maps communicating well susceptibility across the state of Oregon. Results suggest that 4% of recently drilled wells may be susceptible to nitrate contamination, while areas identified for mitigation are too restrictive to include all susceptible wells. Predicted increases in population density and the steady addition of approximately 3,800 new wells annually may lead to a large number of residents, especially those in rural areas, experiencing long-term exposures to nitrate in drinking water.

scholarly journals A Bayesian Approach to Infer Nitrogen Loading Rates from Crop and Landuse Types Surrounding Private Wells in the Central Valley, California

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine M. Ransom ◽  
Andrew M. Bell ◽  
Quinn E. Barber ◽  
George Kourakos ◽  
Thomas Harter
Keyword(s):  
Loading Rate ◽  
Probability Distributions ◽  
Central Valley ◽  
Nitrogen Loading ◽  
Bayesian Regression ◽  
Nitrate Contamination ◽  
Agricultural Crop ◽  
Loading Rates ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Private Wells

Abstract. Nitrate contamination of alluvial aquifers in agricultural areas is a typical and major problem around the world. Nitrogen applied to crops, in the form of synthetic fertilizers or manure, in excess of plant uptake, largely leaches to groundwater in the form of nitrate, which is stable and highly mobile in oxygen-rich groundwaters. Increased awareness of the impact that excess nitrogen has had on groundwater and major health concerns about nitrate are prompting new regulations for farmers, e.g., in Europe and California, USA. This study is focused in the Central Valley, California, USA, an intensively farmed region with high agricultural crop diversity. Though nitrogen loading rates for several crop and landuse types in the Central Valley have been estimated or measured in a handful of studies, nitrogen loading rates for specific crop or landuse types and their impact to groundwater quality remain largely unknown. Knowledge of crop or other landuse specific groundwater nitrate impact may aid future regulatory decisions. Nitrogen loading rates for specific crop or landuse types are expected to vary depending on individual landuse practices; and interactions with hydrogeologic parameters that may promote or inhibit nitrate leaching. In this study, we developed a novel Bayesian regression model that allowed us to estimate crop or other landuse-specific groundwater nitrogen loading rate probability distributions from surveys of private wells, each of which is likely impacted by more than one landuse. We used recent nitrate measurements from 2149 wells in the Central Valley. We estimated nitrogen loading rate distributions for 15 crop and landuse groups. These were shown to compare favorably with prior mass-balance estimates of loading rates based on agronomic estimates of nitrogen loading.

scholarly journals Summary and Overview of the Odour Regulations Worldwide

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 206
Author(s):  
Anna Bokowa ◽  
Carlos Diaz ◽  
Jacek A. Koziel ◽  
Michael McGinley ◽  
Jennifer Barclay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Site Specific ◽  
Animal Feeding Operations ◽  
Odour Source ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Odour Dispersion ◽  
Odour Emissions ◽  
Control Technologies ◽  
Survey Review ◽  
The Uk

When it comes to air pollution complaints, odours are often the most significant contributor. Sources of odour emissions range from natural to anthropogenic. Mitigation of odour can be challenging, multifaceted, site-specific, and is often confounded by its complexity—defined by existing (or non-existing) environmental laws, public ordinances, and socio-economic considerations. The objective of this paper is to review and summarise odour legislation in selected European countries (France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, the UK, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium), North America (the USA and Canada), and South America (Chile and Colombia), as well as Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) and Asia (Japan, China). Many countries have incorporated odour controls into their legislation. However, odour-related assessment criteria tend to be highly variable between countries, individual states, provinces, and even counties and towns. Legislation ranges from (1) no specific mention in environmental legislation that regulates pollutants which are known to have an odour impact to (2) extensive details about odour source testing, odour dispersion modelling, ambient odour monitoring, (3) setback distances, (4) process operations, and (5) odour control technologies and procedures. Agricultural operations are one specific source of odour emissions in rural and suburban areas and a model example of such complexities. Management of agricultural odour emissions is important because of the dense consolidation of animal feeding operations and the advance of housing development into rural areas. Overall, there is a need for continued survey, review, development, and adjustment of odour legislation that considers sustainable development, environmental stewardship, and socio-economic realities, all of which are amenable to a just, site-specific, and sector-specific application.

scholarly journals Mobilisation or dilution? Nitrate response of karst springs to high rainfall events

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 4423-4435 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Huebsch ◽  
O. Fenton ◽  
B. Horan ◽  
D. Hennessy ◽  
K. G. Richards ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Nitrate Contamination ◽  
Karst Aquifers ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Discharge Data ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Nitrate Concentrations ◽  
Nitrate Response ◽  
Karst Systems

Abstract. Nitrate (NO3−) contamination of groundwater associated with agronomic activity is of major concern in many countries. Where agriculture, thin free draining soils and karst aquifers coincide, groundwater is highly vulnerable to nitrate contamination. As residence times and denitrification potential in such systems are typically low, nitrate can discharge to surface waters unabated. However, such systems also react quickest to agricultural management changes that aim to improve water quality. In response to storm events, nitrate concentrations can alter significantly, i.e. rapidly decreasing or increasing concentrations. The current study examines the response of a specific karst spring situated on a grassland farm in South Ireland to rainfall events utilising high-resolution nitrate and discharge data together with on-farm borehole groundwater fluctuation data. Specifically, the objectives of the study are to formulate a scientific hypothesis of possible scenarios relating to nitrate responses during storm events, and to verify this hypothesis using additional case studies from the literature. This elucidates the controlling key factors that lead to mobilisation and/or dilution of nitrate concentrations during storm events. These were land use, hydrological condition and karstification, which in combination can lead to differential responses of mobilised and/or diluted nitrate concentrations. Furthermore, the results indicate that nitrate response in karst is strongly dependent on nutrient source, whether mobilisation and/or dilution occur and on the pathway taken. This will have consequences for the delivery of nitrate to a surface water receptor. The current study improves our understanding of nitrate responses in karst systems and therefore can guide environmental modellers, policy makers and drinking water managers with respect to the regulations of the European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive (WFD). In future, more research should focus on the high-resolution monitoring of karst aquifers to capture the high variability of hydrochemical processes, which occur at time intervals of hours to days.

scholarly journals Digitalization in Realization of Ecological and Economic Principles of Managing Sustainable Development of Agrarian Enterprises

2020 ◽  
pp. 29-36
Author(s):  
М.V. Zos-Kior ◽  
V.Y. Ilin ◽  
I.M. Kyryliuk ◽  
O.V. Solod
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Business Partnerships ◽  
Agricultural Producers ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Agricultural Enterprises ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Agricultural Enterprise

The article describes the digitalization of ecological and economic principles of agricultural enterprise development management. It presents effective techniques for adapting enterprises to the challenges of the smart economy, which changes human needs, products, services, value chains, markets, processes, business models, forms of competition and business partnerships. The article proves the efficiency of precision farming, which includes parallel driving, yield mapping, differentiated application of seeds and fertilizers. It is determined that the lack of systemic demand for digital solutions from domestic agricultural enterprises and rural communities and unpreparedness (strategic, financial, technological, personnel, organizational, etc.) of most enterprises and communities to cardinal innovations significantly deter the formation of smart agribusiness in Ukraine. The article describes the system of measured indicators and capabilities of the Hummingbird Technologies platform and consequences of its implementation for land management, in particular normalized relative biomass index, leaf surface index, crop heterogeneity map, plant lodging risk map, weed map, seedling density map, electronic maps creation tasks, task map for differentiated desiccation, task map for differentiated application of herbicides, task map for differentiated application of growth regulators in plants. It justifies the need to intensify the work of rural a community, which try to communicate with agricultural producers on mutually beneficial terms and with other stakeholders for the sustainable development of rural areas. The issues of participation of rural communities in projects to increase soil fertility, organization of organic farms, service cooperatives, which are directly or indirectly related to the effective management of environmental and economic development of agricultural enterprises. The article shows the necessity of professional development of business engineers, personnel and strengthening of role of analytics for agricultural enterprises to digitalize the economic activity.

Assessing Nitrogen Legacies in Western Europe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Musolff ◽  
Sophie Ehrhardt ◽  
Rémi Dupas ◽  
Rohini Kumar ◽  
Pia Ebeling ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Time Lags ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Biological Fixation ◽  
Nitrogen Inputs ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
N Input ◽  
Nitrate Concentrations ◽  
Input Time

<p>Intensive agricultural land use have introduced vast quantities of nutrients such as reactive nitrogen (N) to soils and subsequently to groundwater and surface waters. High nitrate concentrations are still a pressing issue for drinking water safety and aquatic ecosystem health e.g. in Europe, although fertilizer inputs have been significantly lowered in the last decades. This is partly due to a slow response of riverine nitrate concentrations to changes in nitrogen inputs attributed to N legacies in catchments. N can be stored organically bound as a biogeochemical legacy in soils or can be slowly transported as nitrate in groundwater forming a hydrologic legacy. Legacy can thus lead to a net retention of N in catchments and to substantial time lags in the response to input changes. Here, we systematically explore legacy effects over a wide range of catchment in the Western European countries France and Germany. We are making use of long observational time series of nitrate concentration in 238 catchments covering 40% of the total area of France and Germany. We apply a Weighted Regression on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS) to derive continuous daily flow-normalized concentrations and loads. The temporal pattern of concentration and loads at the catchment outlet is compared to the N input time series evolving from agricultural N surplus, atmospheric deposition and biological fixation. We found that on long-term catchments retain on average 72% of the N input. Time lags between input and output were successfully explained by a lognormal transport time distribution. The modes of these distributions were found to be rather short with a median mode of 5.4 years across all catchments. Based on this data-driven assessment only the fate of N in the catchments is hard to assess as denitrification in soil and groundwater can lead to similar observations as the storage of N in legacies. Focusing on the mobile part of N that is exported by catchments, we estimate that a substantial amount of N is still stored in the subsurface that will be released in the coming years. We therefore analyzed how catchment nitrate export will evolve under the scenario of a total cut down, reduced or constant future N inputs. We report the expected timescale of reaction to implemented measures to help tackling this pressing water quality problem.</p>

scholarly journals A Vulnerability Assessment in Scant Data Context: The Case of North Horr Sub-County

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 6024 ◽  
Author(s):  
Velia Bigi ◽  
Alessandro Pezzoli ◽  
Elena Comino ◽  
Maurizio Rosso
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Shallow Water ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Water Sources ◽  
Nitrate Contamination ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Fecal Matter ◽  
Data Context

In Kenyan rural areas belonging to the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs), water quantity and water quality are major issues for the local population. In North Horr Sub-County water quality is threatened by nitrate contamination due to fecal matter pollution. This research, hence, aims at assessing the vulnerability of open shallow water sources to nitrate contamination due to fecal intrusion following flooding events and nitrate percolation in groundwater. The present research, indeed, provides, on one hand, new insights into the analysis of the vulnerability in a scant data context; on the other hand, it assesses the adaptation measures contained in the local development plan. Applying the reference definition of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the results demonstrate that the open shallow water sources in the northern part of the sub-county are more vulnerable to nitrate contamination. Furthermore, the consistency of the results proves the suitability of the methodology selected. Understanding the vulnerability at the local scale is key to planning risk-reduction strategies as well to increasing the local population’s knowledge about flood-related risks and water quality.

scholarly journals Lane-Level Road Extraction from High-Resolution Optical Satellite Images

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 2672
Author(s):  
Jiguang Dai ◽  
Tingting Zhu ◽  
Yilei Zhang ◽  
Rongchen Ma ◽  
Wantong Li
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Template Matching ◽  
City Planning ◽  
Urban Expansion ◽  
Satellite Image ◽  
Road Extraction ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas ◽  
Optical Satellite Images ◽  
Vehicle Management

High-quality updates of road information play an important role in smart city planning, sustainable urban expansion, vehicle management, urban planning, traffic navigation, public health and other fields. However, due to interference from road geometry and texture noise, it is difficult to avoid the decline of automation while accurately extracting roads. Therefore, we propose a high-resolution optical satellite image lane-level road extraction method. First, from the perspective of template matching and considering road characteristics and relevant semantic relations, an adaptive correction model, an MLSOH (multi-scale line segment orientation histogram) descriptor, a sector descriptor, and a multiangle beamlet descriptor are proposed to solve the interference from geometry and texture noise in road template matching and tracking. Second, based on refined lane-level tracking, single-lane and double-lane road-tracking modes are designed to extract single-lane and double-lane roads, respectively. In this paper, Pleiades satellite and GF-2 images are selected to set up different scenarios for urban and rural areas. Experiments are carried out on the phenomena that restrict road extraction, such as tree occlusion, building shadow occlusion, road bending, and road boundary blurring. Compared with other methods, the proposed method not only ensures the accuracy of lane-level road extraction but also greatly improves the automation of road extraction.

scholarly journals Nitrogen fixation estimates for the Baltic Sea indicate high rates for the previously overlooked Bothnian Sea

AMBIO ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malin Olofsson ◽  
Isabell Klawonn ◽  
Bengt Karlson
Keyword(s):  
Nitrogen Fixation ◽  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Nutrient Loading ◽  
External Input ◽  
Nitrogen Loading ◽  
External Loading ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Bothnian Sea

AbstractDense blooms of diazotrophic filamentous cyanobacteria are formed every summer in the Baltic Sea. We estimated their contribution to nitrogen fixation by combining two decades of cyanobacterial biovolume monitoring data with recently measured genera-specific nitrogen fixation rates. In the Bothnian Sea, estimated nitrogen fixation rates were 80 kt N year−1, which has doubled during recent decades and now exceeds external loading from rivers and atmospheric deposition of 69 kt year−1. The estimated contribution to the Baltic Proper was 399 kt N year−1, which agrees well with previous estimates using other approaches and is greater than the external input of 374 kt N year−1. Our approach can potentially be applied to continuously estimate nitrogen loads via nitrogen fixation. Those estimates are crucial for ecosystem adaptive management since internal nitrogen loading may counteract the positive effects of decreased external nutrient loading.

scholarly journals Long-Term (2001–2020) Nutrient Transport from a Small Boreal Agricultural Watershed: Hydrological Control and Potential of Retention Ponds

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 2731
Author(s):  
Sari Uusheimo ◽  
Tiina Tulonen ◽  
Jussi Huotari ◽  
Lauri Arvola
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Total Nitrogen ◽  
Total Phosphorus ◽  
Nutrient Loading ◽  
Nitrogen Loading ◽  
Agricultural Watershed ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Pond System ◽  
Daily Weather Data

Agriculture contributes significantly to phosphorus and nitrogen loading in southern Finland. Climate change with higher winter air temperatures and precipitation may also promote loading increase further. We analyzed long-term nutrient trends (2001–2020) based on year-round weekly water sampling and daily weather data from a boreal small agricultural watershed. In addition, nutrient retention was studied in a constructed sedimentation pond system for two years. We did not find any statistically significant trends in weather conditions (temperature, precipitation, discharge, snow depth) except for an increase in discharge in March. Increasing trends in annual concentrations were found for nitrate, phosphate, and total phosphorus and total nitrogen. In fact, phosphate concentration increased in every season and nitrate concentration in other seasons except in autumn. Total phosphorus and total nitrogen concentrations increased in winter as well and total phosphorus also in summer. Increasing annual loading trend was found for total phosphorus, phosphate, and nitrate. Increasing winter loading was found for nitrate and total nitrogen, but phosphate loading increased in winter, spring, and summer. In the pond system, annual retention of total nitrogen was 1.9–4.8% and that of phosphorus 4.3–6.9%. In addition, 25–40% of suspended solids was sedimented in the ponds. Our results suggest that even small ponds can be utilized to decrease nutrient and material transport, but their retention efficiency varies between years. We conclude that nutrient loading from small boreal agricultural catchments, especially in wintertime, has already increased and is likely to increase even further in the future due to climate change. Thus, the need for new management tools to reduce loading from boreal agricultural lands becomes even more acute.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document