Landscape variables affecting livestock impacts on water quality in the humid temperate zone

1998 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Ann Clark

The potential for impact by grazing livestock on unprotected watercourses may vary with climate, with landscape level factors including the landform within which the pasture is located, with the biophysical characteristics of the watercourse itself, and with pasture and grazing management practices. Policies seeking to implement cost-effective measures to protect downstream water quality need to acknowledge large-scale as well as small-scale processes which can moderate or exacerbate potential sources of pollution. Applied and scholarly evidence suggest that unrestricted livestock access accounts for a relatively modest share of watercourse pollution in humid temperate regions, as compared with such watershed-specific factors as leaking septic tanks and confinement feeding systems. A wide variety of evidence suggests that the degree of compatibility of grazing livestock with a healthy riparian ecosystem should be viewed as a hypothesis that is testable on a site-specific basis. Greater understanding of the factors causal to livestock behavior in, and impact on, watercourses may help to better focus preventative and remediation efforts by both producers and policymakers. Key words: Riparian ecosystem; beef cattle; pasture fertility; soil and water conservation

Author(s):  
Ilda Vagge ◽  
◽  
Gioia Maddalena Gibelli ◽  
Alessio Gosetti Poli ◽  
◽  
...  

The authors, with the awareness that climate change affects and changes the landscape, wanted to investigate how these changes are occurring within the metropolitan area of Tehran. Trying to keep a holistic method that embraces different disciplines, reasoning from large scale to small scale, the authors tried to study the main problems related to water scarcity and loss of green spaces. Subsequently they dedicated themselves to the identification of the present and missing ecosystem services, so that they could be used in the best possible way as tools for subsequent design choices. From the analysis obtained, the authors have created a masterplan with the desire to ensure a specific natural capital, the welfare of ecosystem services, and at the same time suggest good water management practices. It becomes essential to add an ecological accounting to the economic accounting, giving dignity to the natural system and the ecosystem services that derive from it.


2020 ◽  
Vol 224 ◽  
pp. 292-308
Author(s):  
L. Donà ◽  
J. G. Brandenburg ◽  
I. J. Bush ◽  
B. Civalleri

Cost-effective hybrid DFT composite methods allow for large-scale solid-state calculations with small-scale computing resources.


2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (No. 1) ◽  
pp. 27-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Pip ◽  
A. Reinisch

Water quality was examined in two parallel streams in southeastern Manitoba that enclosed a small hog and poultry operation with associated waste lagoons and manure spread fields. Nitrate-N (NN), molybdenum reactive phosphorus (MRP), dissolved organic matter index (DOMI), chloride, total alkalinity, total dissolved solids (TDS), total suspended solids (TSS), pH, temperature, and total (TC) and fecal (FC) coliform bacterial counts were measured at weekly intervals during the ice-free season at two upstream and two downstream sites relative to the operation. Significantly higher values downstream compared to upstream were observed for MRP, TSS, TDS, chloride, and to some extent NN, indicating the escape of these materials into the adjacent streams. TC were correlated with the rainfall, water temperature, TDS, and pH at all sites. However, TC were also correlated with TSS, MRP, and DOMI only at the downstream sites, while NN was correlated more strongly downstream than upstream. FC were correlated with water temperature and NN at all sites, as well as with TSS and MRP downstream only. Downstream FC/TC ratios increased with increasing rainfall, indicating proportionately greater escape of FC compared to TC under higher runoff conditions. The results suggested that environmental loading of livestock waste adversely altered natural stream water quality dynamics, underlining the need for improved management practices, including the timing of manure spreading during drier weather conditions to minimise the large-scale escape events.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Medeiros ◽  
Brennda Braga ◽  
Camila Lira ◽  
Arlena Brosinsky ◽  
Saskia Foerster ◽  
...  

<p>In dry environments, society has long implemented infrastructure to adapt to water scarcity, but unanticipated feedbacks have threatened the supply-demand balance. For instance, construction of dams increases the water residence time in highly impounded basins, causing sediment and nutrient accumulation in water supply reservoirs. Reuse of reservoirs’ sediment as fertilizer sustainably benefits agricultural and water systems by: replacing fine particles and nutrients to soils, previously lost by erosion; recovering water quantity and quality by the removal of nutrient-enriched sediments from reservoirs. In the last 5 years we have assessed the potential of the sediment reuse technique for soil fertilization and water conservation in the semiarid Ceará State (149 000 km²), Brazil, where there is a dense network of more than 20 000 dams with considerable silting and eutrophication. Our previous studies demonstrated that:</p><ul><li>Local features contribute to the adoption of the proposed technique: (i) small reservoirs fall dry frequently, exposing the sediments for excavation without the need for dredging; (ii) in general, soils present nutritional deficit and, under natural conditions, crop production is limited to patches of fertile soils; (iii) small scale agriculture plays a major role for livelihood of the rural population;</li> <li>Recycling of nutrients from sediments is technically feasible: an experiment with a mixture of soil and sediment as substrate produced statistically higher growth and enzymes’ activity of sunflower plants, compared to the cultivation directly in the soil or with addition of synthetic fertilizers;</li> <li>Sediment reuse is economically feasible: soil fertilization through sediments for maize cultivation may reduce costs by up to 29 % compared to traditional fertilization;</li> <li>Removal of sediment from reservoirs may improve the water quality: simulation of annual removal of sediments when a reservoir of the study region is completely empty indicates a change on the trophic level, from eutrophic or higher to mesotrophic or lower, in 10 % of the time.</li> </ul><p>In spite of the recent advances, sediment recycling must go through some phases in order to be included in the public policy agenda. Our ongoing and planned studies focus on the generation of basic data, real-scale testing, simulations under diverse environmental contexts, elaboration of guidelines and disclosure. Spectroscopy has been successfully applied to characterize sediment and soil properties and reduce the costly laboratory analysis. Additionally, data acquisition will be supported by remote sensing approaches based on hyperspectral satellite images that will become available in the near future (Prisma, EnMAP). Such data will be used to estimate nutrient availability in sediments and deficit in the soils to generate a map of the sediment reuse potential in Ceará. Field scale growth experiments are to be conducted for the main crops cultivated in the study region, in contrast to the indoor controlled conditions of our previous assessment. Furthermore, we are developing a modelling tool to quantify the impacts of the sediment reuse practice on water quality, enabling us to expand our previous study to other reservoirs and to test its effectiveness to water conservation.</p>


2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 424-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hooman Armand ◽  
Ivan Stoianov ◽  
Nigel Graham

Abstract The sectorisation of water supply networks (WSNs) includes the permanent closure of valves in order to achieve a cost-effective leakage management and simplify pressure control. The impact of networks sectorisation, also known as district metered areas (DMAs), on water quality and discolouration has not been extensively studied and it remains unknown. In addition, hydraulic variables used in the literature for assessing the likelihood of potential discolouration are limited and inconclusive. This paper investigates a methodology to evaluate the impact of networks sectorisation (DMAs) on water quality and the likelihood of discolouration incidents. The methodology utilises a set of surrogate hydraulic variables and an analysis of the hydraulic condition in pipes with historic discolouration complaints. The proposed methodology has been applied to a large-scale WSN, with and without sectors, in order to assess the potential impact of DMAs on water quality. The results demonstrate that the sectorisation of WSN (DMAs) could compromise the overall water quality and increase the likelihood of discolouration incidents. The results of this study and the proposed surrogate hydraulic variables facilitate the formulation of optimisation problems for the re-design and control of WSNs with sectorised topologies.


Author(s):  
R. Sophia Porchelvi ◽  
P. Selvavathi

Delta regions of the Cauvery River basin are one of the significant areas of rice production in India. In spite of large-scale utilization of the river basin for irrigation and drinking purposes, the lack of appropriate water management has seemingly deteriorated the water quality due to increasing anthropogenic activities. Vellore is the second most populous district of Tamil Nadu in India where the Palar River flowing towards east for about 295 Km. Vellore is surrounded by many leather tanneries and small scale dying industries and their effluents are discharged into the Palar river causing impact on the quality of the underground water. To assess the extent of deterioration, physicochemical characteristics of surface water were analyzed select regions of Cauvery Delta River basin and Palar region, Tamil Nadu, during March 2016 to May 2016. This study aimed to examine quality of drinking groundwater. The results represented whether the water was suitable or unsuitable for drinking purposes in this area. It was also observed that some areas like Tiruvarur, Needamangalam, Kamalapuram, Arcot, Soraiyur, Ranipet had low quality drinking water. It is suggested to take some necessary measures for supplying desirable water to the people living in these areas.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 14535-14555
Author(s):  
L. Chen ◽  
Y. Zhong ◽  
G. Wei ◽  
Z. Shen

Abstract. The identification of priority management areas (PMAs) is essential for the control of non-point source (NPS) pollution, especially for a large-scale watershed. However, previous studies have typically focused on small-scale catchments adjacent to specific assessment points; thus, the interactions between multiple river points remain poorly understood. In this study, a multiple-assessment-point PMA (MAP-PMA) framework was proposed by integrating the upstream sources and the downstream transport aspects of NPS pollution. Based on the results, the integration of the upstream input changes was vital for the final PMAs map, especially for downstream areas. Contrary to conventional wisdom, this research recommended that the NPS pollutants could be best controlled among the upstream high-level PMAs when protecting the water quality of the entire watershed. The MAP-PMA framework provided a more cost-effective tool for the establishment of conservation practices, especially for a large-scale watershed.


EDIS ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 2004 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig D. Stanley ◽  
Brent K. Harbaugh

There is no more essential component for the poinsettia production system than water, yet it is often less intensively managed than other production inputs. Perhaps the tendency to overlook the importance of water occurs because its use is linked so closely to other components of production which are intensively managed. Water management is a critical consideration for many aspects of production such as fertility control, media selection, and disease and insect control. In addition, because water conservation and protection have become important issues to society as a whole, poinsettia producers must consider management practices which minimize the impact that production has on the environment and water resources. This paper will discuss the uses of water in poinsettia production, the advantages and disadvantages of the use of different irrigationsystems (management, maintenance, water conservation, and economics) available for poinsettia production, irrigation water requirements and scheduling, and plant and environmental water quality concerns. This is document SL-212, a publication of the Soil and Water Science Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. Published January 2004.


2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (28) ◽  
pp. e2024912118
Author(s):  
Amy T. Hansen ◽  
Todd Campbell ◽  
Se Jong Cho ◽  
Jonathon A. Czuba ◽  
Brent J. Dalzell ◽  
...  

Despite decades of policy that strives to reduce nutrient and sediment export from agricultural fields, surface water quality in intensively managed agricultural landscapes remains highly degraded. Recent analyses show that current conservation efforts are not sufficient to reverse widespread water degradation in Midwestern agricultural systems. Intensifying row crop agriculture and increasing climate pressure require a more integrated approach to water quality management that addresses diverse sources of nutrients and sediment and off-field mitigation actions. We used multiobjective optimization analysis and integrated three biophysical models to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of alternative portfolios of watershed management practices at achieving nitrate and suspended sediment reduction goals in an agricultural basin of the Upper Midwestern United States. Integrating watershed-scale models enabled the inclusion of near-channel management alongside more typical field management and thus directly the comparison of cost-effectiveness across portfolios. The optimization analysis revealed that fluvial wetlands (i.e., wide, slow-flowing, vegetated water bodies within the riverine corridor) are the single-most cost-effective management action to reduce both nitrate and sediment loads and will be essential for meeting moderate to aggressive water quality targets. Although highly cost-effective, wetland construction was costly compared to other practices, and it was not selected in portfolios at low investment levels. Wetland performance was sensitive to placement, emphasizing the importance of watershed scale planning to realize potential benefits of wetland restorations. We conclude that extensive interagency cooperation and coordination at a watershed scale is required to achieve substantial, economically viable improvements in water quality under intensive row crop agricultural production.


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