scholarly journals Reduction Assessment of Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollutant Loading

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
YiCheng Fu ◽  
Wenbin Zang ◽  
Jian Zhang ◽  
Hongtao Wang ◽  
Chunling Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
Land Development ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Land Use Type ◽  
Buffer Zones ◽  
Pollutant Loading ◽  
Nps Pollution ◽  
The Status ◽  
Pollutant Reduction

Abstract. NPS (Non-point source) pollution has become a key impact element to watershed environment at present. With the development of technology, application of models to control NPS pollution has become a very common practice for resource management and Pollutant reduction control in the watershed scale of China. The SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) model is a semi-conceptual model, which was put forward to estimate pollutant production & the influences on water quantity-quality under different land development patterns in complex watersheds. Based on the overview of published papers with application of SWAT, the study topics is mainly focus on nutrients, sediments, impoundment & wetlands, hydrologic characteristics, climate change impact, and land-use change impacts. SWAT model was constructed based on rainfall runoff and land use type. The migration-transformation processes of agricultural NPS pollution was simulated and calculated based on the SWAT model. Besides, the loadings and distribution traits of NPS pollutants were also systematically analyzed based on the model. The model was used to quantify the spatial loading intensities of NPS nutrient TN (Total Nitrogen) and TP (Total Phosphorus) to HTRW (Huntai River Watershed) under two scenarios (without & with buffer zones). The SWAT model was validated using actual monitoring information as well as the physical properties of the underlying substrate, hydrology, meteorology and pollutant sources in the HTRW. Scenario settings are mainly based on the changes of surface runoff and sediments, climate and land-use change from different spatial scales, and climatic/physiographic zones. About 1 km within both banks of the trunk streams of the Huntai, Taizi and Daliao rivers, and 5 km surrounding the reservoirs were defined as buffer zones. Existing land use type within the buffer zone was changed to reflect the natural environment. The output of pollutant production under the EPS (Environmental Protection Scenarios) was calculated based on the status quo scenario. Under the status quo scenario, the annual mean modulus of soil erosion in the HTRW was 811 kg/ha, and the output intensities of TN & TP were 19 & 7 kg/ha, respectively. For the unit area, the maximal loading intensities for TN & TP were 365.36 & 259.83 kg/ha, respectively. In terms of spatial distribution, TN & TP loading varied substantially. Under the EPS, the magnitude of N & P production from arable land decreased to a certain degree, and the TN & TP pollution loading per unit area were reduced by 5 & 1 kg/ha annually, respectively. In comparison, the quantity of NPS pollutant production under the EPS was reduced by 21.9 % compared with the status quo scenario, and the quantities of TP & TN decreased by 10.4 % & 25.9 %, respectively. These changes suggested a clear reduction in the export loading of agricultural NPS pollution. Loading intensities analysis showed that land use type is one key factor for controlling NPS pollution. The NPS pollutant loading decreased under the EPS, which showed that environmental protection measure could effectively cut down NPS pollutant loading in HTRW. SWAT was used to assess the reduction of agricultural NPS pollutant. However, SWAT model requires a large amount of data about the watershed being modeled; the data inaccuracy and local factors would impact the accuracy of the SWAT model. To determine the pollutant reduction under different land development patterns, and examine uncertainty of sensitivity parameters, SWAT model in China has wide range of potential application.

scholarly journals A Combination Model for Quantifying Non-Point Source Pollution Based on Land Use Type in a Typical Urbanized Area

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 729
Author(s):  
Siru Wang ◽  
Pinzeng Rao ◽  
Dawen Yang ◽  
Lihua Tang
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Land Use Type ◽  
Pollution Load ◽  
Combination Model ◽  
Urbanized Area ◽  
Nps Pollution ◽  
Poultry Breeding

Water pollution poses threats to urban environments and subsequently impacts the ecological health and sustainable development of urban areas. Identifying the spatiotemporal variation in non-point sources (NPS) pollution is a prerequisite for improving water quality. This paper aimed to assess the NPS pollution load and then recognized the spatiotemporal characteristics of the pollution sources in a typical urbanized area. A combination model based on land use type was used to simulate the NPS pollution load. The results showed the following: (1) ponds and farmlands had higher pollution production intensities than other land use types, but the intensity and magnitude of pollution emissions were generally greater in urban areas; (2) monthly and annual total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) emissions had the same pattern as rainfall, and TN and TP emissions accounted for 56.2% and 58.0%, respectively, of the total in summer; (3) TN pollution was more serious than TP pollution in the study area, especially in farmlands; (4) urban runoff (UR) and livestock and poultry breeding (LPB) were the main sources of NPS, TN and TP emissions in the study area. If these NPS pollutants cannot be removed from this area, a large amount of freshwater is needed to dilute the current rivers to meet the requirement of the fourth category of China national environmental quality standards for surface water. This problem is serious in the control of polluted rivers in many cities throughout China.

scholarly journals Cremation and Burial

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Martin Olando
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Extensive Reading ◽  
General Observation ◽  
The Status ◽  
Emerging Culture ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Ideal

For a long time, most African Christian have preferred burial as the most acceptable way in disposing dead bodies. However, this method of disposing the dead has been affected by diverse factors such as globalization, various interpretations of Scripture, and the decline of African perception on burial rights among others. In the nature of things, there has been an increase of cremation amongst African Christians. This has created a rift between two contrasting groups regarding the emerging culture of cremation as opposed to burial. Cremation seems to be a new concept that has not been embraced in most African societies. Those African Christians who insist on burial contend that it is the ideal godly way in the disposition of bodies. They cite biblical and Africa values in order to justify the status quo. For those who believe cremation is the right disposal method of the dead, they argue that it is less expensive and is positively sensitive to land use. In view of this, the article will examine success and challenges regarding burial and cremation. The materials in this presentation have been gathered through interviews, extensive reading of published works, and via general observation of unfolding practices.

Topsoil removal and Sphagnum spreading improve the climate balance of peat bog restoration

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Jurasinski ◽  
Vytas Huth ◽  
Eva Rosinski ◽  
Cordula Gutekunst ◽  
Franziska Koebsch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Climate Warming ◽  
Emission Factors ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Peat Bog ◽  
Climate Effects ◽  
Original Surface ◽  
The Status ◽  
Topsoil Removal ◽  
Restoration Measures

<p>Many peatlands in Central Europe are under unsustainable drainage-based land use with high greenhouse gas emissions counteracting the aims of the Paris Agreement. After decades of drained and intensive land use many peat bogs are in pitiful state. Rewetting can stop the carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) source function but may result in high methane (CH<sub>4</sub>) emissions and eutrophication. Further, lack of diaspores my hamper the establishment of typical bog species. Restoration measures like topsoil removal (TSR) or spreading target vegetation propagules are known to improve restoration success in fen peatlands or after peat extraction. However, experience on restoration of bogs after previous agricultural use is scarce and the climate effects of these restoration measures including carbon losses from TSR are unknown.</p><p>We installed a field trial in a drained bog in North-West Germany to explore the effect of TSR and Sphagnum spreading on greenhouse (GHG) emissions. The trial consists of seven plots (~8 x 24 m each) representing the status quo—intensive grassland use—and six different restoration approaches. Two approaches are rewetting on the original surface with or without regular biomass harvesting. The remaining four represent TSR prior rewetting where two of the four were inoculated with <em>Sphagnum</em> spp. On all plots we measured GHG fluxes fortnightly using closed chambers to obtain two-year GHG budgets. We assessed the climate effects of the status quo and the six restoration approaches by applying a radiative forcing model to the GHG budgets and to published emission factors while incorporating the effect of TSR through different depletion scenarios of the exported topsoil carbon.</p><p>Compared to the status quo, rewetting alone reduced CO<sub>2</sub> emissions by ~75% but substantially increased CH<sub>4 </sub>emissions, which were much higher than published emission factors for a similar peatland category. After TSR, on-site CO<sub>2</sub> emissions were close to 0 or—with Sphagnum spreading—net negative while CH<sub>4</sub> emissions remained very low. Based on our GHG budgets, TSR quickly becomes less climate warming than keeping the status quo and rewetting at the original surface. In contrast, based on emission factors, rewetting at the original surface is initially the least climate warming option.<span> </span></p><p>In general, the climatic effect of TSR is likely lowest when removing only as much topsoil as necessary to implement nutrient-poor and acidic conditions thereby ensuring rapid establishment of a <em>Sphagnum</em> carpet and by conserving the removed topsoil as long as possible. Here, the climate warming effect of TSR of ~30 cm in combination with rewetting roughly corresponds to the climate warming of rewetted nutrient-rich temperate peatlands without TSR. Therefore, from a climate perspective, we can recommend a shallow TSR of up to 30 cm for peat bog restoration given that the goal is to re-establish typical bog habitats.</p>

Fragile legitimacy: the rise and crisis of the EU’s ‘sustainable biofuels’ policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 235-256
Author(s):  
Nils Kupzok
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Global Environment ◽  
Loose Coupling ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Scientific Idea ◽  
Sources Of Authority ◽  
The Status ◽  
Biofuels Policy

Abstract The EU’s biofuels policy has made a full normative turn: introduced to advance sustainable development, it was curtailed as a threat to the global environment. Central to the crisis of legitimation was a contested scientific idea, emissions from indirect land-use changes. This article takes up the large impact of this small idea to discuss a central question of contemporary institutionalist and constructivist scholarship: Why and under what conditions can ideas and events become catalysts for change? Tracing the rise and crisis of the EU’s biofuels policy, my central theoretical intervention is to conceptualize the fragile legitimacy of policies and institutions. In addition, I specify the scope condition that heighten or reduce a policy’s fragility, arguing that it depends on: (a) a tight/loose coupling of legitimacy to underlying authoritative discourses, (b) the volatility of these sources of authority and (c) the agenda-setting power of groups opposing the status quo.

scholarly journals Multi-Objective Land Use Allocation Optimization in View of Overlapped Influences of Rail Transit Stations

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 13219
Author(s):  
Xuesong Feng ◽  
Zhibin Tao ◽  
Xuejun Niu ◽  
Zejing Ruan
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Optimization Model ◽  
Land Development ◽  
Sustainable Urban Development ◽  
Urban Region ◽  
Rail Transit ◽  
Land Use Type ◽  
Multi Objective ◽  
Development Scheme ◽  
Land Use Allocation

Taking into consideration the overlapped influences of multiple rail transit stations upon land use characteristics, this study newly develops a multi-objective land use allocation optimization model to decide the land use type and intensity of every undeveloped land block of an urban area. The new model is solved by successively utilizing the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm and the technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution to obtain the least biased Pareto-optimal land development scheme. The study area is an urban region around two metro stations in Beijing of China. The influencing scopes of these two stations are overlapped in part, and many of the land blocks in the study area are not yet developed. It is shown that the newly developed land use allocation optimization model is able to rationally achieve multi-objectives in coordination to the most extents for the sustainable urban development in view of the integrated effect of multiple rail transit stations.

scholarly journals Validation of SWAT model for stream flow simulation and forecasting in Upper Bernam humid tropical river basin, Malaysia

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 7581-7609 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. W. Alansi ◽  
M. S. M. Amin ◽  
G. Abdul Halim ◽  
H. Z. M. Shafri ◽  
W. Aimrun
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Stream Flow ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Land Development ◽  
Flow Simulation ◽  
Low Flow ◽  
Tropical River

Abstract. The study was to evaluate SWAT model for flow simulation and forecasting in the Upper Bernam humid tropical river basin, which is the main source of irrigation water supply for a rice granary. Land use in the study area has rapidly changed from the year of 1984 until today. The study was conducted using 27 years of records (1981–2007). Calibration was performed for the period of 1981 through 2004 while, the period of 2005 through 2007 for the validation of both simulation and forecasting of flow. During calibration, the annual and monthly results were 0.82, 0.65, 0.81 and 0.62 for R2 and ENS, respectively and 0.99, 0.93, 0.98 and 0.92, respectively during validation. As for forecasting validation, were 0.88, 0.78, 0.86 and 0.74 for R2 and ENS, respectively. In general model shows good performance in flow simulating as well as forecasting. Five scenarios were performed to identify the individual effect of mixed land use change on stream flow. The scenarios results demonstrate, land use changes are responsible for an increase in the annual flow depth between 8% to 39% while 16% to 59% during high flow months and decreases between 3% to 32% during low flow months. Flow forecasting for the year 2020 using 30 forecasting cycles which found to be the optimal for the study area was performed. The results show decrease by 50% below the monthly irrigation water demand during low flow months, which emphasize the need to include structured best management practices (BMPs) such as ponds to the study area future land development plan to mitigate the future changes in land use on flow quantity. This study showed that SWAT was able to simulate and forecast flow in humid tropical condition successfully and can be used to study the effects of future land use changes on flow.

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