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This paper describes nitrogen losses from, and the characteristics of, 35 selected catchments (12 to 2000 ha) in the Nordic and Baltic countries. Average annual losses of N in 19941997 ranged from 5 to 75 kg ha 1 . Generally, the lowest losses were observed in the Baltic countries and the highest in Norway. The N losses were also characterised by significant within-country and interannual variations, particularly in the Norwegian catchments. An important finding of the study is that the average nutrient losses varied greatly among the catchments studied. The main explanations for this variability were water runoff, fertiliser use (especially the amount of manure), soil type and erosion (including stream bank erosion). However, there were several exceptions, and it was difficult to find general relationships between the individual factors. For example, there was poor correlation between nitrogen losses and surpluses. Therefore, the results suggest that the observed variability in N losses cannot have been due solely to differences in farm management practices, although the studied catchments do include a wide range of nutrient application levels, animal densities and other relevant elements. There is considerable spatial variation in the physical properties (soil, climate, hydrology, and topography) and the agricultural management of the basins, and the interaction between and relative effects of these factors has an important impact on erosion and nutrient losses. In particular, hydrological processes may have a marked effect on N losses measured in the catchment stream water. The results indicate that significant differences in hydrological pathways (e.g. the relationship between fast-and slow-flow processes) lead to major regional differences in N inputs to surface waters and therefore also in the response to changes in field management practices. Agricultural practices such as crop rotation systems, nutrient inputs and soil conservation measures obviously play a significant role in the site-specific effects, although they cannot explain the large regional differences observed in this study. The interactions between agricultural practices and basic catchment characteristics, including hydrological processes, determine the final losses of nitrogen to surface waters, hence it is necessary to understand these interactions to manage diffuse losses of agricultural nutrients efficiently.

The aim of the study was assessment of changes in nutrient concentrations in Estonian rivers as a response to improved wastewater treatment and substantial reductions in the use of fertilisers and number of livestock during the past 15-20 years. A Mann-Kendall test and flow adjusted technique to assess recent trends have been used. Statistical analysis covered time series of 53 sampling sites on 40 rivers and streams in different hydro-geographical regions and varying human pressures. The results indicate a statistically significant downward trend in nitrogen concentration in 18 sampling stations during the studied period; only very few showed an upward trend. These decreases in total nitrogen (TN) relate mainly to (i) substantial reductions in the use of fertilisers, (ii) decreased area of agricultural land, (iii) decreased point source load and (iv) increased self-purification capacity of soil-water systems. The concentration of phosphorus decreased only in 13 locations, despite of efforts to improve the efficiency of wastewater treatment. Moreover, in seven locations the concentration of phosphorus was increasing. This increase in total phosphorus (TP) probably relates to the low treatment efficiency of small wastewater treatment facilities as well as to the raised ground water table due to insufficient maintenance of drainage systems that favour transport of soil P to water bodies. Accordingly, the ratio of nitrogen and phosphorus had both decreasing and increasing trends.

More than 20-year monitoring of Estonian rivers reveals that the loading of nitrogen to large shallow lakes Peipsi (3,555 km 2 , mean depth 7.1 m) and Võ rtsjä rv (270 km 2 , mean depth 2.8 m) decreased substantially in the 1990s. Phosphorus loading decreased to a much smaller extent than nitrogen loading. In L. Võ rtsjä rv both N and P concentrations followed the decreasing trends of loading, which show the high sensitivity of large shallow lakes to catchment processes. Our study showed a positive relationship between P content in sediments and the relative depth of the lake. Assumingly the resilience of a lake in responding to the reduction of nutrient loading decreases together with the decrease of its relative depth. In L. Peipsi the concentration of P has not decreased since the 1990s. Our data show indirectly that P loading from Russia to L. Peipsi may have increased. The N/P ratio has decreased in both lakes. Cyanobacterial blooms have been common in both lakes already at the beginning of the 20th century. The blooms disappeared during heavy nitrogen loading in the 1980s but started again in L. Peipsi in recent years together with the drop of the N/P ratio. In L. Võ rtsjä rv the N/P ratio is higher and the ecosystem is more stable although the share of N 2 -fixing cyanobacteria increased from the 1990s. Reappearing cyanobacterial blooms in L. Peipsi have caused fish-kills in recent years. In L. Peipsi summer/autumn fishkills during water-blooms are a straightforward consequence of reduced nitrogen level at remaining high phosphorus level while in L. Võ rtsjä rv the climatic factors affecting water level are more critical--at low water level winter fish-kills may occur. In L. Võ rtsjä rv nutrient loading has decreased and water quality has improved, present ecological status seems to be mostly controlled by climatic factors through changes of water level. The most important measure to improve water quality in L. Peipsi would be the reduction of phosphorus loading from both Estonian and Russian subcatchments.

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