Evaluating the influence of hydrological condition on the phosphorus loads in an agricultural river basin using the SWAT model

Abstract

Excessive phosphorus is an important cause of eutrophication. For river basin management, source identification and control of nonpoint source (NPS) pollution are difficult. In this study, to explore influences of hydrological conditions on phosphorus, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is applied to the Luanhe River basin in North China. Moreover, influences of the spatial scale of the livestock and poultry amount data on estimations of phosphorus loads are also discussed. The results show that applying town-level livestock and poultry amount data allows the model to perform better when estimating phosphorus loads, indicating that using data at a finer administrative level is necessary. For the typical wet year, the estimated annual phosphorus load was 2.6 times that in the typical dry year. Meanwhile, the contribution of pollution in summer to the annual load is greater in the wet year than that in the dry year. The spatial distributions of subbasins with high unit loads of phosphorus differ under different hydrological conditions, meaning that critical areas for pollution control vary with the wetness of each year. All these findings indicate that for pollution control at basin scale, considering the seasonal and interannual variabilities in hydrological conditions is highly demanded.

Exploring consumers’ environmental ethical preferences in the context of unmanned aerial vehicle utilization for plant protection

“…This regional distribution structure was reasonable. (5) The income structure of respondents was reasonable. The income group earning less than RMB 4,000 accounted for 25.00% of respondents, the income group earning RMB 4,000-6,000 accounted for 24.70% of respondents, the income group earning RMB 6,000-8,000 accounted for 15.30% of respondents, the income group earning RMB 8,000-10,000 accounted for 12.50% of respondents, and the income group earning more than RMB 10,000 accounted for 22.60% of respondents.…”

“…Therefore, the agricultural sector urgently needs to transform production and consumption patterns to contribute to sustainable development 3 , 4 . Although the past half-century has seen governments worldwide adopt sustainable production 5 , sustainable consumption has not yet been widely accepted 6 , 7 . Meanwhile, the observation of practices in recent years demonstrates that the success of sustainable development depends on not only reducing greenhouse gases in the production system but also implementing sustainable development strategies among the production and consumption systems, informed by emergent environmental consumption ethics 8 – 10 .…”

Estimation of Nutrient Loads With the Use of Mass-balance and Modelling Approaches on the Wełna River Catchment Example (Central Poland)

“…The water balance equation also represents a basis for the simulation, transport and transformation of nutrients required for the quantitative component of the model. This tool models ve organic and inorganic (NH 4 + and NO 3 − ) forms of nitrogen, six different forms of phosphorus (three organic and three inorganic) in soil [29] , as well as organic nitrogen and phosphorus forms associated with plant residues, microbial biomass and soil humus [30][31][32] [33] . Further details on the water balance and the equations of the nutrient related process can be found in the SWAT theoretical documentation [34] .…”

Editorial: Advances in Water Science Research

“…Finally, four papers investigate issues in eco-hydrology and eco-environmental protection, involving soil salinization (He et al 2021), heavy metal in shrubs (Gong et al 2021), phosphorus loads (Jian et al 2021), and lake hydrodynamics (Wu et al 2021). Cangzhou city is a typical coastal area located on the North China Plain, and the land has always been impacted by seawater intrusion and inappropriate agricultural irrigation.…”

“…The SWAT model is employed by Jian et al (2021) to investigate the influences of hydrological conditions and the spatial effect of the quantity of livestock and poultry on the phosphorus load at the basin scale. They identify a critical link between variations in the phosphorus load and the hydrological conditions.…”