Intensive Management in Grasslands Causes Diffuse Water Pollution at the Farm Scale

Peukert, Sabine; Griffith, B. A.; Murray, P. J.; Macleod, Christopher; Brazier, Richard E.

doi:10.2134/jeq2014.04.0193

Cited by 33 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 69 publications

(99 reference statements)

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“…The values here are similar to those reported by Thompson et al (2014) in two other intensively managed grassland catchments in Ireland; 8 % exceedance was reported in a moderately drained catchment in Co. Down and 18 % exceedance in a poorly drained catchment in Co. Louth. Although the instantaneous exceedance of the FFD metric has been reported in other sediment studies Peukert et al, 2014;Thompson et al, 2014), the transferability of this coarse threshold (compliance to which requires an undefined annual sample number) to highresolution SS data is questionable. Average SSYs in the five catchments were 9, 25, 12, 12 and 24 t km −2 yr −1 at Grassland A, Grassland B, Grassland C, Arable A and Arable B, respectively.…”

Section: Suspended Sediment Metrics In Five Agricultural Catchmentsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Investigating suspended sediment dynamics in contrasting agricultural catchments using ex situ turbidity-based suspended sediment monitoring

Sherriff

Rowan

Melland

et al. 2015

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Soil erosion and suspended sediment (SS) pose risks to chemical and ecological water quality. Agricultural activities may accelerate erosional fluxes from bare, poached or compacted soils, and enhance connectivity through modified channels and artificial drainage networks. Storm-event fluxes dominate SS transport in agricultural catchments; therefore, high temporal-resolution monitoring approaches are required, but can be expensive and technically challenging. Here, the performance of in situ turbidity sensors, conventionally installed submerged at the river bankside, is compared with installations where river water is delivered to sensors ex situ, i.e. within instrument kiosks on the riverbank, at two experimental catchments (Grassland B and Arable B). The in situ and ex situ installations gave comparable results when calibrated against storm-period, depth-integrated SS data, with total loads at Grassland B estimated at 12 800 and 15 400 t, and 22 600 and 24 900 t at Arable B, respectively. The absence of spurious turbidity readings relating to bankside debris around the in situ sensor and its greater security make the ex situ sensor more robust. The ex situ approach was then used to characterise SS dynamics and fluxes in five intensively managed agricultural catchments in Ireland which feature a range of landscape characteristics and land use pressures. Average annual suspended sediment concentration (SSC) was below the Freshwater Fish Directive (78/659/EEC) guideline of 25 mg L −1 , and the continuous hourly record demonstrated that exceedance occurred less than 12 % of the observation year. Soil drainage class and proportion of arable land were key controls determining flux rates, but all catchments reported a high degree of inter-annual variability associated with variable precipitation patterns compared to the long-term average. Poorly drained soils had greater sensitivity to runoff and soil erosion, particularly in catchments with periods of bare soils. Well drained soils were less sensitive to erosion even on arable land; however, under extreme rainfall conditions, all bare soils remain a high sediment loss risk. Analysis of storm-period and seasonal dynamics (over the long term) using high-resolution monitoring would be beneficial to further explore the impact of landscape, climate and land use characteristics on SS export.

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Section: Suspended Sediment Metrics In Five Agricultural Catchmentsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Investigating suspended sediment dynamics in contrasting agricultural catchments using ex situ turbidity-based suspended sediment monitoring

Sherriff

Rowan

Melland

et al. 2015

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…Far less is known about the efficacy of DPMMs at the catchment scale (Cherry et al, 2008;McGonigle et al, 2014), which is a non-trivial, spatially complex problem to unravel (Lloyd et al, 2014). A major constraint on the design of effective DMPPs arises from the fact that studies have tended to focus on one or two pollutant forms (Hefting and de Klein, 1998;LeedsHarrison et al, 1999;Kelly et al, 2007;Liu et al, 2008), rather than on multiple parameters that are the norm for aquatic ecosystems (Peukert et al, 2014). Without consideration of multiple chemical forms or 'species' which may generate an ecological response, the potential for pollution swapping between forms when DPMMs are applied, and continued adverse impacts on the receiving ecosystem can be overlooked (Stevens and Quinton, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determining the sources of nutrient flux to water in headwater catchments: Examining the speciation balance to inform the targeting of mitigation measures

Lloyd

Johnes

Freer

et al. 2019

Science of The Total Environment

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General rightsThis document is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. Full terms of use are available: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/pure/about/ebr-terms Determining the sources of nutrient flux to water in headwater catchments: Examining the speciation balance to inform the targeting of mitigation measures H I G H L I G H T S• N speciation and P fractionation analysed for catchments with contrasting character.• Nitrate was the dominant N species in the chalk sub-catchments.• Organic and particulate N comprised the majority of the load in the clay rivers.• Orthophosphate was not found to be the dominant fraction in any of the catchments.• Particulate P was always an important P source, particularly in the clay catchments. Diffuse water pollution from agriculture (DWPA) is a major environmental concern, with significant adverse impacts on both human and ecosystem health. However, without an appropriate understanding of the multiple factors impacting on water, mitigation measures cannot be targeted. Therefore, this paper addresses this gap in understanding, reporting the hydrochemical monitoring evidence collected from the UK Government's Demonstration Test Catchments (DTC) programme including contrasting chalk and clay/mudstone catchments. We use data collected at daily and sub-daily frequency over multiple sites to address: (1) How does the behaviour of the full range of nitrogen (N) species and phosphorus (P) fractions vary? (2) How do N species and P fractions vary inter-and intra-annually? (3) What do these data indicate about the primary pollution sources? And (4) which diffuse pollution mitigation measures are appropriate in our study landscapes? Key differences in the rates of flux of nutrients were identified, dependent on catchment characteristics. Full N speciation and P fractionation, together with dissolved organic carbon (DOC) enabled identification of the most likely contributing sources in each catchment. Nitrate (NO 3 -N) was the dominant N fraction in the chalk G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Contents lists available at ScienceDirectScience of the Total Environment j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / s c i t o t e n v whereas organic and particulate N comprised the majority of the load in the clay/mudstone catchments. Despite current legislation, orthophosphate (PO 4 -P) was not found to be the dominant form of P in any of the catchments monitored. The chalk sub-catchments had the largest proportion of inorganic/dissolved organic P (DOP), accompanied by episodic delivery of particulate P (PP). Contrastingly, the clay/mudstone sub-catchments loads were dominated by PP and DOP. Thus, our results show that by monitoring both the inorganic and organic fractions a more complete picture of catchment nutrient fluxes can be determined, and sources of pollution pin-pointed. Ultimately, policy and management to bring nutrient impacts under control...

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“…The dynamics of flow pathway partitioning during storm events and the consequential output of agricultural contaminants has been explored (Delpla et al, 2011;Blanchard and Lerch, 2000;Gao et al, 2004;Zhang et al, 1997;Malone et al, 2004), but there is a lack of experimental data quantifying contaminant export via individual flow pathways due to methodological challenges. In a field context it is challenging to monitor multiple flow pathways without destructive sampling, although new research platforms are now making this type of research more possible (see Peukert et al (2014) for an example). There are also challenges when choosing field sites that represent transport regimes across different slope angles or to account for other environmental variables.…”

Section: E M Lloyd Et Al: Runoff-and Erosion-driven Transport Omentioning

confidence: 99%

Runoff- and erosion-driven transport of cattle slurry: linking molecular tracers to hydrological processes

et al. 2016

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Abstract. The addition of cattle slurry to agricultural land is a widespread practise, but if not correctly managed it can pose a contamination risk to aquatic ecosystems. The transport of inorganic and organic components of cattle slurry to watercourses is a major concern, yet little is known about the physical transport mechanisms and associated fluxes and timings of contamination threats. Therefore, the aim of the study was to ascertain the importance of flow pathway partitioning in the transport (fluxes and timing) of dissolved and particulate slurry-derived compounds with implications for off-site contamination. A series of rainfall-runoff and erosion experiments were carried out using the TRACE (Test Rig for Advancing Connectivity Experiments) experimental hillslope facility. The experiments allowed the quantification of the impact of changing slope gradient and rainfall intensity on nutrient transport from cattle slurry applied to the hillslope, via surface, subsurface, and vertical percolated flow pathways, as well as particulate transport from erosion. The dissolved components were traced using a combination of ammonium (NH + 4 ) and fluorescence analysis, while the particulate fraction was traced using organic biomarkers, 5β-stanols. Results showed that rainfall events which produced flashy hydrological responses, resulting in large quantities of surface runoff, were likely to move sediment and also flush dissolved components of slurry-derived material from the slope, increasing the contamination risk. Rainfall events which produced slower hydrological responses were dominated by vertical percolated flows removing less sediment-associated material, but produced leachate which could contaminate deeper soil layers, and potentially groundwater, over a more prolonged period. Overall, this research provides new insights into the partitioning of slurry-derived material when applied to an unvegetated slope and the transport mechanisms by which contamination risks are created.

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Intensive Management in Grasslands Causes Diffuse Water Pollution at the Farm Scale

Cited by 33 publications

References 69 publications

Investigating suspended sediment dynamics in contrasting agricultural catchments using ex situ turbidity-based suspended sediment monitoring

Investigating suspended sediment dynamics in contrasting agricultural catchments using ex situ turbidity-based suspended sediment monitoring

Determining the sources of nutrient flux to water in headwater catchments: Examining the speciation balance to inform the targeting of mitigation measures

Runoff- and erosion-driven transport of cattle slurry: linking molecular tracers to hydrological processes

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