Journal
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
Volume 433, Issue -, Pages 74-88Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.06.024
Keywords
Optimization; Particulate phosphorus; Suspended solids; Transport modeling; Watershed management
Categories
Funding
- Austrian Science Funds (FWF) as part of the Vienna Doctoral Programme on Water Resources Systems [DK-Plus W1219-N22]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
An enhanced transport-based management approach is presented, which is able to support cost-effective water quality management with respect to diffuse phosphorus pollution. Suspended solids and particulate phosphorus emissions and their transport were modeled in two hilly agricultural watersheds (Wulka River in Austria and Zala River in Hungary) with an improved version of the catchment-scale PhosFate model. Source and transmission areas were ranked by an optimization method in order to provide a priority list of the areas of economically efficient (optimal) management alternatives. The model was calibrated and validated at different gauges and for various years. The spatial distribution of the emissions shows that approximately one third of the catchment area is responsible for the majority of the emissions. However, only a few percent of the source areas can transport fluxes to the catchment outlet. These effective source areas, together with the main transmission areas are potential candidates for improved management practices. In accordance with the critical area concept, it was shown that intervention with better management practices on a properly selected small proportion of the total area (1-3%) is sufficient to reach a remarkable improvement in water quality. If soil nutrient management is also considered in addition to water quality, intervention on 4-12% of the catchment areas can fulfill both aspects. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available