Sources of Pollutants in Wisconsin Stormwater

1993 ◽  
Vol 28 (3-5) ◽  
pp. 241-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. T. Bannerman ◽  
D. W. Owens ◽  
R. B. Dodds ◽  
N. J. Hornewer

Rainfall runoff samples were collected from streets, parking lots, roofs, driveways, and lawns. These five source areas are located in residential, commercial, and industrial land uses in Madison, Wisconsin. Solids, phosphorus, and heavy metals loads were determined for all the source areas using measured concentrations and runoff volumes estimated by the Source Load and Management Model. Source areas with relatively large contaminant loads were identified as critical source areas for each land use. Streets are critical source areas for most contaminants in all the land uses. Parking lots are critical in the commercial and industrial land uses. Lawns and driveways contribute large phosphorus loads in the residential land use. Roofs produce significant zinc loads in the commercial and industrial land uses. Identification of critical source areas could reduce the amount of area needing best-management practices in two areas of Madison, Wisconsin. Targeting best-management practices to 14% of the residential area and 40% of the industrial area could significantly reduce contaminant loads by up to 75%.

Environments ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hadi Babaei ◽  
Mohammad Nazari-Sharabian ◽  
Moses Karakouzian ◽  
Sajjad Ahmad

Best Management Practices (BMPs) are commonly used to control pollution in the river basins. Prioritization of BMPs helps improve the efficiency and effectiveness of pollution reduction, especially in Critical Source Areas (CSAs) that produce the highest pollution loads. Recently, the Dez River in Khuzestan, Iran, has become highly eutrophic from the overuse of fertilizers and pesticides. In this basin, dry and irrigated farming produce 77.34% and 6.3% of the Total Nitrogen (TN) load, and 83.56% and 4.3% of the Total Phosphorus (TP) load, respectively. In addition, residential, pasture, and forest land uses together account for 16.36% of the TN and 12.14% of the TP load in this area. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was implemented to model the Dez River basin and evaluate the applicability of several BMPs, including point source elimination, filter strips, livestock grazing, and river channel management, in reducing the entry of pollution loads to the river. Sensitivity analysis and calibration/validation of the model was performed using the SUFI-2 algorithm in the SWAT Calibration Uncertainties Program (SWAT-CUP). The CSAs were identified using individual (sediment, TN, TP) and combined indices, based on the amount of pollution produced. Among the BMPs implemented, the 10 m filter strip was most effective in reducing TN load (42.61%), and TP load (39.57%).


Author(s):  
Hadi Babaei ◽  
Mohammad Nazari-Sharabian ◽  
Moses Karakouzian ◽  
Sajjad Ahmad

Best management practices (BMPs) are a way to control pollution in river basins. Prioritization of BMPs helps improve efficiency and effectiveness of pollution reduction, especially in critical source areas (CSAs) that produce the highest pollution loads. Recently, the Dez River, Khuzestan, Iran, has become highly eutrophic from overuse of fertilizers and pesticides. Dry and irrigated farming produce 77.34% and 6.3% of the total nitrogen (TN) load, and 83.56% and 4.3% of the total phosphorus (TP) load in this basin, respectively. Residential, pasture, and forest land uses account for 16.36% of the TN and 12.14% of the TP load cumulatively. In this study, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was implemented to model the Dez River basin, and evaluate the applicability of several BMPs including point source elimination, filter strips, livestock grazing, and river channel management, in reducing the entry of pollution loads to the river. Sensitivity analysis and calibration/validation of the model was performed using the SUFI-2 algorithm in the SWAT Calibration Uncertainties Program (SWAT-CUP). CSAs were identified using individual (sediment, TN, TP) and combined indices, based on the amount of pollution produced. Among the BMPs implemented, filter strips were most effective in reducing TN loads (59%), and, increasing the D50 of particles for river channel management was most effective in reducing TP loads (49%).


Author(s):  
Hadi Babaei ◽  
Mohammad Nazari-Sharabian ◽  
Moses Karakouzian ◽  
Sajjad Ahmad

Best Management Practices (BMPs) are commonly used to control pollution in the river basins. Prioritization of BMPs helps improve the efficiency and effectiveness of pollution reduction, especially in Critical Source Areas (CSAs) that produce the highest pollution loads. Recently, the Dez River in Khuzestan, Iran, has become highly eutrophic from the overuse of fertilizers and pesticides. In this basin, dry and irrigated farming produce 77.34% and 6.3% of the Total Nitrogen (TN) load, and 83.56% and 4.3% of the Total Phosphorus (TP) load, respectively. In addition, residential, pasture, and forest land uses together account for 16.36% of the TN and 12.14% of the TP load in this area. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was implemented to model the Dez River basin and evaluate the applicability of several BMPs, including point source elimination, filter strips, livestock grazing, and river channel management, in reducing the entry of pollution loads to the river. Sensitivity analysis and calibration/validation of the model was performed using the SUFI-2 algorithm in the SWAT Calibration Uncertainties Program (SWAT-CUP). The CSAs were identified using individual (sediment, TN, TP) and combined indices, based on the amount of pollution produced. Among the BMPs implemented, the 10 m filter strip was most effective in reducing TN load (42.61%), and TP load (39.57%).


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingzhuang Guo ◽  
Xiaoyan Wang ◽  
Lili Zhou ◽  
Charles Melching ◽  
Zeqi Li

The spatiotemporal distribution of critical source areas (CSAs) will change with hydrological conditions. In this study, the CSAs of nitrogen load under different hydrological conditions in the Chaohe River watershed were identified using the cumulative pollution load curve method determined from the nitrogen pollution simulated using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. The results showed that: (1) The order of factors impacting nitrogen load intensity is as follows: fertilization intensity, rainfall, runoff, land use type, slope type, and soil type. (2) The primary and secondary CSAs are concentrated in the upper and lower areas of the watershed, where cultivated land (8.36%) and grassland (52.55%) are more abundant. The potential pollution source areas are concentrated in the upper and middle areas of the watershed, where cultivated land (6.99%), grassland (42.37%), and forest land (48.18%) are evenly distributed. The low-risk source areas are concentrated in the middle and left bank of the watershed, where forest land (67.65%) is dominant and the vegetation coverage is highest. The research results have significance for improving the accuracy of the implementation of best management practices, and can provide a reference for the formulation of drinking water protection policies for Beijing.


Land ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Brown

Empirical studies of farm outcomes that rely on survey data often find important roles for education and gender. However, relatively few studies consider either field of study or gender of the decision maker (as opposed to gender of the survey respondent). This paper evaluates how the field of education and gender of decision makers correlate with profitability, farm management, future intentions, risk and norms, and adoption of novel technologies in New Zealand, explicitly accounting for the fact that many farming households make decisions jointly. Findings show that post-secondary education in a relevant field is a strong predictor of farm outcomes such as adoption of best management practices, plans to convert or intensify land use, risk tolerance, and adoption of novel technologies. Male sole decision makers (vis-à-vis joint decision makers) are more likely to have adopted best management practices and to have greater risk tolerance while female sole decision makers have adopted fewer novel technologies. These results have important implications for policy makers and extension officers who wish to encourage the uptake of best management practices and who wish to better understand future land-use change.


Author(s):  
Yang Ding ◽  
Fei Dong ◽  
Jinyong Zhao ◽  
Wenqi Peng ◽  
Quchang Chen ◽  
...  

Non-point source (NPS) pollution simulation in control units can identify critical pollution source areas and make Best Management Practices (BMPs) more effective for the responsible parties. In this study, the control unit division method is introduced, and the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of NPS pollution in the Guishui River Basin of Northern China are analyzed using the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. In addition, five BMP scenarios were designed for environmental and cost-benefit analyses. The results show that the loss of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) is concentrated in the rainy season, and the loss of TN and TP is mainly distributed in the middle and lower reaches of the main stream of the Guishui River. This area accounts for 22.34% of the basin area. The vegetated filter strips (VFS) scenario had the best environmental benefits with average TN and TP reduction efficiencies of 63.4% and 62.6%, respectively. The Grassed Waterway was the most cost-effective scenario measure, cost-benefit (CE) values of TN and TP were 1798.13 g/€ and 601.56 g/€. Generally, research on NPS pollution using control units can more clearly identify the critical source areas of pollution than other methods, and provides technical support for watershed management decision makers.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Crow ◽  
Hannah Hubanks ◽  
Jonathan Deenik ◽  
Tai Maaz ◽  
Christine Tallamy Glazer ◽  
...  

Abstract Soil health conceptualized as a measurable ecosystem property provides a powerful tool for monitoring progress in restoration projects or implementation of best management practices to promote sustainable agroecosystems. We surveyed soils collected from a range of land uses (i.e., protected native and non-native forest, managed pasture, unmanaged previously intensive agricultural lands, organic cropland, and conventional cropland) across a range of soil orders (Oxisol, Mollisol, Andisol, Inceptisol, and Vertisol) on three Hawaiian Islands. Forty-six metrics associated with soil health and encompassing biological, chemical, and physical properties were measured. In this multivariate survey, the most distinct group was the unmanaged, previously intensive agriculture lands, which was significantly different from all other land uses regardless of mineralogy. Importantly, the soil health of well-managed pastures in Hawaiʻi was not different from protected forests, suggesting that well-managed grazing lands may be as healthy and resilient as protected forests. A suite of 11 readily measured parameters emerged out of a first-principle approach to determining a holistic indication of soil health across a range of soils and systems in Hawaiʻi encompassing much of the diversity in the tropics and subtropics. Every land use may improve its soil health status within a reasonable range of expectations for a soil’s land use history, current land use, and mineralogy. Key drivers of the measures for soil health, including intensive land use history, current land use practices, and mineralogy, must be interwoven into the soil health index, which should set minimum and maximum benchmarks and weight parameters according to equitable standards.


Agriculture ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramesh P. Rudra ◽  
Balew A. Mekonnen ◽  
Rituraj Shukla ◽  
Narayan Kumar Shrestha ◽  
Pradeep K. Goel ◽  
...  

Non-point source (NPS) pollution is an important problem that has been threatening freshwater resources throughout the world. Best Management Practices (BMPs) can reduce NPS pollution delivery to receiving waters. For economic reasons, BMPs should be placed at critical source areas (CSAs), which are the areas contributing most of the NPS pollution. The CSAs are the areas in a watershed where source coincides with transport factors, such as runoff, erosion, subsurface flow, and channel processes. Methods ranging from simple index-based to detailed hydrologic and water quality (HWQ) models are being used to identify CSAs. However, application of these methods for Canadian watersheds remains challenging due to the diversified hydrological conditions, which are not fully incorporated into most existing methods. The aim of this work is to review potential methods and challenges in identifying CSAs under Canadian conditions. As such, this study: (a) reviews different methods for identifying CSAs; (b) discusses challenges and the current state of CSA identification; and (c) highlights future research directions to address limitations of currently available methods. It appears that applications of both simple index-based methods and detailed HWQ models to determine CSAs are limited in Canadian conditions. As no single method/model is perfect, it is recommended to develop a ‘Toolbox’ that can host a variety of methods to identify CSAs so as to allow flexibility to the end users on the choice of the methods.


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