scholarly journals A Watershed Level Economic Analysis of Cellulosic Biofuel Feedstock Production with Consideration of Water Quality

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 56
Author(s):  
Jin-Young Moon ◽  
Jeffrey Apland ◽  
Solomon Folle ◽  
David Mulla
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Corn Stover ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Simulation Analysis ◽  
Programming Model ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
Production Model ◽  
Supply Response ◽  
Cellulosic Biofuel ◽  
South Central

<p>National policy supports the production of renewable energy from cellulosic feedstocks such as corn stover and switchgrass. These feedstocks have contrasting impacts on water quality. In this study, the regional supply response for cellulosic biofuel from these two feedstocks is estimated for the Le Sueur Watershed in South-Central Minnesota. The impacts of the resulting agricultural production activities on water quality in this northern corn belt watershed are also estimated. The Le Sueur River is a tributary of the Minnesota River, which in turn feeds into the Mississippi. The analysis is conducted with a multi-region, endogenous supply, mathematical programming model of the agriculture sector in the watershed. A unique aspect of the analysis is the spatial detail used in the production model. Results from a previous simulation analysis conducted with the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model are used in the economic model to simulate the effects of the feedstock supply response on water quality in the Le Sueur. Sediment and nutrient losses from corn stover production make switchgrass more promising on environmental grounds, but the relatively high cost of production causes switchgrass to cover only a small part of crop land if farmers have unrestricted choice about how to supply cellulosic feedstocks.</p>

scholarly journals Comparative Analysis of Bioenergy Crop Impacts on Water Quality Using Static and Dynamic Land Use Change Modeling Approach

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eeshan Kumar ◽  
Dharmendra Saraswat ◽  
Gurdeep Singh
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
State Agency ◽  
Bioenergy Crops ◽  
Marginal Land ◽  
Cache River ◽  
Land Area

Researchers and federal and state agency officials have long been interested in evaluating location-specific impact of bioenergy energy crops on water quality for developing policy interventions. This modeling study examines long-term impact of giant miscanthus and switchgrass on water quality in the Cache River Watershed (CRW) in Arkansas, United States. The bioenergy crops were simulated on marginal lands using two variants of a Soil and Watershed Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. The first SWAT variant was developed using a static (single) land-use layer (regular-SWAT) and for the second, a dynamic land-use change feature was used with multiple land use layers (location-SWAT). Results indicated that the regular-SWAT predicted larger losses for sediment, total phosphorus and total nitrogen when compared to location-SWAT at the watershed outlet. The lower predicted losses from location-SWAT were attributed to its ability to vary marginal land area between 3% and 11% during the 20-year modeling period as opposed to the regular-SWAT that used a fixed percentage of marginal land area (8%) throughout the same period. Overall, this study demonstrates that environmental impacts of bioenergy crops were better assessed using the dynamic land-use representation approach, which would eliminate any unintended prediction bias in the model due to the use of a single land use layer.

Post-validation of SWAT model in a coastal watershed for predicting land use/cover change impacts

2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 837-853 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harsh Vardhan Singh ◽  
Latif Kalin ◽  
Andrew Morrison ◽  
Puneet Srivastava ◽  
Graeme Lockaby ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Suspended Solids ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Organic Phosphorus ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
Coastal Watershed ◽  
Water Quality And Quantity ◽  
Water Assessment ◽  
Total P

Watershed models are typically calibrated and validated with the same land use and land cover (LULC) dataset and later used in assessing impacts of changing LULC, such as urbanization, on hydrology and/or water quality. However, their performance in predicting water quality/quantity in response to changing LULC is rarely assessed. The main objective of this paper was to explore the performance of the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) in predicting water quality and quantity in response to changing LULC in a coastal watershed in Alabama, USA. Using the 1992 LULC as the input, the model was calibrated and validated for flow for the period 1990–1998, and for total suspended solids (TSS), nitrate (NO3−), and organic phosphorus for the period 1994–1998 at several sites within the watershed. The model was then driven with the 2008 LULC data and its performance in predicting flow and TSS, NO3−, and total-P loads during the period 2008–2010 was evaluated (post-validation). SWAT showed good performance in predicting changes in flow and water quality during the post-validation period. The study also highlighted the importance of using the most up-to-date LULC data for effectively predicting the impacts of LULC changes on water quality.

scholarly journals Assessment of the Impact of Land Cover Type on the Water Quality in Lake Tondano Using a SWAT Model

2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moh Sholichin ◽  
Tri Budi Prayogo
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
Coefficient Of Determination ◽  
Organic N ◽  
Lake Water Quality ◽  
Total N ◽  
The Impact

Lake Tondano is the largest natural lake in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, which functions as a provider of clean water, hydroelectric power, rice field irrigation, inland fisheries, and tourism. This research aims to determine the effect of land cover types from the Tondano watershed on the lake water quality. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was used to evaluate the rate of soil erosion and the pollutant load of various land types in the watershed during the last ten years. Rainfall data is obtained from two rainfall stations, namely Paleloan Station and Noonan Station. The model is calibrated and validated before being used for analysis. We use climatological data from 2014 to 2019. The process of the SWAT model calibration and validation was carried out with the statistical formulas of the coefficient of determination (R2) and Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE). The results show that the potential for pollution load from the Tondao watershed is organic N of 0.039 kg/ha and organic P of 0.006 kg/ha coming from the agricultural land. The results of this study conclude that the fertility conditions of Lake Tondano are at the eutrophic level, where the pollutant inflow is collected in the lake waters, especially for the parameters of total N (1503697.44kg/year) and total P (144831.36kg/year). The SWAT simulation results show deviation between the modeling and field data collected with the value of R2 = 0.9303, and the significant level ≤ 10.

The Impacts of Water Quality Changes on Aquatic Ecosystems: A Case Study of Clariano River, Spain

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamed Vagheei ◽  
Paolo Vezza ◽  
Guillermo Palau-Salvador ◽  
Fulvio Boano
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Aquatic Ecosystem ◽  
Aquatic Ecosystems ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Stream Water ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
Associate Professor ◽  
Quality Changes

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;The Impacts of Water Quality Changes on Aquatic Ecosystems: A Case Study of Clariano River, Spain &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hamed Vagheei&lt;sup&gt;1&lt;/sup&gt;, Paolo Vezza&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;, Guillermo Palau-Salvador&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;, Fulvio Boano&lt;sup&gt;4&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;PhD Student, the Polytechnic University of Turin, [email protected]&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Assistant professor, the Polytechnic University of Turin, [email protected]&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Associate Professor, the Polytechnic University of Valencia, [email protected]&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Associate Professor, the Polytechnic University of Turin, [email protected]&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Abstract&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Water quality degradation resulting from different anthropogenic activities such as agriculture, deforestation and urbanization is a serious worldwide challenge which have negative impacts on aquatic ecology. Unfortunately, it is still difficult to quantitatively determine the impacts of water quality changes on aquatic communities. The objective of the present research activity is to investigate aquatic ecosystem responses to water quality deterioration using a case study of Clariano River, Spain. The Clariano River faces low water quality and the loss of biodiversity in some parts as a result of agricultural, industrial and livestock activities as well as wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) effluents entering the river. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), an eco-hydrological model, is used in the present study for the modelling of discharge, sediment and nutrients. SWAT-CUP is also used to calibrate and validate the SWAT model. We are currently employing the results from the calibrated model to obtain a better understanding of possible relations between water quality and biodiversity. In fact, the present study will focus on macroinvertebrates as biological indicators of stream health, and the model predictions will be coupled with empirical correlations between stream water quality and macroinvertebrates presence in order to assess the impacts of water quality changes on aquatic ecosystem. In addition, different model scenarios will be compared to explore the potential impacts of changes in land use, climate and WWTPs operation on the aquatic ecosystem.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keywords:&lt;/strong&gt; aquatic ecosystem, Clariano River, eco-hydrological modelling, water quality, water resources management&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Eco-Compensation Schemes for Controlling Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution in Maoli Lake Watershed

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 1536
Author(s):  
Yumei Zheng ◽  
Guangchun Lei ◽  
Peng Yu
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Point Source ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Evaluation Model ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
Agricultural Activity ◽  
Dry Land ◽  
Effective Measure ◽  
Nps Pollution

Maoli Lake is the water source for local residents and a national nature protected area. However, due to intensive agriculture development, the water quality has deteriorated over the past decades. An effective measure to improve water quality is to control the agricultural non-point source (NPS) pollution through elaborate schemes based on eco-compensation. In order to develop such eco-compensation schemes, three scenarios of agricultural activity adjustment were designed: S1 (halving fertilization every year), S2 (fallow every other year), and S3 (returning agricultural land to forest). A Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was adopted to simulate runoff, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus. Based on SWAT results, a multi-criteria spatial evaluation model considering the environmental, economic, and social effects of eco-compensation was created for best scenario decision. The results reveal the following: (1) the total nutrients loss of agricultural land reduces in all scenarios, but S2 has more reduction compared to S1 and S3; (2) from the comprehensive perspective of environment–economy–society effects, S2 is the best scenario for rice land and dry land; (3) the comprehensive effect of eco-compensation at the grid scale has a significant spatial difference, and therefore, we highlight the necessity and significance of controlling agricultural NPS pollution by eco-compensation on a precise spatial scale. This study can broaden the application field of the SWAT model and provide a scientific basis and experience for the evaluation and spatial design of agriculture eco-compensation.

Watershed Scale Nitrate-N Abatement of Instream Wetlands: An Appraisal Using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-397
Author(s):  
Dagbegnon Clement Sohoulande Djebou ◽  
Ariel A. Szogi ◽  
Ken C. Stone ◽  
Jeffery M. Novak
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
List Type ◽  
Watershed Scale ◽  
Stream Network ◽  
Nitrate N ◽  
Water Assessment ◽  
Soil And Water

HighlightsSWAT used to address watershed scale nitrate-N abatement of instream wetlands (ISWs).Experimental ISW results were incorporated into the watershed modeling framework.SWAT successfully captured and reproduced ISW impact on nitrate-N at sub-basin level.Scenarios of ISWs implementation were simulated, effects on nitrate-N export were evaluated.Results show ISWs can be used as conservation structures aimed at enhancing water quality.Abstract. In watersheds under high agricultural production, nitrate nitrogen (nitrate-N) pollution often originates from intensive application of fertilizers and animal manure to croplands. Surface runoff and nitrate-N export from farmlands contributes to the pollution of nearby reaches which flow into the watershed stream network. Experimental studies reported significant nitrate removal capacities of constructed instream wetlands (ISWs). However, cases of large-scale implementations of ISWs are uncommon, probably due to a paucity of watershed-scale studies which highlight the influence of ISWs on riverine water quality. To elucidate the ISWs nitrate-N abatement potential at the watershed scale, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to model nitrate-N export in a highly agricultural watershed located in the Coastal Plain of North Carolina. SWAT was first calibrated and validated for streamflow and for nitrate-N export using data collected from the inlet and outlet of an experimental instream wetland. The validated SWAT model was used to simulate a decade of nitrate-N export under two scenarios: 1) watershed with ISWs implemented; and 2) watershed without ISWs. The results of the case study indicated that a watershed-wide implementation of ISWs is likely to curtail annual nitrate-N export by 49%. The study also evaluated cases where ISWs are implemented in selected percentage of sub-basins across the watershed. The outcomes show higher increments of nitrate-N curtailment when ISWs are implemented in the first top agricultural sub-basins. Hence, implementation of ISWs on selected sub-basins can mitigate nitrate-N from non-point sources and enhance water quality in the watershed’s stream network. Keywords: Runoff, Croplands, Instream wetland, Nitrate-N export, Denitrification, SWAT model, Watershed.

scholarly journals Assessment of the effectiveness of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) in the delivery of desired Ecosystem Services in Sasumua catchment, Kenya

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Nduhiu ◽  
John Mwangi Gathenya ◽  
John Kimani Mwangi ◽  
Malik Aman ◽  
Titus Mutisya
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Rainy Season ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
Calibration Data ◽  
Payment For Ecosystem Services ◽  
Baseline Status ◽  
One Year

Abstract. The study was conducted in Sasumua watershed in Nyandarua County, Kenya where a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) pilot project was initiated in June 2015 with the aim of promoting sustainable land management practices (SLM) that would lead to improved water quality. This study which was conducted after one year of PES implementation, seeks to establish what effect the SLM technologies being promoted under PES would have on the water quality. A representative sub-watershed was established where 42.3 ha were under intensive cultivation. Baseline status on Total Suspended Solids (TSS) was established during the rainy season of March–May 2015 just before the onset of PES project. Baseline status on SLM technologies in the study site was also established. Two V-notches were installed to record flow in the rainy season of March–May 2016 for purposes of soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) calibration. Data collection involved water sampling at selected points during two major rainy seasons of October–December 2015 and March–May 2016. Water samples were tested for TSS by photometric determination method using Lovibond water quality testing kit. The SWAT model was applied to generate two scenarios (Worst and Best scenarios) of the study site. The scenarios before and after PES project (determined from actual field measurements) were fitted in between the SWAT scenarios to evaluate the effectiveness of the PES approach after one year of PES project. The baseline status for TSS was an average of 71.05 mg/L. After one year of PES project implementation, the TSS improved to an average of 42.73 mg/L. SWAT model predicts a worst scenario for TSS at an average of 124.15 mg/L and best scenario at an average of 12.76 mg/L. Watershed management through PES approach can be effective in improving downstream water quality as shown by increase in adoption of SLM technologies from 11 % to approximately 32 % within the first year. However, long term research data is highly recommended to validate the effectiveness of PES over number of years especially on ecosystem services that manifest after long periods and establishing whether PES incentives actually maintain best conditions at farm level. More ecosystem services should also be monitored to validate the TSS results.

scholarly journals Deriving a country-wide soils dataset from the Soil Landscapes of Canada (SLC) database for use in Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) Simulations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos R. C. Cordeiro ◽  
Glenn Lelyk ◽  
Roland Kröbel ◽  
Getahun Legesse ◽  
Monireh Faramarzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
Complete Information ◽  
Runoff Generation ◽  
Screening Process ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Runoff Potential ◽  
Water Assessment ◽  
Soil And Water

Abstract. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model has been commonly used in Canada for hydrological and water quality simulations. However, pre-processing of critical data such as soils information can be laborious and time-consuming. The objective of this work was to pre-process the Soil Landscapes of Canada (SLC) database to offer a country-level soils dataset in a format ready to be used in SWAT simulations. A two-level screening process was used to identify critical information required by SWAT and to remove records with information that could not be calculated or estimated. Out of the 14,063 unique soils in the SLC, 11,838 soils with complete information were included in the dataset presented here. Important variables for SWAT simulations that are not reported in the SLC database [e.g. hydrologic soils groups (HSGs) and erodibility factor (K)] were calculated from information contained within the SLC database. These calculations, in fact, represent a major contribution to enabling the present dataset to be used for hydrological simulations in Canada using SWAT and other comparable models. Analysis of those variables indicated that 21.3 %, 24.6 %, 39.0 %, and 15.1 % of the soils in Canada belong to HSGs 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. This suggests that almost two-thirds of the soils have a high (i.e., HSG 4) or relatively high (i.e., HSG 3) runoff generation potential. A spatial analysis indicated that 20.0, 26.8, 36.7 and 16.5 % of soil belonged to HSG 1, HSG 2, HSG 3, and HSG 4, respectively. Erosion potential, which is inherently linked to the erodibility factor (K), was associated with runoff potential in important agricultural areas such as southern Ontario and Nova Scotia. However, contrary to initial expectations, low or moderate erosion potential was found in areas with high runoff potential, such as regions in southern Manitoba (e.g. Red River Valley) and British Columbia (e.g. Peace River watershed). This dataset will be a unique resource to a variety of research communities including hydrological, agricultural and water quality modellers and are publicly available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.877298a.

scholarly journals Deriving a dataset for agriculturally relevant soils from the Soil Landscapes of Canada (SLC) database for use in Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) simulations

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 1673-1686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos R. C. Cordeiro ◽  
Glenn Lelyk ◽  
Roland Kröbel ◽  
Getahun Legesse ◽  
Monireh Faramarzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
Complete Information ◽  
Runoff Generation ◽  
Screening Process ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Runoff Potential ◽  
Water Assessment ◽  
Soil And Water

Abstract. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model has been commonly used in Canada for hydrological and water quality simulations. However, preprocessing of critical data such as soils information can be laborious and time-consuming. The objective of this work was to preprocess the Soil Landscapes of Canada (SLC) database to offer a country-level soils dataset in a format ready to be used in SWAT simulations. A two-level screening process was used to identify critical information required by SWAT and to remove records with information that could not be calculated or estimated. Out of the 14 063 unique soil records in the SLC, 11 838 records with complete information were included in the dataset presented here. Important variables for SWAT simulations that are not reported in the SLC database (e.g., hydrologic soils groups (HSGs) and erodibility factor (K)) were calculated from information contained within the SLC database. These calculations, in fact, represent a major contribution to enabling the present dataset to be used for hydrological simulations in Canada using SWAT and other comparable models. Analysis of those variables indicated that 21.3 %, 24.6 %, 39.0 %, and 15.1 % of the soil records in Canada belong to HSGs 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. This suggests that almost two-thirds of the soil records have a high (i.e., HSG 4) or relatively high (i.e., HSG 3) runoff generation potential. A spatial analysis indicated that 20.0 %, 26.8 %, 36.7 %, and 16.5 % of soil records belonged to HSG 1, HSG 2, HSG 3, and HSG 4, respectively. Erosion potential, which is inherently linked to the erodibility factor (K), was associated with runoff potential in important agricultural areas such as southern Ontario and Nova Scotia. However, contrary to initial expectations, low or moderate erosion potential was found in areas with high runoff potential, such as regions in southern Manitoba (e.g., Red River Valley) and British Columbia (e.g., Peace River watershed). This dataset will be a unique resource to a variety of research communities including hydrological, agricultural, and water quality modelers and is publicly available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.877298.

scholarly journals Water Quality Modeling of Mahabad Dam Watershed–Reservoir System under Climate Change Conditions, Using SWAT and System Dynamics

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Nazari-Sharabian ◽  
Masoud Taheriyoun ◽  
Sajjad Ahmad ◽  
Moses Karakouzian ◽  
Azadeh Ahmadi
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
System Dynamics ◽  
Water Conservation ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Swat Model ◽  
Water Quality Modeling ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Water Quality Data

The total phosphorus (TP) concentration, as the primary limiting eutrophication factor in the Mahabad Dam reservoir in Iran, was studied, considering the combined impacts of climate change, as well as the scenarios on changes in upstream TP loadings and downstream dam water allocations. Downscaled daily projected climate data were obtained from the Beijing Normal University Earth System Model (BNU-ESM) under moderate (RCP4.5) and extreme (RCP8.5) scenarios. These data were used as inputs of a calibrated Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model of the watershed in order to determine the effects of climate change on runoff yields in the watershed from 2020 to 2050. The SWAT model was calibrated/validated using the SUFI-2 algorithm in the SWAT Calibration Uncertainties Program (SWAT-CUP). Moreover, to model TP concentration in the reservoir and to investigate the effects of upstream/downstream scenarios, along with forecasted climate-induced changes in streamflow and evaporation rates, the System Dynamics (SD) model was implemented. The scenarios covered a combination of changes in population, agricultural and livestock farming activities, industrialization, water conservation, and pollution control. Relative to the year 2011 in which the water quality data were available, the SD results showed the highest TP concentrations in the reservoir under scenarios in which the inflow to the reservoir had decreased, while the upstream TP loadings and downstream dam water allocations had increased (+29.9%). On the other hand, the lowest TP concentration was observed under scenarios in which upstream TP loadings and dam water allocations had decreased (−18.5%).

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