Identifying pollution hotspots in the landscape
Water pollution due to excess sediment and nutrients is a serious problem in the U.S. Billions of taxpayer dollars are spent each year on conservation programs to reduce agriculture’s contribution to this pollution. The vast majority of agricultural conservation subsidies are given to the first qualified landowner who requests them, although it is widely recognized that some portions of the landscape are hotspots and contribute disproportionate amounts of pollution.
New research published in the July–August 2009 issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality addresses how much pollution comes from these hotspots and establishes methods to identify them within a watershed. Focusing limited conservation resources into these areas should improve the effectiveness of taxpayer conservation expenditures.
Researchers at Oklahoma State University and the USDA-ARS Grassland, Soil, and Water Research Laboratory used detailed computer simulations of six watersheds to predict how much pollution comes from hotspots. They found that on average, hotspots covering just 5% of the land area were responsible for half of the sediment and one-third of the phosphorus loss from the entire landscape. Agricultural hotspots generated over four times more pollution than other agricultural areas.
“Conservation dollars are limited,” says Mike White, lead author of the study. “We can’t pay for conservation everywhere. We have to figure out where the majority of pollution comes from if we want to efficiently address it.“ White says this research seeks to improve our understanding of how water and pollutants cycle through our environment as well as the sustainability of agricultural systems.
White, M.J., D.E. Storm, P.R. Busteed, S.H. Stoodley, and S.J. Phillipse. 2009. Evaluating nonpoint source critical source area contributions at the watershed scale. J. Environ. Qual. 38:1654–1663. View the full article online.
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