Including Source-Specific Phosphorus Mobility in a Nonpoint Source Pollution Model for Agricultural Watersheds
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 135, Issue 1
Abstract
Most widely used nonpoint source models associate pollutant loads almost exclusively with land use via pollutant export coefficients and some kind of runoff coefficient. Not surprisingly, the range of management options suggested by such models’ simulations are largely linked to changes in land use. This problem is addressed by developing models of dissolved phosphorus (DP) mobility for specific agricultural sources: manure, fertilizers, soil/plant complexes, and impervious surfaces and those associated with baseflow P loads. These models are coupled with a spatially distributed hydrologic model, the variable source loading function model. The model was applied to a small , upstate New York watershed and tested against 1996–2000 stream flow and DP data. The source-specific model required no direct calibration of parameters compared to eight parameters needed in a similar export coefficient type model. Both models predicted stream DP loads well but the source-specific model provided additional insights into, for example, how much DP in the stream was derived from accumulated soil P as opposed to direct leaching from manure. This type of information is necessary to develop and assess a full range of options for best management practices, especially those that involve nonstatic activities such as manure spreading.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 135 • Issue 1 • January 2009
Pages: 25 - 35
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Oct 4, 2007
Accepted: Jun 30, 2008
Published online: Jan 1, 2009
Published in print: Jan 2009
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