Using SWAT-VSA to Predict Diffuse Phosphorus Pollution in an Agricultural Catchment with Several Aquifers
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 19, Issue 7
Abstract
Recent improvements in the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model take account of hydrological processes controlling a variable source area (VSA). This model, SWAT-VSA, accounts for changes in the nature and extent of the VSA over the course of a hydrological cycle by considering global catchment storage capacity, which varies with soil moisture between threshold values whose spatial distribution is determined by topography. The objective of this work is to evaluate the contribution of several aquifers with specific storage capacities to global catchment storage, its dynamics; and subsequent effects on VSA and non-point-source pollution. For this purpose, a method called SWAT-mVSA (SWAT-multi VSA) was used in a catchment representative of the agricultural conditions of large perialpine lakes to calculate soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) fluxes because SRP has a major influence on receiving waters. SWAT-mVSA predicted components of the hydrological balance and SRP fluxes more accurately than SWAT-VSA. This underlines the importance of VSAs in mobilizing and transporting non-point-source pollutants such as nutrients, pesticides, or bacteria.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by Comité InterSyndical pour l’Assainissement du Lac du Bourget (CISALB), the Rhône, Méditerranée et Corse (RM&C) water supply agency, the SAFEGE Recherche et Dévelopement (R&D) department, and INRA Unité Mixte de Recherche—Centre de Recherche sur les Réseaux Trophiques et Limniques (UMR CARRTEL). The authors sincerely thank Isabelle Beaudin and Aubert Michaud from Institut de Recherche en Agroenvironnement (IRDA)-Quebec for their unconditional help.
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Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 19 • Issue 7 • July 2014
Pages: 1462 - 1470
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 20, 2012
Accepted: Sep 26, 2013
Published online: Sep 28, 2013
Discussion open until: Feb 28, 2014
Published in print: Jul 1, 2014
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