Assessing groundwater denitrification spatially is the key to targeted agricultural nitrogen regulation.

Globally, food production for an ever-growing population is a well-known threat to the environment due to losses of excess reactive nitrogen (N) from agriculture. Since the 1980s, many countries of the Global North, such as Denmark, have successfully combatted N pollution in the aquatic environment by regulation and introduction of national agricultural one-size-fits-all mitigation measures. Despite this success, further reduction of the N load is required to meet the EU water directives demands, and implementation of additional targeted N regulation of agriculture has scientifically and politically been found to be a way forward.

Importance of different factors for modeling nitrate transport and retention in a tile-drained agricultural catchment with distance-based generalized sensitivity analysis.

Modeling of nitrate transport and retention in agricultural land use areas provides useful information to support water quality assessment and management. The accuracy and precision of model simulations are highly dependent on model input factors for which the appropriate values are generally difficult to determine and from which various uncertainties are induced into the modeling procedure. In this study, we applied a Distance-based Generalized Sensitivity Analysis (DGSA) to a high-resolution (25 × 25 m) nitrate transport and retention model for a tile-drained agricultural catchment (4.

Increasing the cost-effectiveness of nutrient reduction targets using different spatial scales.

In this paper, we investigate the potential gains in cost-effectiveness from changing the spatial scale at which nutrient reduction targets are set for the Baltic Sea, with particular focus on nutrient loadings from agriculture. The costs of achieving loading reductions are compared across five levels of spatial scale, namely the entire Baltic Sea; the marine basin level; the country level; the watershed level; and the grid square level. A novel highly-disaggregated model, which represents decreases in agricultural profits, changes in root zone N concentrations and transport to the Baltic Sea is used.

Three decades of regulation of agricultural nitrogen losses: Experiences from the Danish Agricultural Monitoring Program.

Excess nitrogen (N) losses from intensive agricultural production are a world-wide problem causing eutrophication in vulnerable aquatic ecosystems such as estuaries. Therefore, Denmark as one of the most intensively farmed countries in the world has enforced mandatory regulations on agricultural production since the late 1980s. We demonstrate the outcome of the regulations imposed on agriculture by analyzing decadal trends in nitrate (NO) concentrations and loads in streams using 29 years of detailed monitoring data and survey information on agricultural practices at field level from five intensively cultivated headwater catchments.

Long-term nitrate response in shallow groundwater to agricultural N regulations in Denmark.

Over the last 30 years, Denmark has implemented a series of environmental action plans involving regulation of agricultural nitrogen (N) use and management in order to minimize the N pollution of the environment. The local effects of these action plan initiatives depend on various factors such as the efficiency of the implemented measures, and in particular, the hydrogeological structures and geochemical conditions of the subsurface that control the transport and fate of N. In this study, the effects of the Danish agricultural N regulations on shallow oxic groundwater are compared among five small agricultural catchments underlain by two types of lithology (sandy vs.

Reduction of Baltic Sea nutrient inputs and allocation of abatement costs within the Baltic Sea catchment.

The Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) requires tools to simulate effects and costs of various nutrient abatement strategies. Hierarchically connected databases and models of the entire catchment have been created to allow decision makers to view scenarios via the decision support system NEST. Increased intensity in agriculture in transient countries would result in increased nutrient loads to the Baltic Sea, particularly from Poland, the Baltic States, and Russia.

Sampling of herbicides in streams during flood events.

In stream water xenobiotics usually occur as pulses in connection with floods caused by surface run-off and tile drainage following precipitation events. In streams located in small agricultural catchments we monitored herbicide concentrations during flood events by applying an intensive sampling programme of ½ h intervals for 7 h. In contrast to grab sampling under non-flood conditions, clearly elevated concentrations were recorded during the floods, and pulses varying in occurrence, duration and concentration were recorded.