Reduction of nitrogen and phosphorus loads to European rivers by riparian buffer strips

A quantitative and spatial explicit assessment ofnitrogen and phosphorusdiffuse emissions (reference year 2000) considering the attenuation effect of previously mapped riparian buffer stripsalong theEuropean river network CCM2 is provided.Diffuse emissions from fertilized cropland and pastures, based on the GREEN model arepartitioned into surface and subsurface flow directed pathways, applying the innovative SUGAR index. Surface flow N and P emissions undergo attenuation in function of the riparian buffer width, while the attenuation of subsurface flow emissions and emissions on wetlands is buffer width independent. Buffer attenuation follows a nutrient specific negative exponential decay function, based on values extracted from scientific literature studies. Accumulation of all pixels of the study area reveals for load directed via surface runoff retention of 33 % for nitrogen, and 65 % forphosphorus. The present results represent a precious data source for water basin management with respect to water quality improvement.

WEISSTEINER Christof;  BOURAOUI Faycal;  ALOE Alberto; 

2016-06-08

EDP SCIENCES S A

JRC67939

1961-9502,   

http://www.kmae-journal.org/articles/kmae/abs/2013/01/kmae120083/kmae120083.html,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC67939,   

10.1051/kmae/2013044,