Modelling of Best Management Practices in Agricultural Areas

Abstract

Concern over water and pollutants influencing human health has been increasing in the last few decades. Nonpoint source (NPS) pollution, especially, led to water quality degradation in watersheds; therefore, water quality in streams or rivers has been made subject to government regulations (e.g., the Clean Water Act). Typically, watersheds are composed of various land uses; agricultural areas were a possible major source of phosphorus in a watershed [1,2]. Approximately 50% of NPS is from agricultural areas, since 52% of total nitrogen, 47% of total phosphorus, and 46% of sediment in U.S. streams are from agricultural areas [3]. A high concentration of total nitrogen came from agricultural areas in the watershed, and fertilization during cropping in an agricultural area led to a high concentration of high nitrate and orthophosphate [4,5]. Pollutants from three watersheds were compared [5]: agricultural watershed (95% agriculture and 5% urban), mixed watershed (43% agriculture and 57% urban), and urban watershed (1% agriculture and 99% urban) (Figure 1). Nitrate and soluble phosphorus concentrations in a stream were higher in the agricultural watershed, the other nutrients’ concentrations (total suspended solids, turbidity, and pH) were higher in the urban watershed [5]. In addition, total phosphorus and ammonium concentrations did not display much difference by watershed types. They indicated that agricultural activity such as fertili‐ zation led to the higher nitrate and soluble phosphorus concentrations in the agricultural watershed; that the pollutant loads of nutrients and sediment were significantly variable by sites and land uses due to flow quantity; and that pollutant load quantification can be difficult since it varies by sites, land uses, season, and flow. Therefore, best management practices (BMPs) to reduce or manage pollutant loads in watershed have been studied in the last few decades [6–9]. In this chapter, recent research of BMPs in agricultural areas in various water‐