Nutrient output from rural areas on the example of two catchments Skuterud and Zagożdżonka

Abstract

Nutrient output from rural areas on the example of two catchments Skuterud and Zagożdżonka In this paper, two rural catchment - the Zagożdżonka catchment in Poland and the Skuterud catchment in Aas, Akershus county in Norway are compared. In addition to the general description, more in particular information, runoff, N-NO3 load, P-PO4 load, total phosphorus and total nitrogen concentrations in streams are compared. The data compared are from 1993 to 1995 in Zagożdżonka catchment and from 1994-1996 from Skuterud catchment. The average concentration of N-NO3 in Zagożdżonka River in the period was 0.85 mg·l-1 and the mean concentration of P-PO4 was 0.13 mg·l-1. In the stream in Skuterud catchment the average concentration of N-NO3 was 4.95 mg·l-1 and the mean concentration of P-PO4 was 0.04 mg·l-1. For both catchments the same data were also compared for the 2008. In Skuterud catchment the highest concentration of nutrients occurred in November, March and April, which was connected to the higher runoff from agricultural areas during the snowmelt period. In Zagożdżonka catchment the highest concentration of nutrients was noted in March, April and in summer time, which was connected to periods with high amounts of precipitation. Comparison of the two rural catchments showed many differences in applied measurement methods for water sampling, water measurement, discharge measurement, runoff amounts and management practices, which had an effect on results of monitoring program. The compared data can be useful to predict the development of future environmental conditions for example water quality. It can also be useful for predict how nutrient runoff will be in future. What is more the different conditions for runoff in Skuterud and Zagożdżonka then different measures are needed.