Number Of Best Management Practices Research Articles

Synergetic Integration of SWAT and Multi-Objective Optimization Algorithms for Evaluating Efficiencies of Agricultural Best Management Practices to Improve Water Quality

Nitrate is one of the most complicated forms of nitrogen found in aquatic surface systems, which results in the eutrophication of the water. During the last few decades, due to agriculture and animal husbandry activities, as well as urban development, a significant amount of pollutants have accumulated in the Jajrood river in northern Iran. In this research, we simulated nitrate load in a rural watershed to assess the outlet stream’s qualitative status and evaluate the influence of best management practices (BMPs). To accomplish this, we prepared, processed, and integrated different datasets, including land-use land-cover (LULC) maps, physiographic layers, and hydrological and agricultural datasets. In the modeling section, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to simulate nitrate load over 28 years (1991–2019). Additionally, the multi-objective optimization algorithm (MOPSO) was implemented to reduce the intended objective functions, including the number of best management practices and the nitrate concentration considering different scenarios. The calibration of the basin’s discharge and nitrate indicated that the SWAT model performed well in simulating the catchment’s streamflow (R2 = 0.71) and nitrate (R2 = 0.69). The recommended BMPs for reducing nutrient discharge from the basin are using vegetated filter strips on river banks and fertilizer reduction in agricultural activities. According to the results from this investigation, the integrated model demonstrates a strong ability to optimally determine the type, size, and location of BMPs in the watershed as long as the reduction criteria change. In a situation of water scarcity, the studies reported here could provide useful information for policymakers and planners to define water conservation policies and strategies.

Best management practices for agricultural nonpoint source pollution: Policy interventions and way forward

AbstractBest management practices (BMPs) are the tools which are adopted to run any activity while inflicting least negative impacts on the surrounding environment. Since, water pollution is one of the most important issues in today's world; it is indispensable to discuss the activities which are deteriorating its quality. Although, a number of treatment technologies and methods are in place for treating the point sources of pollution, there is a need to address nonpoint sources of pollution. There are many successful practices which are capable of curtailing the impacts of nonpoint source pollution, if adopted. In this paper an attempt has been made to evaluate the performance and trade‐offs of various management practices to address the issues of agricultural nonpoint source pollution. Nevertheless, there is a dearth of guiding principles which can pave a way for adoption of these practices. Therefore, an attempt has also been made to explore the aspects of policy formulations along with emphasizing the factors which can lead to adoption/ non‐adoption of such practices.

Analysis of Best Management Practices Implementation on Water Quality Using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool

The formation of hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico can be traced to agricultural watersheds in the Midwestern United States that are artificially drained in order to make the land suitable for agriculture. A number of best management practices (BMPs) have been introduced to improve the water quality in the region but their relative effectivenss of these BMPs in reducing nutrient load has not been properly quantified. In order to determine the BMPs useful for reducing nutrient discharge from a tile drained watershed, a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was calibrated and validated for water flow and nitrate load using experimental data from the Little Vermillion River (LVR) watershed in east-central Illinois. Then, the performance of four common BMPs (reduced tillage, cover crop, filter strip and wetlands) were evaluated. For BMPs, the usage of rye as cover crop performed the best in reducing nitrate discharge from the watershed as a single BMP, with an average annual nitrate load reduction of 54.5%. Combining no tillage and rye cover crops had varying results over the period simulated, but the average nitrate reduction was better than using rye cover crops with conventional tillage, with the average annual nitrate discharge decreased by 60.5% (an improvement of 13% over rye only).

Using adult education to improve the sustainability of water resources in the Pacific Northwest, USA

The purpose of this paper is to document actions taken by the public in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) to improve the sustainability of their water resources since 2002. A survey instrument was used to collect these data in 2002, 2007 and 2012. Mail-based surveys containing between 45 and 60 questions were sent to over 2,200 randomly chosen adults in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington in 2002, 2007 and 2012. Return rates in excess of 50% were received for each survey ensuring that the results were statistically valid. The 2002 survey results were used as base line data. Over 87% of the respondents undertook at least one voluntary action to protect the quantity of water resources based on the 2012 survey. Voluntary actions including installation of water saving appliances, changing water use in the yard, changing household water use and changing the way a vehicle was washed were taken by 70.2%, 49.2%, 64.3% and 32.1% of the survey respondents, respectively. Voluntary actions taken to protect water quality also improved in 2012 compared with the results of the 2002 and 2007 surveys. The percentage of respondents that improved home waste disposal practices improved their use of pesticides and/or fertilizers in their yards, and safely disposed of used motor oil in 2012 was 60.2%, 46.4% and 65.3%, respectively. Less than 14% and 19% of adults have not voluntarily addressed water quantity and water quality issues in their homes, respectively. Any activity that protects the integrity of water resources improves sustainability. The surveys conducted over a 10-year period show increasing citizen participation in efforts to protect water resources. Consequently, it appears that public education targeted at adults does work. Continued public education efforts targeted at adults over the next decade should continue to further increase public participation and the number of best management practices each citizen employs to protect their water resources. Compared with a traditional regulatory approach, the cost of public education to encourage the conservation and protection of water resources is a bargain. Consequently, the USA’s land grant universities and other governmental and non-government organizations that invest in adult education should continue to do so. From a taxpayer standpoint, this investment in water education is an efficient and wise use of money.

Energy and greenhouse gas analysis of northeast U.S. dairy cropping systems

Dairy farms in the northeast typically produce their own forage, import grain crops, and rely heavily on other inputs. Feed production inputs include fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and fuel that require fossil energy and produce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during their manufacture and transport. This study uses the Farm Energy Analysis Tool (FEAT) to compare and contrast the fossil energy consumption, energy efficiency, and GHG emissions for three different Pennsylvania dairy cropping systems that vary in their reliance on imported grains and fuel, and thus, land area to produce the same quantity of milk. One novel cropping system, implemented at Penn State University, includes a diverse rotation designed to produce forage, grain, and fuel on-farm (NSVO). The ‘NSVO’ cropping system employs a number of best management practices, including manure injection, cover crops, and integrated pest management. The two modeled-systems require fewer hectares than ‘NSVO’ because they do not produce fuel on-farm but produce forage only (FOR), or forage and grain (FORGr), while producing the same amount of milk. Relative to the ‘FOR’ system, even while requiring larger land areas locally, we found that the ‘NSVO’ and ‘FORGr’ systems lowered total fossil energy inputs per Mg of milk produced by 18% and 15% respectively, largely by importing 77% and 71% less feed crops that would have been grown elsewhere. GHG emissions were similar among farms, on the order of 229kg CO2e Mg-milk−1. On-farm fuel production in the ‘NSVO’ system lowered fossil energy inputs but required more land area and may not provide economic savings with current diesel fuel prices. To reduce the fossil energy impact of their operations, dairy farmers in the Northeast should consider growing more livestock grain on-farm.

Optimal Location of Infiltration-Based Best Management Practices for Storm Water Management

A distributed hydrologic model of an urban watershed in the northeast United States was developed and combined with a genetic algorithm to determine the optimal location of infiltration-based best management practices (BMPs) for storm water management. The distributed, event-based hydrologic model integrates the curve number method with a distributed hydrologic network model of the catchment using a system of 4,533 hydrologic response units (HRUs). The infiltration-based BMP was conceptualized as an element that alters the infiltration/runoff partitioning of the HRUs in which it was applied. The results indicate that the optimal location and number of BMPs is a complex function of watershed network connectivity, flow travel time, land use, distance to channel, and contributing area, requiring an optimization approach of the type introduced here. A Pareto frontier describing the trade-off between the number of BMPs, representing project cost, and watershed flooding was developed.

PROCESSING TOMATO WATER AND NUTRIENT INTEGRATED CROP MANAGEMENT: STATE OF THE ART AND FUTURE HORIZONS

Growing processing tomatoes represents one of the most intensive forms of land use in terms of water consumption and nutrient inputs. During the last decade in many European countries and in the United States, Integrated Crop Management guidelines have also been applied for fertilisation and reducing nitrogen inputs to crops has become compulsory. A large number of Best Management Practices, rules and tools have been developed to steer farmers toward sustainable farming practices. High-input crops, of which the processing tomato is one of the most important, now have to face new worldwide emergencies: water shortages and desertification. Moreover, consumers demand certified food quality and safety, nutraceutic foods and environmentally friendly production. Market and policies have changed. In this new context both farmers and industries must focus on a rational use of natural resources: preserving water and soil fertility will be part of a product's new quality labels. ICM strategies must be applied and improved if these goals are to be reached. ICM improvement requires, above all, profound changes in technical/social/economic perspectives: ○ Water and nutrient inputs must be no longer reasoned in terms of quantity but in terms of their efficiency in achieving a precise target (e.g. °Brix Water or Nitrogen Use Efficiency as °Brix kg ha -1 mm -1 or kg -1 N) ○ Nutrient supplies (amount and timing) must be based on the crop energy/biomass conversion ratio, not on the predicted yield ○ Physical and physiological-based DSS, rather than simplified approaches (tables, checkbook methods, etc.), must be incorporated into ICM ○ Extensive learning and Information Technology diffusion programs must be activated ○ Environmental laws reduce crop profitability: society must accept the responsibility of rewarding farmers for their role in safeguarding clean water, fresh air and bio-diversity ○ An integrated Production Chain approach is needed to correctly manage water and soil resources ○ Non-conventional water and nutrient sources (brackish and reused water, compost) should be taken into account The amount of water needed to produce 1 ton of peeled tomatoes decreases by 14.7 % if ICM rules are applied at a farm level only and by 19.3% if water use is optimised throughout the production chain. Applying improved ICM strategies which enhance water and nutrient efficiency could bring estimated water savings of about 25%.

Are Best-Management-Practice Criteria Really Environmentally Friendly?

In the 1990's, a number of best management practices (BMPs) manuals have been developed that address the control of urban runoff to protect receiving water quality. More recently, several papers have investigated the effectiveness of these BMPs in protecting small urban watercourses, and have concluded that they do not. Investigations of both design practices and effectiveness reveals that there is a lot of ignorance in the scientific and engineering community about what constitutes a properly designed BMP and what it really achieves, with respect to environmental protection. This paper discusses the state-of-practice in BMP design in the United States and points out its strengths and weaknesses with respect to real protection of the downstream receiving water environment. The paper recommends an approach to design criteria development that can be applied over a wide variety of climatologic, topologic, and geologic conditions to protect receiving waters systems.