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Confronting the ghosts of nutrients past, present and future in water quality management
Citation:
Compton, J. Confronting the ghosts of nutrients past, present and future in water quality management. Women Advancing River Research - Penn State Seminar series (virtual), Virtual meeting, PA, September 21, 2023.
Impact/Purpose:
Women Advancing River Research series - Penn State University (September 21, 2023) Virtual. Penn State invited PESD’s Jana Compton to speak for the series. Beginning in 2021, this monthly seminar series has featured presentations by early career researchers and well-established women in the field of physically focused river research: https://www.cee.psu.edu/events/women-advancing-river-research.aspx. The series features two scientists, with each member of the pair working on similar topics. Jana will be presenting along with Dr. Kimberly Van Meter, water system scientist at in Penn State’s Department of Geography. Their presentation will build upon their synergistic research on nutrient inputs to the landscape, legacies and lags in the relationships between land and water, and science to inform nutrient management. The seminars are presented ‘live’ online and are also recorded and archived on the seminar series website.
Description:
Abstract: Nutrient inputs to the landscape often move beyond their intended human uses in agricultural or urban systems, unintentionally being released to air, deeper soils, wetlands, groundwater, streams, rivers, lakes, and coastal areas. Added nitrogen or phosphorus may remain in the watershed for years, requiring recognition of these prior nutrient ghosts in the management of current and future nutrient issues. Ghosts can also include prior changes to the structure and function of watersheds as well as the spectre of climate change. Understanding the role, impacts and fate of nutrient inputs to the landscape is critical for air and water quality management. US National Rivers and Streams Assessment (NRSA) surveys conducted by the States and EPA Fifty-eight percent (706,754 miles) of the nation’s rivers and streams were rated poor for phosphorus relative to the least-disturbed reference distribution, and 43% (522,796 miles) were rated poor for nitrogen. Nitrogen deposition is the largest source of nitrogen in 46% of stream length across the US, followed closely by agricultural non-point sources with 34% of the length. Excess nutrients are largely a nonpoint source issue and no single entity has complete jurisdiction over the problem, requiring partnerships to address. By illustrating the value of combining datasets on nutrient inputs, climate variations, watershed characteristics and stream chemistry, we hope to provide science that the watershed biogeochemistry community can use to support decision making and management.