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Critical Water Quantity and Quality (WQ2) Sensing for Watershed Nutrient Pollution Management
Citation:
Nietch, C. Critical Water Quantity and Quality (WQ2) Sensing for Watershed Nutrient Pollution Management. The Water Sensor Research Webinar Series, Cincinnati, OH, November 13, 2018.
Impact/Purpose:
utrient pollution continues to threaten water bodies and in many places, appears to be getting worse despite gains that were made decades ago with the regulation of point sources under the Clean Water Act. Excess nutrient loads from agricultural non-point sources are largely unregulated, yet their contribution outweighs that of other sources in many watersheds in the United States. This translates to a need for better approaches to nutrient management that go beyond traditional regulatory options. USEPA-ORD has used the East Fork of the Little Miami River Watershed as a case study system for testing and evaluating methods of better watershed nutrient management for over a decade. Water quantity and quality (WQ2) sensing technology has been critical to the spatial and temporal integration of nutrient data collected as part of the research.
Description:
Nutrient pollution continues to threaten water bodies and in many places, appears to be getting worse despite gains that were made decades ago with the regulation of point sources under the Clean Water Act. Excess nutrient loads from agricultural non-point sources are largely unregulated, yet their contribution outweighs that of other sources in many watersheds in the United States. This translates to a need for better approaches to nutrient management that go beyond traditional regulatory options. USEPA-ORD has used the East Fork of the Little Miami River Watershed as a case study system for testing and evaluating methods of better watershed nutrient management for over a decade. Water quantity and quality (WQ2) sensing technology has been critical to the spatial and temporal integration of nutrient data collected as part of the research. Scientist and engineers working within the system have needed both temporary and long-term monitoring stations outfitted with water sensors of several different types to be able to assess the sources of nutrients, their fluxes, and fate in the system. In this presentation specifics are provided on the variety of water sensors and installations that were needed to 1) parameterize, calibrate, and validate the models that are used to integrate nutrient flux over space and time, 2) evaluate the performance of field scale nutrient management operations and validate model simulations thereof, and 3) document changes over the long-term. These needs and the solutions used to meet them are generalizable to the multitude of large watersheds plagued by the combination of point and non-point nutrient pollution sources. For the fully operational watershed nutrient management systems of the future, water sensors will have critical roles to play in tracking the effectiveness of nutrient reduction programs.