More than half of surface water bodies in Europe are at less than good ecological status according to Water Framework Directive assessments, and diffuse pollution from agriculture remains a major, but not the only, cause of this poor performance. Agri-environmental policy and land management practices have, in many areas, reduced nutrient emissions to water. However, additional measures may be required in Ireland to further decouple the relationship between agricultural productivity and emissions to water, which is of vital importance given on-going agricultural intensification. The Source Load Apportionment Model (SLAM) framework characterises sources of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) emissions to water at a range of scales from sub-catchment to national. The SLAM synthesises land use and physical characteristics to predict emissions from point (wastewater, industry discharges and septic tank systems) and diffuse sources (agriculture, forestry, etc.). The predicted annual nutrient emissions were assessed against monitoring data for 16 major river catchments covering 50% of the area of Ireland. At national scale, results indicate that total average annual emissions to surface water in Ireland are over 2700tyr of P and 82,000tyr of N. The proportional contributions from individual sources show that the main sources of P are from municipal wastewater treatment plants and agriculture, with wide variations across the country related to local anthropogenic pressures and the hydrogeological setting. Agriculture is the main source of N emissions to water across all regions of Ireland. These policy-relevant results synthesised large amounts of information in order to identify the dominant sources of nutrients at regional and local scales, contributing to the national nutrient risk assessment of Irish water bodies.
. Developing an integrated hydrograph separation and lumped modelling approach to quantifying hydrological pathways in Irish river catchments. Journal of Hydrology, 486, 259-270. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013 Published in: Journal of Hydrology Document Version: Peer reviewed version Queen's University Belfast -Research Portal: Link to publication record in Queen's University Belfast Research PortalPublisher rights This is the author's version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Hydrology. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Hydrology, [VOL 486, (2013)] General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Queen's University Belfast Research Portal is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. An appreciation of the quantity of streamflow derived from the main hydrological pathways 10 involved in transporting diffuse contaminants is critical when addressing a wide range of 11 water resource management issues. In order to assess hydrological pathway contributions to 12 streams, it is necessary to provide feasible upper and lower bounds for flows in each pathway.
13An important first step in this process is to provide reliable estimates of the slower responding
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Effective implementation of the integrated catchment management approach, catchment characterisation and suitable catchment management strategies and measures are the means of ensuring protection of satisfactory water resources and improvement of unsatisfactory water resources, and achievement of Water Framework Directive requirements. Lessons have been learned from the firstcycle River Basin Management Plans, particularly on the need for proper public and community engagement and involvement, improved governance and targeting of appropriate mitigation measures. However, challenges need to be overcome: there needs to be genuine integration of the work of discipline-or process-based sections in public bodies and better collaboration between these bodies; the environment must be at the core of sustainable intensification; appropriate mitigation measures for diffuse and small point sources will need to be analysed and targeted to the pressures; and there is a need to ensure the involvement, cooperation and co-ownership of water (and biodiversity) management by local people and communities. The approach currently being undertaken is laying a solid foundation for integrating science and people, and is a basis for optimism.
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