Assessment of a novel development policy for the control of phosphorus losses from private sewage systems to the Loch Leven catchment, Scotland, UK

Abstract

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Phosphate adsorption to iron sludge from waterworks, ochre precipitation basins and commercial ferrihydrite at ambient freshwater phosphate concentrations

“…A good alternative would be to use the products in sewage treatment plants as suggested by Sharma et al [21]. Alternatively, they could be used as the filter material in simple filter basins to treat rural wastewater from private sewage systems, in which SRP concentrations can vary between 0.3 and 10.6 mg P L −1 [37].…”

Long-term homeostasis of filterable un-reactive phosphorus in a shallow eutrophic lake following a significant reduction in catchment load

“…Around 80% of the catchment is under intense agricultural use and large quantities of P laden sediments are delivered into feeder streams during periods of heavy rainfall and surface runoff (Defew, 2008). In addition, private on-site sewerage systems are estimated to account for about 10% of the catchment P load to the lake (Brownlie et al, 2014). Overall reductions of around 9.6 tonnes (t) per year of TP were targeted between 1987 and 1997, 94% of this being targeted between 1985 and 1995 (May et al, 2012).…”

Freshwater science for the benefit of society: a perspective from early career researchers

“…This goal is achieved by calculating the P output of the proposed septic tank and mitigating 125% of its estimated P output through modification to an existing third party septic tank within the catchment (Loch Leven Special Protection Area and Ramsar Site 2011). Because available monitoring data are lacking, the policy was built on the precautionary principle but was later shown to be inaccurate, demonstrating the need for evidence-led policy development (Brownlie et al 2014) Where monitoring programmes are badly designed, resources can be wasted collecting data that do not produce useful information (Timmerman et al 2010). This "data rich but information poor" syndrome is a well-documented problem in water quality monitoring programmes (Ward et al 1986), and these datasets will have low statistical power and a reduced capacity to identify causal mechanisms.…”