Biophysical and Social Barriers Restrict Water Quality Improvements in the Mississippi River Basin

David, Mark B.; Flint, Courtney G.; McIsaac, Gregory F.; Gentry, Lowell E.; Dolan, Mallory K.; Czapar, George F.

doi:10.1021/es403939n

Cited by 8 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 3 publications

(6 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…David et al (2013) briefly summarized some of these constraints, Table 4. Embarras River and Upper Salt Fork Watershed level of familiarity with conservation practices that respondents were not currently using.…”

Section: Assessments Of Complexity Regarding Nutrient Management and mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Policies and plans to address the loss of nutrients from agricultural watersheds have been relatively ineffective. A 2008 plan (Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force, 2008) called for 45% reductions in total N and total P loads in the Mississippi River, beyond the 30% reduction in total N called for in 2001, yet there is no evidence of any decrease in nutrient loading to date (Sprague et al, 2011;David et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Seasonality of fertilizer applications and runoff rarely correlate with the timing of poor water quality, creating a complex management situation (Royer et al, 2006). Despite their effectiveness, biogeochemists and engineers acknowledge that incentives may not be high enough to install engineered systems or to alter crop diversity (David et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Navigating the Socio-Bio-Geo-Chemistry and Engineering of Nitrogen Management in Two Illinois Tile-Drained Watersheds

et al. 2015

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reducing nitrate loads from corn and soybean, tile-drained, agricultural production systems in the Upper Mississippi River basin is a major challenge that has not been met. We evaluated a range of possible management practices from biophysical and social science perspectives that could reduce nitrate losses from tile-drained fields in the Upper Salt Fork and Embarras River watersheds of east-central Illinois. Long-term water quality monitoring on these watersheds showed that nitrate losses averaged 30.6 and 23.0 kg nitrate N ha -1 yr -1 (Embarras and Upper Salt Fork watersheds, respectively), with maximum nitrate concentrations between 14 and 18 mg N L -1 . With a series of on-farm studies, we conducted tile monitoring to evaluate several possible nitrate reduction conservation practices. Fertilizer timing and cover crops reduced nitrate losses (30% reduction in a year with large nitrate losses), whereas drainage water management on one tile system demonstrated the problems with possible retrofit designs (water flowed laterally from the drainage water management tile to the free drainage system nearby). Tile woodchip bioreactors had good nitrate removal in 2012 (80% nitrate reduction), and wetlands had previously been shown to remove nitrate (45% reductions) in the Embarras watershed. Interviews and surveys indicated strong environmental concern and stewardship ethics among landowners and farmers, but the many financial and operational constraints that they operate under limited their willingness to adopt conservation practices that targeted nitrate reduction. Under the policy and production systems currently in place, large-scale reductions in nitrate losses from watersheds such as these in east-central Illinois will be difficult.

show abstract

Section: Assessments Of Complexity Regarding Nutrient Management and mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Navigating the Socio-Bio-Geo-Chemistry and Engineering of Nitrogen Management in Two Illinois Tile-Drained Watersheds

et al. 2015

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…One of the greatest challenges moving forward with a watershed approach to wetland restoration will be the degree to which landowners are willing to adopt these practices. Possible obstacles to landowner participation need to be explored in order to develop educational programs on wetlands and water quality and direct outreach efforts toward those people most likely to adopt practices (David et al, 2013). Although no systematic study of farmer attitudes toward wetlands has been conducted in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, reports from other regions as well as research on agricultural BMP adoption provide insight into farmers' perceived costs of wetlands and factors that might impede adoption.…”

Section: Landowner Willingness To Adoptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Producers see themselves as stewards of the land, but economic and other objectives may outweigh stewardship goals (David et al, 2013). Farmers must consider their decision to adopt a given BMP within the context of their entire farm operation (David et al, 2013). Meeting the needs of landowners may limit options for wetland siting and design.…”

Section: Landowner Willingness To Adoptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wetland Restoration and Creation for Nitrogen Removal: Challenges to Developing a Watershed-Scale Approach in the Chesapeake Bay Coastal Plain

Goldman

Needelman

2015

Advances in Agronomy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

An integrated modeling framework for exploring flow regime and water quality changes with increasing biofuel crop production in theU.S.CornBelt

Yaeger

Housh

Cai

et al. 2014

Water Resources Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To better address the dynamic interactions between human and hydrologic systems, we develop an integrated modeling framework that employs a System of Systems optimization model to emulate human development decisions which are then incorporated into a watershed model to estimate the resulting hydrologic impacts. The two models are run interactively to simulate the coevolution of coupled human-nature systems, such that reciprocal feedbacks between hydrologic processes and human decisions (i.e., human impacts on critical low flows and hydrologic impacts on human decisions on land and water use) can be assessed. The framework is applied to a Midwestern U.S. agricultural watershed, in the context of proposed biofuels development. This operation is illustrated by projecting three possible future coevolution trajectories, two of which use dedicated biofuel crops to reduce annual watershed nitrate export while meeting ethanol production targets. Imposition of a primary external driver (biofuel mandate) combined with different secondary drivers (water quality targets) results in highly nonlinear and multiscale responses of both the human and hydrologic systems, including multiple tradeoffs, impacting the future coevolution of the system in complex, heterogeneous ways. The strength of the hydrologic response is sensitive to the magnitude of the secondary driver; 45% nitrate reduction target leads to noticeable impacts at the outlet, while a 30% reduction leads to noticeable impacts that are mainly local. The local responses are conditioned by previous human-hydrologic modifications and their spatial relationship to the new biofuel development, highlighting the importance of past coevolutionary history in predicting future trajectories of change.

show abstract

Biophysical and Social Barriers Restrict Water Quality Improvements in the Mississippi River Basin

Cited by 8 publications

References 3 publications

Navigating the Socio-Bio-Geo-Chemistry and Engineering of Nitrogen Management in Two Illinois Tile-Drained Watersheds

Navigating the Socio-Bio-Geo-Chemistry and Engineering of Nitrogen Management in Two Illinois Tile-Drained Watersheds

Wetland Restoration and Creation for Nitrogen Removal: Challenges to Developing a Watershed-Scale Approach in the Chesapeake Bay Coastal Plain

An integrated modeling framework for exploring flow regime and water quality changes with increasing biofuel crop production in theU.S.CornBelt

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About