Efficiency of mitigation measures targeting nutrient losses from agricultural drainage systems: A review
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ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF A GREEN BIO-ECONOMY
Efficiency of mitigation measures targeting nutrient losses from agricultural drainage systems: A review Mette Vodder Carstensen , Fatemeh Hashemi , Carl Christian Hoffmann, Dominik Zak, Joachim Audet, Brian Kronvang
Received: 18 December 2019 / Revised: 5 April 2020 / Accepted: 5 May 2020
Abstract Diffusive losses of nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural areas have detrimental effects on freshwater and marine ecosystems. Mitigation measures treating drainage water before it enters streams hold a high potential for reducing nitrogen and phosphorus losses from agricultural areas. To achieve a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges characterising current and new drainage mitigation measures in oceanic and continental climates, we reviewed the nitrate and total phosphorus removal efficiency of: (i) free water surface constructed wetlands, (ii) denitrifying bioreactors, (iii) controlled drainage, (iv) saturated buffer zones and (v) integrated buffer zones. Our data analysis showed that the load of nitrate was substantially reduced by all five drainage mitigation measures, while they mainly acted as sinks of total phosphorus, but occasionally, also as sources. The various factors influencing performance, such as design, runoff characteristics and hydrology, differed in the studies, resulting in large variation in the reported removal efficiencies. Keywords Agricultural drainage systems Catchment management Meta-analysis Mitigation measures Nutrient reduction Water quality
INTRODUCTION The high intensive agricultural production dominating parts of the world, such as Western Europe and North America, is one of the main causes of eutrophication Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-020-01345-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
resulting in water quality problems and ecosystem degradation worldwide (Kronvang et al. 2005; Diaz and Rosenberg 2008; Steffen et al. 2015). The intensification and expansion of agriculture during the past decades have led to a drastic increase in nutrient loss from agricultural areas, as well as changes in land use. Wet landscapes have been systematically drained to enable anthropogenic activities such as food production (Skaggs and van Schilfgaarde 1999). However, in addition to water, drainage systems also transport nutrients rapidly to surface waters, thereby lowering the natural retention capacity of catchments. Thus, engineered ecotechnologies designed to intercept and reduce nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) losses from agricultural drainage systems have emerged over the last decades with the aim to improve water quality (Mitsch and Jørgensen 1989). Substantial changes in land use can also be expected in the future when addressing energy and food security such as transformation of the society to a bio-economy (Marttila unpublished results; Rakovic and Collentine unpublished results). Water quality and quantity ar
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