CONTRIBUTION OF AGRICULTURAL SOURCES TO NUTRIENT LOAD GENERATED ON THE RUSSIAN PART OF THE BALTIC SEA CATCHMENT AREA

Abstract

Agricultural production is one of the main sources of nitrogen and phosphorous inputs to the water bodies. Quantifying nutrient input from agriculture is needed both to develop effective environmental measures and to justify the technologies to be applied with due account for local natural and climatic conditions. Several related national studies have been conducted since 2015. Institute for Engineering and Environmental Problems in Agricultural Production (IEEP) methodology was used for this purpose. It determines the nitrogen and phosphorus content in the arable layer, including N and P amounts applied with mineral and organic fertilisers. Such factors as soil type and texture, the distance to the water bodies and the land use structure are used to estimate the nutrient input to the water bodies. In addition, the consistency of manure handling technologies with Best Available Techniques (BAT) principles is taken into account through introduction of relevant coefficients. Calculation results according to IEEP methodology were used in the follow-up general assessment of the nutrient load on the water bodies from different sources with the use of Institute of Limnology Load Model. Satisfactory correspondence between the assessment results and the values calculated using the monitoring data confirmed the adequacy of the above assessment procedure. Following its outcomes, the nutrient reduction potential of agricultural sources is approximately 10–20 %.

Keywords: agricultural source, Baltic Sea, nutrient load, reduction potential, water body

Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017.058