OPTWET · Finding optimal size and location for wetland restoration sites for best nutrient removal performance using spatial analysis and modelling
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2015-04-01 → 2018-03-31
- EU contribution
- €240,507
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-GF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Finding optimal size and location for wetland restoration sites for best nutrient removal performance using spatial analysis and modelling
A growing economy and population in the world is causing large-scale land use and landscape changes and an increasing pressure is put on water resources all over the world. Diffuse water pollution that is mainly driven by agricultural food production, is considered to be one of the major problems for water quality in many countries. Wetlands play a key role in controlling flooding and diffuse source pollution. Most of the former wetland area in many areas of the world has been lost due to draining for agricultural production, and the trend is continuing particularly for small wetlands in agricultural landscapes. There is a need for detailed identification and assessment of the wetlands remaining, and also of potential locations for wetland rehabilitation and creation to help manage diffuse contaminant losses that originate from continuously intensifying agriculture. The main prerequisite for combating excessive nutrient losses to water bodies is to study how the pollution sources can be traced and reduced. Compared to point pollution, diffuse water pollution is more complex and difficult to control due to its numerous and dispersed sources, and the difficulties in tracing its pathways. This project aims to identify how effective are wetlands in removing nutrients and what is the optimal land use in agricultural catchments to reduce nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) loads in catchments.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Diffuse losses of nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural areas contribute significantly to eutrophication of waterways, lakes, estuaries and coastal zones and water pollution is a growing and serious problem across much of the world. The role of wetlands in improving surface water quality is well known. The capacity of wetlands to improve water quality is dependent on a large number of parameters that have been widely studied, such as vegetation cover or type, water retention time, climatic variables, and also their size and spatial arrangement in the watershed. However, the question where wetlands should be located in agricultural catchments to achieve the most effective nutrient removal at the catchment level has not been clearly resolved. This project aims to determine the optimal sizing and location for wetlands in agricultural catchments to reduce nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) loads in catchments. The study consist of two parts performed on study areas with different landscape and climatic conditions. Firstly, potentially suitable wetland restoration/creation sites are identified by using high quality data and geospatial analysis techniques. Secondly, evaluation of the effectiveness of wetland nitrogen and phosphorus removal from surface waters at various potential locations indicated by the geospatial analyses under different hydrological regimes and land use scenarios will be done by using modelling with CLUES (Catchment Land Use for Environmental Sustainability model) and SWAT (Soil and Water and Assessment Tool). Important role in the study is also on using and integrating different datasets and modelling approaches.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- TARTU ULIKOOL · TartuCoordinatorEstonia
- NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE FOR EARTH SCIENCE LIMITED · AUCKLANDNew Zealand
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union