Environmental Modeling & Assessment

, Volume 15, Issue 2, pp 93–109 | Cite as

How Do River Nitrate Concentrations Respond to Changes in Land-use? A Modelling Case Study of Headwaters in the River Derwent Catchment, North Yorkshire, UK

  • Michael G. Hutchins
  • Amelie Deflandre-Vlandas
  • Paulette E. Posen
  • Helen N. Davies
  • Colin Neal
Article
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

A combined semi-distributed hydrological model (CASCADE/QUESTOR) is used to evaluate the steady-state that may be achieved after changes in land-use or management and to explore what additional factors need to be considered in representing catchment processes. Two rural headwater catchments of the River Derwent (North Yorkshire, UK) were studied where significant change in land-use occurred in the 1990s and the early 2000s. Much larger increases in mean nitrate concentration (55%) were observed in the catchment with significant groundwater influence (Pickering Beck) compared with the surface water-dominated catchment (13% increase). The increases in Pickering Beck were considerably greater than could be explained by the model in terms of land-use change. Consequently, the study serves to focus attention on the long-term increases in nitrate concentration reported in major UK aquifers and the ongoing and chronic impact this trend is likely to be having on surface water concentrations. For river environments, where groundwater is a source, such trends will mask the impact of measures proposed to reduce the risk of nitrate leaching from agricultural land. Model estimates of within-channel losses account for 15–40% of nitrate entering rivers.

Keywords

Nitrate Water quality Model Catchment Land management Agriculture 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Andrew Johnson (CEH) for comments on the manuscript. EDINA at Edinburgh University Data Library and Defra are acknowledged as the sources of the Agricultural Census data. The work was underpinned in part by funds from CEH, NERC and the Environment Agency. The analysis undertaken in this paper is stimulated, in particular, by a new initiative, the Catchment Hydrology, Resources, Economics and Management (ChREAM) project, funded under the joint ESRC, BBSRC and NERC Rural Economy and Land Use (RELU) programme (award number RES-227-25-0024).

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  • Michael G. Hutchins
    • 1
  • Amelie Deflandre-Vlandas
    • 1
  • Paulette E. Posen
    • 2
  • Helen N. Davies
    • 1
  • Colin Neal
    • 1
  1. 1.Centre for Ecology and Hydrology WallingfordWallingfordUK
  2. 2.School of Environmental SciencesUniversity of East AngliaNorwichUK

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