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Application of a Three-Dimensional Water Quality Model as a Decision Support Tool for the Management of Land-Use Changes in the Catchment of an Oligotrophic Lake

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Abstract

While expansion of agricultural land area and intensification of agricultural practices through irrigation and fertilizer use can bring many benefits to communities, intensifying land use also causes more contaminants, such as nutrients and pesticides, to enter rivers, lakes, and groundwater. For lakes such as Benmore in the Waitaki catchment, South Island, New Zealand, an area which is currently undergoing agricultural intensification, this could potentially lead to marked degradation of water clarity as well as effects on ecological, recreational, commercial, and tourism values. We undertook a modeling study to demonstrate science-based options for consideration of agricultural intensification in the catchment of Lake Benmore. Based on model simulations of a range of potential future nutrient loadings, it is clear that different areas within Lake Benmore may respond differently to increased nutrient loadings. A western arm (Ahuriri) could be most severely affected by land-use changes and associated increases in nutrient loadings. Lake-wide annual averages of an eutrophication indicator, the trophic level index (TLI) were derived from simulated chlorophyll a, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus concentrations. Results suggest that the lake will shift from oligotrophic (TLI = 2–3) to eutrophic (TLI = 4–5) as external loadings are increased eightfold over current baseline loads, corresponding to the potential land-use intensification in the catchment. This study provides a basis for use of model results in a decision-making process by outlining the environmental consequences of a series of land-use management options, and quantifying nutrient load limits needed to achieve defined trophic state objectives.

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Acknowledgments

Funding support was provided by Environment Canterbury. Meridian Energy Limited funded the lake monitoring program and supplied hydrological data; we thank Eddie Stead of Meridian Energy Limited for his assistance and advice with flow and lake-level data. Additional funding was provided by the New Zealand Foundation of Research, Science, and Technology for Lake Biodiversity Restoration (Contract UOWX0505) and Ministry for Science and Innovation “Cumulative Effects” research program (CO1X1005). DT was also supported by CLEAR (a “Villum Kann Rasmussen Centre of Excellence Project on lake restoration”), EU-REFRESH and CRES. The ELCOM–CAEDYM model was provided by the Centre for Water Research, The University of Western Australia. Finally, we thank Greg Kelly and Lindsay Hawke of NIWA for capable assistance in the field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Vejlsøvej 25, PO Box 314, 8600, Silkeborg, Denmark

    Dennis Trolle

  2. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Kyle Street 10, Riccarton, PO Box 8602, Christchurch, 8011, New Zealand

    Bob Spigel, Ned Norton, Donna Sutherland & David Plew

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, 3240, New Zealand

    Dennis Trolle, David P. Hamilton & Mathew G. Allan

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  1. Dennis Trolle
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Correspondence to Dennis Trolle.

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Trolle, D., Spigel, B., Hamilton, D.P. et al. Application of a Three-Dimensional Water Quality Model as a Decision Support Tool for the Management of Land-Use Changes in the Catchment of an Oligotrophic Lake. Environmental Management 54, 479–493 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-014-0306-y

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